Wheel Alignment on a Fiver

Okay, after numerous blow outs ( mainly right rear-but not always) and significant damage to my toy hauler caused mainly I believe crappy ST (trailer) tires made in China, I think I may have finally solved the problem.

I'm not the only one with this issue, lots of folks with Fifth Wheel trailers, Travel Trailers, Utility Trailers, etc... using the made in China ST tires have all had similar problems.

After a lot of research and the experience of many who were kind enough to post their own research and solutions here's what I came up with.

First was to up size the rims to 16" so I could install high quality Michelin Rib commercial truck tires (245/75). I was fortunate that I had 6.5" between the stock 15" tires, and ended up with a little over 4" between the tires with the new Michelin Rib tires.

The Michelin Rib tires are retread able and have steel plies in the side walls as well as the tread area. They also have a "Q" speed rating which is 99MPH continuous. Compared with the "ST" speed rating of 65MPH continuous.

Bridgestone also makes a similar tire, the Duravis R-250. I went with the Michelin's as their web site had a feed back section with countless stories of Fifth Wheelers and other recreational vehicle owners who had the blow out problems and all were eliminated with the installation of the Michelin Rib tires.

I have no desire to tow my TH at 90MPH!

However, what I have found out is that the ST tire speed rating of 65MPH is absolute, and as soon as one exceeds this speed when the tires are hot the ST tires tread will start De-lamminating from the carcass, which will give you the surprise blow out at some point in the future with NO imminent indication, and NO warning.

In California, (PRK), the speed limit for vehicles with trailers is 55MPH, all of the other states that I travel in, the speed limit is 75MPH for all vehicles. I used to only tow at 65MPH because of the speed rating, and was always in the way.

Second, I found through my research that many trailer axles are miss-aligned from the factory. WTH???? With this in mind, and the fact that there are so many blowouts from the crappy Chinese made tires, it is astounding that the manufacturers are still putting them on their vehicles. One Chinese made tire was so bad the NHTSA banned these tires for sale in the United States.

So second on the list was to visit truck alignment shop that could do an alignment on the trailer axles. Part of this work was to have all of the suspension bushings replaced with bronze bushings and wet bolts installed. (Trailers come with Delrin bushings-plastic-again WTH?) I made an appointment three weeks in advance to get in there. I took vacation time to get the trailer in there and when I got there they didn't have room on their rack to do the work. The tech showed me the bushing kit, and told me he would check back later. Here is the best part, later in the day the tech called back and told me they didn't do any of the work and I had to get there before they closed to retrieve my trailer! SURPRISE! The tech told me that I should call back in a week to see when I could get it in and that they would make things right for wasting my time. Long story short, they never did and I had Edi Luna at Benchmark RV (818-504-4813) where I store my trailer do the bushing work, Benchmark had the work done in a few days.

I found an old school BEAR Frame & Wheel alignment shop in Glendora (626-335-0243), to have the camber and toe check on the trailer axles. It was no surprise to find that the rear axle had 1/4" of toe out, meaning the tires were dragging down the highway. And, the drivers side rear had 1* of negative camber, and the passenger side right rear had 0* of camber. The well seasoned alignment tech, using the old school three point alignment tool, chains and a bottle jack corrected the negative camber on the LR. Then using the same bottle jack for support, and a porta ram corrected the toe to zero inches. After the Toe was corrected they re-checked that the camber on both wheels was still at zero.

Moving to the front axle, they found the LF had 1 &1/4* of negative camber, and the RF had negative 1/4* of negative camber, and the toe was zero. Using the same method as above, the camber was corrected on both wheels. Upon re-checking the toe, this correction had created some toe out. Again, using the same method as above, the toe was corrected to zero, and then the camber was re-checked.

I am very hopeful that with wheels now running straight and true, and the addition of the best tires I could find my blow out problem will now be eliminated and maybe a little better mpg to boot.

If you have any questions please shoot me a note!

B.O. Plenty wrote:

Ron Nielson wrote:
Since you already know you have uneven tire wear, you know you need an alignment. Trailer axles are made by several different manufacturers and some of say that you can align the wheels by bending the axle tubes, and some say that you cannot do the alignment by bending the axle tubes and if you do, it will void any warranty that may be in place.

My trailer uses Dexter axles and they CAN be bent and I have had one of my axles corrected for a 1/2" tow-in problem. Before you decide to bend your axles, determine who manufactures them, and investigate if and how their particular axles can be corrected. It could be that you just need to replace the entire axle and not bend your existing axle.

Why waste all that money and possibly end up with another junk axle? They are all made the same way unless you have a Mor-Ryde IS which is adjustable. My axles were both tracking to the left. If new axles would have been installed they would have done the same thing due to the way they were attached to the frame. The spring hangers were off. For around $150.00 which is way less than replacing an axle, you can have it aligned and it's done..end of story. They will also set the tow and camber. No guaranty a new axle will be perfect. By the way, a new axle comes pre-bent in the center to set the camber on it. Don't get suckered in to buying a new axle thinking it will fix anything.

B.O.

Correct.

And...Not to mention...a new axle needs to be aligned.

You have not mentioned which axle needs attention. Or both axles. If the tires on the same axle are wearing on the outside of the tread, you may have a "toe in" problem. If there is a camber problem that will cause that issue, it is because someone jacked the axle in the center. Makes the tires go like this \\====//. Or you pinched the wheels on both sides against a curb or two. Our sharp turns on a dry pavement. Maybe some other reasons.

Why waste all that money and possibly end up with another junk axle? They are all made the same way unless you have a Mor-Ryde IS which is adjustable. My axles were both tracking to the left. If new axles would have been installed they would have done the same thing due to the way they were attached to the frame. The spring hangers were off. For around $150.00 which is way less than replacing an axle, you can have it aligned and it's done..end of story. They will also set the tow and camber. No guaranty a new axle will be perfect. By the way, a new axle comes pre-bent in the center to set the camber on it. Don't get suckered in to buying a new axle thinking it will fix anything.

Absolutely right.

Ron Nielson wrote:
Since you already know you have uneven tire wear, you know you need an alignment. Trailer axles are made by several different manufacturers and some of say that you can align the wheels by bending the axle tubes, and some say that you cannot do the alignment by bending the axle tubes and if you do, it will void any warranty that may be in place.

My trailer uses Dexter axles and they CAN be bent and I have had one of my axles corrected for a 1/2" tow-in problem. Before you decide to bend your axles, determine who manufactures them, and investigate if and how their particular axles can be corrected. It could be that you just need to replace the entire axle and not bend your existing axle.

Why waste all that money and possibly end up with another junk axle? They are all made the same way unless you have a Mor-Ryde IS which is adjustable. My axles were both tracking to the left. If new axles would have been installed they would have done the same thing due to the way they were attached to the frame. The spring hangers were off. For around $150.00 which is way less than replacing an axle, you can have it aligned and it's done..end of story. They will also set the tow and camber. No guaranty a new axle will be perfect. By the way, a new axle comes pre-bent in the center to set the camber on it. Don't get suckered in to buying a new axle thinking it will fix anything.

B.O.

Since you already know you have uneven tire wear, you know you need an alignment. Trailer axles are made by several different manufacturers and some of say that you can align the wheels by bending the axle tubes, and some say that you cannot do the alignment by bending the axle tubes and if you do, it will void any warranty that may be in place.

My trailer uses Dexter axles and they CAN be bent and I have had one of my axles corrected for a 1/2" tow-in problem. Before you decide to bend your axles, determine who manufactures them, and investigate if and how their particular axles can be corrected. It could be that you just need to replace the entire axle and not bend your existing axle.

Thanks guys and yes my current tires have plenty of tread but the outside edges is showing uneven wear therefore my desire for alignment. I'll check another dealer.

We had our Moryde IS on our Hitchhiker realigned a couple of months ago at Moryde in Elkhart and yes, it was out of alignment. Our tires were showing unusual wear and the alignment has corrected this issue.

If you are not experiencing any tire wear now, you may if someone changes it when it is not needed!

This is likely wrong but:

Trailer axle alignment can be checked at reasonable cost and verified it is within specs before tire wear begins.

In our area shops that work on truck and trailer suspensions ("spring shops") do trailer alignments. The axles are bent to adjust the alignment.

The shop that aligned our 3 axle Carriage after I installed new tires charges $95 to hook up to the trailer with their tug, tow it in to the shop, rig the alignment equipment, measure and record the alignment, make recommendations if needed, hook up their tug, tow the trailer out to their customer lot and dolly it off.

If an alignment is needed that is by the hour. Our trailer did need alignment and the total cost was just over the value of one tire. ($400 or so).

After 2750 miles, the mold tits are still visible on the center axle tires, some still there on the lead axle, and they are gone off the rear axle set, which does the most scrubbing on sharp turns.

I pulled a project rebuild gooseneck 3 axle flatbed the other day that hasn't been to the alignment shop yet. It dog tracks about 4 inches in it's 30 ft length, and if you let go of the wheel the trailer straightens up and steers the tow vehicle to the right.

So alignment is do-able and important to how your rig drives and handles, not to mention the tire wear concern.

OP did not mention if or how the old tires were wearing?

If it ain't broke i would not try to have it fixed. :h