Tire/Axle Question
My travel trailer has Dexter tandem axles. I noticed both tires on the front axle have slight cupping on the outside of the tires. My fresh water tank is just behind that front axle and over the rear...
Forum Discussion
campermama wrote:
I am not talking about it being overweight. I'm saying ALL the weight of the fresh water tank is on the REAR axle. So I am wondering if the FRONT axle with the cupping tire wear, doesn't have enough weight on it??
The trailer is a 2020, I bought it new. Tires are goodyear endurance, probably have about 10k miles on them. Trailer has leaf springs.Just noticed the cupping after the last 2k trip in which I carried more fresh water than usual. The "issue" is only on the front axle tires. Rear axle tires are fine! I'll try to get pictures today.
OK, this helps as a start. 10K miles is plenty enough for tire wear to rears it head of an out of alignment issue. Tire wear is slow and you may not notice it at first until it makes it to the obvious looking stage. For heavy outside cupping wear to occur in only 2K miles, that points to a major gross alignment issue, you may have not known the wear started long ago, it started slow until it wore enough it becomes more obvious. This is common to show up this way.
The weight of the fresh tank being over the front or rear axle "normally" should not cause cupping on the opposite axle. The steel trailer frame and the way the suspension is made helps to spread the load out over both. While both axle loads may not be exactly the same and normally are not, adding water to the fresh tank should not be a factor for cupping on the outside of the tire, assuming you have a semi normal size fresh tank.
In the event you have something special, what make/model camper and what size (gallons) is the fresh tank?
Cupping on the outside of the tire often comes from 2 areas, excessive toe wheel alignment out of spec, or the thrust angle of the front axle is not correct to the tow ball allowing the trailer to dog track off center when it gets bad enough. But tires will wear if the thrust angle is off even if the toe angle is correct.
To what the other poster asked, how is the towing stance of the camper when going down the road, nose high, level or nose low? If nose high or low, how high or low at the tow ball in approx. inches.
Hope this helps
John
