Rear Tire wear ?

Big Country 3250TS. Bought Jan 2010. Have just under 1,000 miles on unit. You can see the mold tits on the tires on front axle. They look great. However both tires on rear axle are worn badly. On both the outside ribs are worn to 1/2 depth and the ctr ribs are worn considerably but not as much. Any clue?
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Tenderfoot, two possibilities come to mind. First, is your rig level when towing? If it's high in the nose, that will put more weight on the rear axle and tires. The other thing is tire scrubbing. This occurs when you turn tightly or maneuver into a site. Watch your tires in your side view mirrors and see how they flex when backing into a site. The possibility also exists that you have an alignment problem. This can be determined by a reputable service center that deals with heavy trailers.
 

DMitch

Well-known member
If your wearing tires on one axle on the outside edge of the tires, my guess would be alignment. I would take it to a good shop that does large truck and trailer spring and axle work. They have the alignment equipment to do the job properly.
 
Been out of pocket for a while. Thanks for replies. The more i look at it the more it looks like alignment issues. Especially since the front axle tires are almost like new. Even though the trailer has less than 1000 miles on it i was told that the axle is out of warranty. Of course!! i have appointment in 2 weeks at a good rv shop for them to check it out and give answer.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
I had a rear tire wear on the previous trailer and it took a while to determine that the problem was with the front axle alignment to the frame. And to my surprise the both rear tires were wearing on the outside, but one side more then the other.
On tandum axles it looks like the rear tire tends to try to follow the front tires and they are the ones pulling sideways and wearing.

the other reason could be hitting the tire hard thus bending the axle. Years ago it happend often that axle bend was caused by heavy breaking causing the axles to open the toe ins.
 
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lwmcguir

Well-known member
Been out of pocket for a while. Thanks for replies. The more i look at it the more it looks like alignment issues. Especially since the front axle tires are almost like new. Even though the trailer has less than 1000 miles on it i was told that the axle is out of warranty. Of course!! i have appointment in 2 weeks at a good rv shop for them to check it out and give answer.

Does this RV shop have an alignment machine and the hydraulic jacks to bend the axles? If not you need an alignment shop that can do trailers.
 
from last post in June. had shop inspect axles. they were correct. took 1200 mile trip with out trouble but 2 wks later on a 90 mile weekend trip 1 tire came apart. tread seperation. the others were wearing strange. bit the bullet and put 4 michelin xps rib tires on and 300 miles later they are wearing fine. findings so far: import maypop tire issue. 3 of the orig tires were 3 years old and 1 was 4 years old by dates. tires must sit in at factory way to long before being used. import tires and bad storage before installation probably reason. the air pressure was correct. was in tire industry 18 years so i check psi constantly. its a shame because the tires had less than 2500 miles on them and michelins are not cheap but peace of mind is worth the difference.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for the update. This information might help someone in the future.

Peace
Dave
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Tenderfoot, if they are TowMax, contact TBC tires and send them pics if you have them, they may reimburse you for your bad tires. We replaced all of ours that were wearing strange. 3 of 5, the tire shop said were defective. We got a check about 5 weeks after sending them the pics.

E
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I wonder then..if I send them a picture of my old Tow Max tires that are now on a manure spreader, will I get a refund too? LOL..Don
 

mmomega

AnyTimer
One of my friends put regular DOT E rated truck tires on his trailer after he had 2 random blow outs on 1 trip and he swears it feels like the trailer tows better and when we stop for fuel the tires are a bit cooler as well.

He got them at NTB, they were cheaper than the regular "trailer tires" even with roadside assistance and warranty.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
All the folks running 17.5 see the lower temperaures and better towing so the tires do make a difference. Nothing wrong with the G614's either.
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
Tenderfoot - we also had a 3250 which were wearing on the inside of the rear axle tires. The coach came with the Mission tires from the factory. After checking the alignment - one side of the rear axle was almost 1/2" different than the other side. We had Reico-Titan Correct Track II installed whiched corrected the alignment problem. We ran those tires for almost 4 years before putting Goodyear Marathons on which didnt have any problems before we traded coach. We researched about putting the G614s on but the wheel rims were not large enough for these tires and wrong lugnut pattern to trade out the rims.

Tenderfoot - we would like to welcome ya'll from the TN/KY Chapter of HL Owners club. We are a new chapter which has had one rally so far and working on the 2012 rally. We would love to invite you to the next rally and encourage you to think about joining the Club. If you have any questions, please give us holler.
 
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