Tire/Axle Question

Gdetrailer wrote:


John,

That chart CAME DIRECTLY FROM DEXTERS OWN MANUAL ON TRAILER AXLES.

Dexter builds trailer axles.

Snip..

Don't "shoot the messenger".

Snip..

The manual also has a maintenance schedule chart that gives normal maintenance intervals for the bearings and other items which I suspect you and 99.9% of all trailer owners ignore..

It could also just be lousy tire build, and yes, this happens even to the supposed "best brands".. I had a set of trailer tires cup, replaced the tires, no more cupping..

But what really gets me is when folks start blaming it on "bent axles" or "axles out of alignment" as the very first thing to look at when the very first response is to check the simple things like tires being out of round or way out of balance and even checking the bearings preload settings. All things that do not cost a dime rather than making this an extreme sport of spending money.

GD,

I have no beef with Dexter, I feel they are one of the top axle manufactures in the US trailer world. They have helped me greatly in the past with technical service. My beef, if there is one, is with the RV industry who allows welded on hangers to the frame not adhering to Dexter's recommended spec's. and shipping them. Dexter doesn't mention the screwup's the RV industry does to their products. There chart assumes the axles are installed correctly.

The original poster stated their tires are cupping. Do you have any evidence in what they have presented to date they understand what true cupping is? They may have picked a word they heard and thought it was the right one to use.

You picked my post to comment on that cupping can come from an out of balance or wheel bearing issue. And then you get into someone trying to explain about wheel alignment.

I was trying to help them understand that tire wear on a travel trailers comes from many different places, and we need more info to help them better understand what could be going on.

To your statement in blue on what you "suspect" I know or do with campers, don't go there. Leave it alone, you have no idea what I have done and can do in my shop.

And for the record, once we know more about the original posters tire wear, using a standard tape measure with some guidance, they can do some quick measurements across their tires so see if gross wheel alignment exists that can cause tire wear. Then they can figure out if they have the ability to correct the problem or need to find a shop who can. And yes, they can jack up the camper if they can, and feel for bearing wobble or do a tire spin test to look for an out of round conditions. It takes more work jacking up the camper then the tape measure checks. One just needs to understand what to look for when gross wheel alignment exists. And some of us are glad to help them with on how to do it.