Thoughts on Uneven Tread Wear on 192 RBS?

[Last_Train]

Having just returned from our trip up to and back from the Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore area, we are in the general inspection/clean up mode to prepare for our next trip. Saw on our left rear tire on our tandem axle unit a pattern of uneven tread wear; i.e. the inside treads were definitely wearing more-so than the outside surfaces of the tire. (All three of the other tires show completely even tread wear.) No other anomalies are evident; i.e. no scalloping/cupping, etc.. The tires were inflated to the factory spec of 50 psi prior to the trip and have maintained that psi throughout - even to just moments ago when I checked.



The photo perhaps does not show the level of my concern, but there is definitely uneven wear. A friend who is a Class C driver confirmed this with me on Saturday.

So what might cause this?

A quick visual inspection of our leaf springs did not show any abnormalities - though I did not apply any kind of tool nor manipulation to them. The 192 RBS has tandem axles, but they do not appear to have any kind of adjustment available to them like camber or toe-in.

These are the original equipment, China made tires that have just over 11,000 towing miles on them. Their date code tells me they were manufactured the second week of 2015.

In a thread about a month ago I noted then my concern about these tires but went ahead on our 3,474 towing journey. Given what I've learned from others of you, it is time to replace these with perhaps a set of Goodyear Endurance shoes or similar. Nevertheless, if there is something amiss with our running gear, I don't want to see this kind of problem replicated with a brand new set of tires.

Thoughts?

[Last_Train]

Perhaps "time2roll" is on to something with his comment about uneven wear often preceding tire failure in his experience. So I'll factor in the inferior product I'm dealing with . . .

Then "SoundGuy," your own (inferior quality) tire failure in your driveway, the evidence just seems to point to my tire showing hints of early failure.

Bottom line is, absent some as yet unknown issue in our running gear, we will plan on replacing these tires with a good quality set . . . then watch them carefully.

[SoundGuy]

I did an alignment check a couple years ago on my own 192RBS, not because of uneven tire wear, but because I was surprised to discover the spread between the curb side tires was less than the spread between the street side tires. That spread would also vary somewhat depending on how much lift I had to do on either side in order to level the trailer side-to-side. All measurements proved to be exactly what they should be, then I realized axle spread will vary because the trailer weighs more on one side than the other. That only became apparent when I was having a difficult time fitting a pair of BAL Standard Tire Locking Chocks between the tires, a problem I've since solved by trimming the chocks. Having recently had one of my own stock off shore tires split for no apparent reason I'd suggest Last Train replace all four tires now and just keep an eye out for any signs of unusual wear in the future.

[gmw_photos]

If that is all the worse the alignment problem is, I would not bother to "fix it". I would replace the set, and rotate the tires every three or four thousand miles. That will even out the wear among all the tires. They will age out before they wear out.

[Last_Train]

time2roll wrote:
Hard to tell from a picture sometimes. What do the others look like?

"(All three of the other tires show completely even tread wear.)"

I can do a visual per your suggestion for good geometry on the axles. We have never hit anything nor had any kind of severe ride to torture either axle into being out of spec. But you never know, stuff we don't notice in our truck may be felt much more severely by our trailer.

Your final thought seems to make a lot of sense . . . maybe we're just catching these things before the first one fails.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[time2roll]

Hard to tell from a picture sometimes. What do the others look like?

Tread looks a bit warped like a belt is starting to slip. I would remove the wheel/tire for closer inspection that it is round and shaped properly. Does look a bit more worn on the inside like the camber is off.

No real alignment except to check the axles are square to the hitch and parallel to each other. If an axle is bent it probably needs replaced.

All the tires I have had had wear issues just before coming apart. DURO, Denman and Maxxis. Going to watch the Goodyear Endurance very close.

[jerryjay11]

Three things I would look at.
1.bent axle
2.worn or loose bearing
3.a spring shackle flipped