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allen8106's avatar
allen8106
Explorer
May 08, 2015

Axle Self Alignment

So I have a 2010 Jayco 31.5 RLDS as noted in my sig that I bought new. Last year or so my wife bought me the yellow plastic wheel chocks that clamp between the tires.

I noticed that on one side the wheel chock won't chock the wheels even when screwed all the way down. I know there are two sizes of these wheel chocks and I have the larger size. Upon further investigation I have found that I must place a piece of 1X2 wood between the chock and the wheel in order for it to chock the wheels properly but not so on the other side. Now my common sense this tells me I have a slightly out of alignment axles.

I have made two long trips, 3000 miles and 2000 miles and numerous short trips 30-120 miles and have not observed any strange or abnormal wear on the tires. I recently installed four new Maxxis just because the existing tires were coming six years old. When we took them off I looked them over and again didn't see any abnormal wear.

A few questions:

1) Would you agree with me that the two axles are out of alignment with each other?
2) Has anyone ever done an axle alignment themsleves?
3) I am a very mechanical person and can turn a wrench on about anything. Do you think it's feasable to check and adjust the alignment from axle to axle and to the pin myself?

19 Replies

  • More weight on one side or the other can cause the distance between the wheels to be different.
    On the heavy side, the springs will be effectively longer, causing the wheels to be farther apart on that side.
    The wheels are always farther apart on the kitchen side of my fiver, because of the weight. It hasn't caused any tire wear problems.
  • To answer a few questions:

    Do you have the Trailair axle equalizer system on your suspension? If so, which system is it?
    I don’t have the Trailair axle equalizer.

    Did you back into your present location and made a sharp turn while doing so?
    It doesn’t matter if I back it in or pull it in the conditions still exists.

    If one side or tire is sitting on a bump or some other surface irregularity, it may have a different spacing than the other side. This is because the equalizer rotates and changes the effective distance between the wheels. It needs to be on a flat and level surface to compare.
    It dosen’t matter if it’s on un-even surfaces or not the conditions still exists.

    I'm curious why you'd consider making adjustments if you aren't experiencing any abnormal tire wear?
    Because I'm heading out on another 2000 mile trip in July and don’t want any problems.
  • golf_bears wrote:
    I don't think I would change anything at this point.

    But a few questions first.
    Do you have the Trailair axle equalizer system on your suspension? If so, which system is it?
    Did you back into your present location and made a sharp turn while doing so?



    THIS^^^^^^^
  • If it is not broke, don't fix it. Often the wheels will be closer together on one side because of the tension while back into a site.
  • If one side or tire is sitting on a bump or some other surface irregularity, it may have a different spacing than the other side. This is because the equalizer rotates and changes the effective distance between the wheels. It needs to be on a flat and level surface to compare.
  • I don't think I would change anything at this point.

    But a few questions first.
    Do you have the Trailair axle equalizer system on your suspension? If so, which system is it?
    Did you back into your present location and made a sharp turn while doing so?
  • When you're using the chocks are you on level ground? I made some DIY wood chocks that went between the tires. If I'm camping on an uneven surface the one will fit and the other won't. If one tire is higher than the other it then moves closer to the other because of the equalizer. At least that's the way I understand it.

    Pretty easy to figure out if you have an axle problem. Just measure the spring shackles. My guess is they're all within a 1/4".
  • If it isn't wearing the tires abnormally, I wouldn't mess with it. I had one the frame was slightly bent - enough you could tell by looking at the frame. There was nothing else out of kilter, no unusual tire wear, no slideout problems, no funny tracking, no unusual noises, no misshapen sides, nothing. I ran it like that for 10 years.
  • I'm curious why you'd consider making adjustments if you aren't experiencing any abnormal tire wear?