Trailer tires cupping

Hey guys, my travel trailer tires are "cupping" after my last two long trips. Just had the bearings packed, and installed two new 6v batteries to the tongue. Best I can figure it has to do with shitty suspension bouncing or a badly needed balancing.

My Taco has two Firestone RideRites that I keep at 30-40 psi for towing the 3600 lbs Rpod single axle. No WDH. No issues until after this last servicing.

This is what it basically looks like:

Anyone have experience with this happening to their travel trailer?

Thanks,
Tyler

 

Worn suspension, let's the trailer just bounce is way to needing new tires.

 

Wow, those tires are pretty seriously messed up.

The first thing that comes to mind, is those are pretty knobby tires for a trailer. You would probably be better served with some ST tires, which are relatively knob-less. Knobby tires tend to wear that way to some extent, regardless of what they are on.

The second thing that comes to mind, is that it really has the appearance of being *alignment* related. Yes, obviously solid trailer axles don't have any alignment adjusters, but could it be maybe that the axle is *bent*?

Third, if that really did happen right after the bearings were serviced, lift the wheels off the ground and test for play. Shake the wheel around and make sure the bearing is tight, spin it and make sure it doesn't bounce.

Note that some trailer axles are bowed up in the center so that they straighten when a load is applied. This does not indicate that the axle is bent. If it is a bowed axle, make sure that it is bowed smoothly and evenly on both sides. Make sure that the two wheels on [each] axle are perfectly parallel in the driving direction.

 

Things Ive learned from towing with our Tundra.

Those are not good trailer tires. Get normal trailer tires, you can get a trailer tire w/ a new wheel for like $60-100.

Check your suspension as directed above.

Is the trailer loaded properly? Our 20' enclosed trailer I for some reason loaded all the weight in the front. The brakes on the rear axle would always grab when slowing down and getting pitch and would skid the tires.

 

does the camper ride level ? with the bow in the axle this gives the tire a slight positive camber ( lean out at the top like this \---/ ),

tongue high or low will induce a caster effect and cause the tire to want to steer and wander, the other side does the same, one of the effects is what you see in your tires as they are fighting to try to go one way or the other.

 

Not sure what the age of the tires are but my recommendation is to pay the extra money for better trailer tires, balance, check and maintain tire pressure (50 psi), and rotate regularly based on usage.

 

Thanks, all!

I hear you about the tires, the M/T's are an (IMO, useless) addition to the "Hood River Edition" package and until now, have held up just fine (10,000+ miles including a cross-country trip). They are NOT the issue. I've been religious about 50 psi in them and have rotated them twice since buying the trailer in 2011. Besides, looks like they're gonna be replaced anyway, right?

Trailer rides level, it's a single axle, so no issues with the brakes as far as I can tell. "Caster" effect: ??? No idea.

I'm having the suspension checked by the dealer that had repacked the bearings 1k miles ago. I can see the "bow" in the axle but it's minimal; about what I'd expect from a 3600 lbs trailer. Camber seems ok. Haven't raised each side yet to see about play in the hub, will do that next.

One thing I didn't mention: The suspension is a weird offset "dog bone" enclosed spring arm (no leaf springs at all). I'll post a pic when I get around to it. Anyone have experience with this?

 

You gave a Torsion axle, the other end of the " dog bone" rotates in a rubber enclosed socket in end of axle beam
Look up dexter or alko axles in the web, you'll see how it works

 

I own a business where we use 3 different Gooseneck trailers. 20,000GVWR behind 3500 Dodge Rams. They run nearly at maximum capacity. Between the 3 trailers, they log a combined total in the neighborhood of 60,000 a year. I've seen trailer tires that look just like yours. Usually from under inflation.

Use TRAILER tires on a trailer. Do NOT use traction tires. Inflate to maximum rated for that tire.

 

FYI, Goodyear recommends to inflate to 10psi OVER sidewall max pressure for the Marathon trailer tires. When I ran mine at of the bottom of the pressure they looked just like the picture. Now that I'm 10psi over, they look just fine. Check the Goodyear site.

 

Yep, in bold is a point I forgot. Very VERY true.

 

That sounds pretty fishy (in terms of safety), but will have the desired effect for this reason;
when the tire is overinflated, it means that the MIDDLE of the treads will be sticking out more, holding the edges of the tires off the road slightly. If the edges of the tires are off the road, they won't wear.

But note: that it has the desired effect does not make it right, or safe.

 

Actually heat is reduced due to the carcass of the tire flexing less at higher pressure.
My tires wear very even across the tread at 10 psi over sidewall max. I've been doing this for about 9-10 years now, and I tow quite a bit.

 

Over inflation (within moderation) is far better than UNDERinflation. Neither are a good idea as the payload weight gets closer to the maximum. The heavier you load a tire, the more critical it is that it be at the RIGHT psi. (which is ALWAYS a good way to roll!)

 

I know I'm resurrecting a dead thread here, but that statement is (IMO) dangerous misinformation. What Goodyear actually says is that if you are going to overspeed the tires (from 65 up to 75mph), then you should over-inflate 10psi based on the the normal inflation posted on the trailer placard. Nowhere do they say you can go over the maximum pressure posted on the sidewall. So, lets say you have Marathon ST225/75R15s carrying 2000lbs per tire, normal inflation would be 45psi for that load at 65mph. So if you wanted to overspeed the tire, you should inflate to 55psi, still well under the max sidewall pressure for that tire. But if you have that same tire loaded to 2500lbs, your normal inflation would be 65psi which is the maximum sidewall pressure, so you could not over-inflate, and therefore, shouldn't overspeed the tire either. Rather than say "look it up", I've attached the service bulletin from Goodyear.