A friend of mine just pulled his brand new Jayco down south for the winter. He had one tire blow out, and unusual wear on the other front tire. The wear was like it was under inflated (but wasn't.) His concern is the axle might be out of alignment. If he was back home, no problem taking it in. Here he has concerns about the quality of workmanship given the lack of doing prior business with any of the shops. How can a guy check the alignment to rule out this as an issue? Because we are away from our shops we have limited tools to work with to make the matter worst. Should be a simple way, just can not figure it out.

Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.

Johnny_H wrote:Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.Funny, I just came up with the first one, and just finished texting him. Never occurred to me your second solution. Wonderful simple logic. Given both solutions it should either tell us there is a problem, or to start looking elsewhere. Thanks again!!!

John&Joey wrote:Johnny_H wrote:Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.Funny, I just came up with the first one, and just finished texting him. Never occurred to me your second solution. Wonderful simple logic. Given both solutions it should either tell us there is a problem, or to start looking elsewhere. Thanks again!!!One more fairly easy check. I assume you have tandem wheels. On the front tires, measure from the center of the curb side tire to the center of the street side tire at the 3:00 postion. Then measure it again at the 9:00 position. They should be relatively close. Then meaure the same on the rear tires. If it appears substantially out, get it to a shop.But on any of the measurements, only do it after the trailer has been driven for several yard in a straight direction. If you do it right before, after or during a turn, nothing will line up.

Drive straight on a level surface like a parking lot so that the wheels/axles are straight. Drop a plumb bob from the kingpin. Measure from the center of the plumb bob to the front edge of each front tire. Then measure from the hub of the front tire to hub of the rear tire on each side. All measurements should be very close. I'd say anything more than 1/4" difference requires a trip to a truck/trailer alignment shop for a proper alignment.

Here you go. Youtube is your friend. correct track video Bought the system. Figured it was much cheaper & easy enough to do myself with the help of the DW of course.

Axle Alignment. | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

Veebyes
Explorer II
Jan 07, 2016
Here you go. Youtube is your friend. correct track video Bought the system. Figured it was much cheaper & easy enough to do myself with the help of the DW of course.
phillyg
Explorer II
Jan 07, 2016
Drive straight on a level surface like a parking lot so that the wheels/axles are straight. Drop a plumb bob from the kingpin. Measure from the center of the plumb bob to the front edge of each front tire. Then measure from the hub of the front tire to hub of the rear tire on each side. All measurements should be very close. I'd say anything more than 1/4" difference requires a trip to a truck/trailer alignment shop for a proper alignment.
TucsonJim
Explorer II
Jan 07, 2016
John&Joey wrote:
Johnny_H wrote:
Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.

Funny, I just came up with the first one, and just finished texting him. Never occurred to me your second solution. Wonderful simple logic. Given both solutions it should either tell us there is a problem, or to start looking elsewhere.

Thanks again!!!

One more fairly easy check. I assume you have tandem wheels. On the front tires, measure from the center of the curb side tire to the center of the street side tire at the 3:00 postion. Then measure it again at the 9:00 position. They should be relatively close. Then meaure the same on the rear tires. If it appears substantially out, get it to a shop.

But on any of the measurements, only do it after the trailer has been driven for several yard in a straight direction. If you do it right before, after or during a turn, nothing will line up.
John_Joey
Explorer
Jan 07, 2016
Johnny_H wrote:
Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.

Funny, I just came up with the first one, and just finished texting him. Never occurred to me your second solution. Wonderful simple logic. Given both solutions it should either tell us there is a problem, or to start looking elsewhere.

Thanks again!!!
Johnny_H
Explorer
Jan 07, 2016
Measure axle centers on both sides, if that is the same you can hold a broom handle against the tires as a visual reference with the side of the trailer. Quick and easy checks, after that a long tape measure is required.

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Axle Alignment.

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