Inconsistent Tire Wear?

[Ranotta]

i recently had to purchase new tires for our 19' as two of the tires showed heavy wear on the outside . The technician at the tire store told me that he thought the wear was possibly the result of axle adjustment issue. He pointed out an adjustment screw behind the wheel on the axle. I've never heard of this and so I'm asking whether this was a BS line or just that my tires never got re-balanced?

Advice is wanted.
Ranotta

[Adventures in Nomadness]

Tire wear can be caused by a few different things but I've never heard of that adjustment screw! Super curious if anyone else has. We had a bent axle that caused tire wear but it can be caused by inadequate inflation, un balanced tires, etc. You might consider having an rv tech look at it. When we had our axle fixed the repair shop could tell right away it was bent!

[Ranotta]

I’ll swing it by the RV shop before next trip but I had a lot of maintenance work done (including packing bearings work ) after last falls trips.. they didn’t say anything was wrong then but I didn’t highlight that issue.

[CADreamin]

Right before we returned home from our two week Utah trip, we noticed that one of our tires had significant wear on the inside tread -- significant enough to where we had to swap out with the spare. Our mobile tire guy come out yesterday and he thought it could be a slight 'bend' in the axle, which he says can happen because of rough turning or going over rough roads. After our next trip, he suggested we have them look at the tires to see what they look like ... which we will.

[RBRV]

when we bought our used 19 the tires appeared to be on a different plane from one another ever so slightly. I discovered after jacking up one side that on one axle the wheel bearings were not properly seated. I would not have noticed this on a single axle trailer or if all hubs were equally loose but a slight difference at the hub affecting camber was actually visible at the distance to the tire tread! If I had uneven wear I would think that could be a contributing factor, although I cannot say for certain because the tires on my rig had been replaced recently and uneven wear was not evident.

[Ranotta]

Thanks for input....another possibility.. I just need to get an RV repair center to offer their opinion and hope that it’s not a bent axle issue although the issue is on only one axle- the rear one.
Any other experiences out there?
Ranotta

[Buddy]

I had abnormal wear on the outside of my tires when I first got my trailer. It was used. The axel looked like it was bent and took it in for repairs. The technician looked at it and recommended that the axel not be replaced at that time. Instead he did an alignment and I have not have had any issues since.
I think the next time in, I might replace the axel with a high lift axel but that is a separate consideration. Bottom line, yes, you can get a wheel alignment done on the trailer.

[gbaglo]

High lift axle is not an axle. It's a device that raises the frame 2 5/8" above the axle.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ranotta

The technician at the tire store told me that he thought the wear was possibly the result of axle adjustment issue. He pointed out an adjustment screw behind the wheel on the axle. I've never heard of this and so I'm asking whether this was a BS line or just that my tires never got re-balanced?

Originally Posted by Adventures in Nomadness

Tire wear can be caused by a few different things but I've never heard of that adjustment screw! Super curious if anyone else has.

There is a version of Dexter Torflex axles with a removable (but not adjustable) spindle (Dexter Eliminator or Dexter Torflex with removable spindle), there is a design of axles with adjustable arm angle (traditionally by Flexiride, but Dexter bought Tie-Down Engineering which had a similar product), and there are trailer axles with a spindle which can be rotated for a crude adjustment, but I have not heard of Escape using any of these.

If there really is a bolt on the axle's arm behind the wheel then this is not a standard Torflex axle assembly, and it would be interesting to see what it is.

[Ranotta]

With this uncertainty i think Ill visit the RV repair I go to and ask them about it meanwhile taking a look at the axle. Additionally, I never rotated the tires (my mistake)... Thanks again.

[Donna D.]

Just remember, torsion axles are manufactured with a slight bend in the middle of the axle. That's normal, not a defect and not any damage you may have caused by driving on rough roads.