Axle Alignment.

JMO, but there is no such thing as 'a little' adjustment, as in easy. Without changing hardware either you move the spring hangers or the axles are aligned by bending them.

Wheels were out of alignment in my first trailer. Into a truck shop it went. All kinds of hydraulic machinery to bend axles later & a near 4 figure bill, all was straight.

Next trailer had issues with frame cracking in the area of spring hangers. Into another truck shop it went & came out with completely re engineered spring hangers, much stronger, & again near a 4 figure bill.

Managed to bend a axle in a humongeous pothole south of Calgary, AB. This time I figured I had choices.

A: Into a truck shop again, bend axle to fix & get 4 figure bill.

B: Buy new axle & have shop install it, resulting in a $500 plus bill

C: Get Correct Track system & install myself.

I went with plan C. Actually I did one better than that. I installed the correct track system & I also bought a new axle as a spare. Sort of like the boater who carrys around a spare prop, a spare starter, a spare raw water pump, spare all kinds of things because he can't walk on water to go get help.

Anyway my spare axle rides around in my basement. If I am ever days away from getting one shipped to me but have a shop under my nose out in Yukon or some such place, I am set.

There is a be prepared boater in me that will never die.

The only negative thing about the correct track is that it raises the trailer by 1". This inch can make all the difference if you store in a shed & height is close.

I am close.

Next tire replacement I will go with a tire not quite as tall & come down 1/2" in overall height making my net increase in height 1/2" with the correct track system.

There are always many ways to beat an alignment problem.

laknox wrote:
After reading here about a guy who's kin pin is nearly 2" off-center, I'd be real careful about taking measurements from there, as it could lead to a false reading. I'd measure from the known centerline of the FRAME to the wheels. As others have said, there's quick and dirty methods of checking a gross misalignment, with the fist between the tires and string over the tires, being good ones. If any issues are found, I'd sure be contacting Jayco before I did =anything= else, including driving very far.

Lyle

IDK...On the kingpin off center subject isn't your kingpin position most important? It IS the point of attach to your TV of which the trailer axles should track straight in relation to. The trailer frame/box position is irrelevant... I believe measuring from the kingpin is still the correct approach and ^THIS^ guy really needs to now make sure his axles are aligned to his newly discovered off-center kingpin

Of all the methods described the plum bob off the kingpin is going to give the most accurate alignment numbers. Everything starts with the position of the front axle relative to the TV attach point

I fought this in my trailer. I had similar things happen. I took it to a shop that was well known for work of this kind, was pretty inexpensive. The adjustments made were really small (making things weren't that far out of whack to start with). I was still getting unusual wear afterwards.

After the next tire blew, I got ticked off and bought 16" wheels and put LT tires on it. Haven't had a single tire issue in 4 years. I think it was more tire related than axle related.

Can't guarantee that is his issue, but I wouldn't ignore it either.

John&Joey wrote:
Thanks again for all the great advice.

Please be sure to follow up and let us know what your friend finds out. I have been following this thread and am curious as to the cause of his tire wear. Thanks, John

Thanks again for all the great advice.

Check the leaf spring bushings. I was adding aTrail Air kit to the leaf springs and in the process found that the factory uses plastic or vinyl bushing inserts. They were completely worn through. There were not many miles on this trailer at the time. This allowed enough play in the axles to cause abnormal tire wear. The kit came with brass inserts. Easy to change and once it was back together and new tires i have not had the tire wear problem again. It is worth the time and effort and much cheaper than an alignment and may be the problem an alignment will not fix. If the bushings are worn they need to be replaced anyway. It worked for me.

After reading here about a guy who's kin pin is nearly 2" off-center, I'd be real careful about taking measurements from there, as it could lead to a false reading. I'd measure from the known centerline of the FRAME to the wheels. As others have said, there's quick and dirty methods of checking a gross misalignment, with the fist between the tires and string over the tires, being good ones. If any issues are found, I'd sure be contacting Jayco before I did =anything= else, including driving very far.

Lyle

Real basic check without any crawling around with string or tape. Assuming tire tread wear is about the same, stick your fist, or fingers, between tires each side. If there is a difference, something is out of alignment.

Super simple check: Tie off a string somewhere closer to the centerline of the trailer than the wheel exteriors. At axle height, pull the string around the outside of the nearest tire while keeping it snug. Go past the tires and move the string so that it just touches the outside of all the tires. If it doesn't touch the outside of all tires at just the same time, then your axles need to be aligned. It can then be a mounting problem or a bent axle problem. Shops that align big rig beam axles can fix you up.

A shop that does suspension work on over-the-road tractors and trailers is a much better bet than a RV repair place.