ALL wheels wearing on one side with scuffing

Hi Edzzed,

I'll share a different perspective on a few things in your post to think through and see if they apply.

The bearings, you stated they have never been repacked and you have 3,500 miles on it. I'm assuming, right or wrong, that you bought it new. From what I have seen, in this situation your over due. Many brand new axles come direct from the factory with very little grease in them. So little it is like, you have got to be kidding me.... I have had had 5 new trailers like this and have heard it from others. I pack my own bearings and once I pack them I know what I have and then I can set a preventive maintenance period. Point: Get them repacked, right, and then set up your interval.

The brakes, most camper brakes are "not" self adjusting if you have electric drum brakes. And the 1st 200 miles is the biggest need of adjustment from when new shoes go on. They seat in and then there is more radial clearance making the brakes less efficient. If you have never tweaked them, now is the time while you are dealing with the bearings. Then tweak again about every 3,000 miles.

While properly packed bearings can go a longer time period, these electric brakes are another thing and the only way to get to them is take the drum off. I trust my bearing repack, I am not that trustworthy to go many years and never look at the brakes.

You mentioned bearing buddies, they work OK on a non brake boat axle, but a camper is different. Unless the axle is drilled and taped for the EZ lube feature, do not put bearing buddies on a camper brake axle. The inner grease seal may only be a single lip seal, yes they are that cheap... as grease can and will come out all over the brakes. The EZ lube feature is drilled down the center and then up behind the inner bearing along with a double lip seal (with the garter spring) to force the grease back towards the end of the axle and then through the outer bearing into your hand.

Tire wear, you stated edge wear but not which edge. It makes a difference if it is inside or outside edge. And then the RV dealer says, camber... If there is any truth to the camber statement, on a camper this generally only comes from 3 ways,

- An axle tube made wrong from day one
- An axle tube is undersized from day one
- The camper is overloaded on one or both sides

If your axle has loss of camber, this easy to see. If you have a 4 foot level, you can do it yourself.

Like this, center the level equal both sides from center of the axle tube. OK don't mind the steel toes, they fit well...


In the center there should be an arch up, that is positive camber on the axle tube. If the tube is flat straight across that is 0 camber and something is wrong, generally overload for the axle size if it was made correct. Make sure you are at full weight, water too when you check. The arch changes with weight. It the arch goes down from straight then your in heavy overload.


You can also do wheel camber in case one axle stub is bent or overloaded. The top of the tire should be heading away from the side of the camper, the bottom inwards to the camper if there is positive camber. Make sure the camper is on level ground to check this in this method.


And then there is thrust angle and wheel toe. If the hangers are welded on wrong, more common than ones thinks, then the thrust angle of the front axle tube to the tow ball is off and your grinding up tires going down the road. The rear axle can also be not parallel to the front at the same time or all by itself. That is a trailer frame manufacturing defect if the hangers are on wrong.

Excess wheel toe can be an axle made wrong, hangers welded on wrong, hit a curb and bent it, or and axle mounted wrong. The hangers are undeniable. Hitting a curb can be an issue to prove it was not done. And it may have been done before you ever took ownership.

Dexster is a stand up company and if they themselves created a defect, they have stood behind it before. They would only warrant the parts they made, not the frame and hangers unless it was a Dexster frame.

When you go to the truck shop, make sure you request and get a print out of the "as found" alignment. Your only hope of claiming warranty is proving what the actual problem is, then it will end up on the frame manufacture, the axle manufacture or you. And before any work is done, get it in writing from the camper manufacture and the axle mfg that they will cover the work, before any work is done. If not, it is not in your favor to collect.

Good luck and hope this helps

John

The pic above is an enlarged pic of the one above it.

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit of 640px maximum width.

Sorry about the image quality. It was bright out and tough to see what it looked like on the phones display. Pic above is about the worst but all 4 tires have that type of wear. I have never seen anything like it.

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit of 640px maximum width.

Not sure how this is gonna work

Went to get the trailer and they are saying I have to take it to an alignment shop where they send work to. They said it's a warranty thing where they will find out what the problem is and get further instructions from the rv place who is dealing with the warranty company.

So the RV place called us and said the fridge is fixed. As for the alignment they suggested we take it to a trailer alignment place. Just so happens there is a dexter axles authorized dealer not far from us. Don't know how it's gonna play out with the warranty people but will ask the shop to call them. The rv place thinks it's a camber issue. I really don't like the idea of bending axles without knowing if or how they got bent in the 1st place. We do have a toy hauler but only ever put a 400 lb klr 650 m/c in it. Even water doesn't get added till the last possible place to fill up. Will update as more info comes in.

I know we have Dexter axles. Not that that means anything. I only took it to the RV shop because it is under warranty and we also needed to get the fridge fixed. They can farm it out, I am OK with that. I just want it fixed while we have a warranty on it. When I get it back, I will be taking it to an axle shop and asking them to check the alignment. If it is out then I will have them fix it and sue the RV shop for the cost of repairs.

pitch wrote:
Quit messing around with an rv place. These guys are specialists in nothing. Find an authorized dealer for your axles and go there. If an axle needs to be bent to correct camber the RV guy will farm it out anyway.

x2 on this. On our TT we owned several tires were wearing on the outside. Passenger side only, and the RF the worst. Took it to the dealer and they said the axles were fine as well as the alignment and that it was the tire. Took the tire to the tire shop that sells the same brand. They said tires don't do that on their own. They recommended an RV axle alignment shop right up the road. Went there and they said the axles were bent. Left side tires wearing great, right side wearing bad. $195.00 total OTD. FWIW, they were Lippert axles and the guy doing the bending said the axle material was kind soft as it bent easily with his equipment. :E

Your axles are out of alignment.

It is possible that the axles are not heavy enough for the weight, and bent.

It is possible that it came from the factory this way, either bent from assembly/hauling damage, or just plain misaligned.

Repacking the bearings will do absolutely nothing for the problem.

You'll probably want to weigh the trailer just to see if it isn't too heavy for the axles.

Quit messing around with an rv place. These guys are specialists in nothing. Find an authorized dealer for your axles and go there. If an axle needs to be bent to correct camber the RV guy will farm it out anyway.