Uneven tire wear on a 19

[salmo7000]

I checked my Escape’s tires the other day and discovered the two rear tires are wearing on the inside, while the 2 front ones are not. Does anyone have an idea as to why this has happened?? I looked online, and various sources said the trailer could be overloaded, the tires are under inflated, and worst case scenario, the axle might be slightly bent. Because it’s just the 2 on the rear axle that are wearing unevenly, I fear it might be the latter.

If anyone has any ideas as to the problem, I’d sure appreciate hearing them, thanks!

[brroberts]

Loose bearings, bent axle, worn spindle, failing bearings, loose axel bolts, etc??

[Randy in Maine]

Photos?

Try repacking the bearings first since that is cheap to do.

[MVA]

Check alignment of tires front to back to ensure the rear tires are parallel to front tires:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybbfn7BL20A

Check wheel bearing torque to see if bearing are well seated.
Jack-up trailer on each side and spin rear wheels to see if they wobble when turning.

[CharlesinGA]

Is the trailer perfectly level when being hitched and towed? Sitting tongue high will put excessive load on the rear axle on a torsion axle system.

Charles

[salmo7000]

Thanks to everyone chiming in with ideas.

The trailer is level when hitched. When I picked it up in Chilliwack, ETI adjusted the WDH specifically for my truck, so it's as close to perfect as can be. I had the bearings inspected, replaced, and repacked last April. Since then, the trailer has been towed about 3,000 miles. Upon discovering the problem, we jacked it up and spun both wheels on the rear axle, and both rotated freely and straight. The trailer has never been overloaded, not even close, and we take pains to make sure most of the weight of our stuff is forward, to prevent any sway issues.

So I'm totally stumped. At this point we're pretty much done with camping until next April, so at that point I may buy a new set of tires. I'll have them take a close look at the axle, brakes, bearings, and anything else that might be causing the problem.

I'll report back if anything significant is found. Thanks for the help!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

The trailer is level when hitched. When I picked it up in Chilliwack, ETI adjusted the WDH specifically for my truck, so it's as close to perfect as can be. I had the bearings inspected, replaced, and repacked last April. Since then, the trailer has been towed about 3,000 miles. Upon discovering the problem, we jacked it up and spun both wheels on the rear axle, and both rotated freely and straight. The trailer has never been overloaded, not even close, and we take pains to make sure most of the weight of our stuff is forward, to prevent any sway issues.

So I'm totally stumped. At this point we're pretty much done with camping until next April, so at that point I may buy a new set of tires. I'll have them take a close look at the axle, brakes, bearings, and anything else that might be causing the problem.

That's all a good start, but before the problem continues and destroys the next set of tires I would check the alignment and the bearings. If you go to a tire shop and say "I need new tires, and check out why the first ones wore unevenly" I'll bet they don't even consider actually measuring alignment, and probably won't check for excessive bearing play; it's not in their interest to reduce the number of tires that you have to buy.

[Gasguy]

Would consider weighing truck & trailer axles with WDH engaged and disengaged. The ride may be level and the load bars could be moving to much distribution to your rear trailer axle. We had the same issue with our setup. Everything looked good ride wise but the scale numbers were better for dialing in the actual set up. Rotated the trailer tires after making fine adjustment & haven’t had any abnormal wearing
Since.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Gasguy

Would consider weighing truck & trailer axles with WDH engaged and disengaged. The ride may be level and the load bars could be moving to much distribution to your rear trailer axle. We had the same issue with our setup. Everything looked good ride wise but the scale numbers were better for dialing in the actual set up.

The the two trailer axles are at the same ride height, which they will be if the trailer frame is parallel to the road, they will be carrying the same load.

Still, scales are good to see what is really going on.

[Gasguy]

Google weight distribution hitch adjustment & tire wear, you can have a tandem axle with unequal weight distribution.
In our case the rear tires of the tandem axle were wearing prematurely. We checked for dragging brakes, axle alignment & tire balance. Everything appeared level so we scaled out each trailer axle & found rear axle had 60+ lbs greater weight on it, even more so with full water. After dropping sway control brackets down one notch & weighing we were in the 10lbs +- range. Stand alone weight of our trailer is about 3800
Tongue height slightly changed after adjustment just something to consider. I believe the torsion suspension can allow for even appearance.

[gklott]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

I checked my Escape’s tires the other day and discovered the two rear tires are wearing on the inside, while the 2 front ones are not. Does anyone have an idea as to why this has happened?? I looked online, and various sources said the trailer could be overloaded, the tires are under inflated, and worst case scenario, the axle might be slightly bent. Because it’s just the 2 on the rear axle that are wearing unevenly, I fear it might be the latter. If anyone has any ideas as to the problem, I’d sure appreciate hearing them, thanks!

We had the same issue except on the front axle. See attached image showing inside wear thru to the steel belt. This shows the original tire at 22,345 miles in our first 8 months. Both tires had the same inside wear.

Talked with Reece, and he suggested that the axle may be defective (bent). Called Dexter, sent them the images of all 4 tires, and they agreed that the front axle has a problem. They replaced it under warranty. Dexter also paid for two replacement tires.

Dexter shipped the axle to Camper Clinic II in Buda, TX. We dropped the trailer off at 8:00 am, and it was ready for pickup after lunch.

Have not had any excessive or uneven wear since.

Key is to have a picture of the each axle label that includes the serial number. Dexter needed that for the warranty.

73/gus

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Gasguy

Google weight distribution hitch adjustment & tire wear, you can have a tandem axle with unequal weight distribution.

Yes, if the trailer frame is not level, or if one axle has weaker springs than the other, or if tires are mismatched.

[hitectoys]

Measured from frame to a tread line on front of tire. Did the same on back of tire. It was off 1/4 inch. Same on the other axle. Inside tread was worn. Sent info and pictures to Dexter. They sent two complete axle assemblies, paid for installation and two new tires. Fantastic service that is rare today. I put on four new Goodyear endurance tires. Noticeably better towing ride.

[Ron in BC]

Yes, several of us have received new axles from Dexter and I agree, great and rare customer service.

Ron

[Kingfish]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Yes, several of us have received new axles from Dexter and I agree, great and rare customer service.

Ron

I had a very good experience with Dexter several years ago.

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by hitectoys

Measured from frame to a tread line on front of tire. Did the same on back of tire. It was off 1/4 inch. Same on the other axle. Inside tread was worn. Sent info and pictures to Dexter. They sent two complete axle assemblies, paid for installation and two new tires. Fantastic service that is rare today. I put on four new Goodyear endurance tires. Noticeably better towing ride.

Thank you, I’ll try this!! Does it matter where on the frame you measure??

[hitectoys]

Start with front of tire and pick the most outside tread line. Ruler should be perpendicular to frame and level. Use any spot on the frame for front and back of tire and same spot parallel to front spot on back of tire.

[Snappy]

Just finished putting 10k miles on our trailer (21NE) this year and took it in for a bearing and break check. Also noticed that the driver side had odd tire wear - front on the inside, back on the outside. Passenger side tires looked great. My service center in KC determined that both axles looked to be bent - Dexter has two new axles on the way under warranty for replacement. Very easy process to deal with them on.

[timmer]

Pretty interesting. I'm on my second set of tires...wore the first set out (inside 1" to the cords), bought one new tire & put the spare in to the other side and really paid attention to the tire wear. Because of the wheel wells, it's impossible to notice the wear pattern unless you crawl underneath. Thought it was an overload situation but, it's not. I sent pictures to Escape and they directed me to Dexter (that's their business model, any warranty issues are down streamed to the actual component mfg). I sent the pics to dexter and they replied saying they would send me a new one but that didn't imply any responsibility or any compensation for tires or installation. I'll install it in the spring with a lift kit...

[salmo7000]

Here are a couple of pictures of the situation... the worn tire is on the rear axle, the good tire the front. Both are on the driver's side of the trailer, but the other side is an identical situation. Again, this is on a 2018 19, towed about 12,000 miles. Bearings were replaced and repacked in April 2022.

Clearly there is a problem. Many thanks to everyone with suggestions and advice, I'm thinking a new axle is in my future. As are new tires.