Unusual tire wear pattern - Page 2

gbaglo · 09-17-2018, 11:07 AM

I don't know. I have a single axle so I don't do anything other than maintain correct pressure.
My tires had lots of tread left when I replaced them at seven years old. Some advise new tires ( due to aging out ) every three years. Most go considerably longer before replacing.

Mucram · 09-17-2018, 06:50 PM

Informative thread as I recently noticed tread wear on passenger side Carlisle tire on my 2017 17b. Haven’t had bearings repacked or brakes checked since purchase but on todo list. Wonder if les swab has expertise to evaluate axle etc?

Iowa Dave · 09-17-2018, 07:10 PM

Though I’m sure there are a lot of shops that could help you, I’d consider finding a frame and axle shop locally that’s been in business for some time and contact them to see if they would examine and measure the alignment on your axle. Some of those outfits are pretty sharp.
Iowa Dave

TallyHo · 10-20-2018, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Though I’m sure there are a lot of shops that could help you, I’d consider finding a frame and axle shop locally that’s been in business for some time and contact them to see if they would examine and measure the alignment on your axle. Some of those outfits are pretty sharp.
Iowa Dave

Recap: 12000 miles last year, outside tire wear on just the passenger side rear of our 19. RV shop repacked bearings, measured axles and determined all was good. Their notes said bearing on that wheel slightly loose but not enough to wear tire, repacked bearings, adjust brakes and replace with spare thinking it was just a bad tire. This year another 8000 miles or so, same deal, outside tire wear on passenger rear. We asked at the same rv place as last year and they suggested that they could replace the spring stack to see if that made a difference. Does this sound like a reasonable thing to do? Or should we look for another opinion? Anyone know of a good frame and axle place in Maine?
We hope to set off in January for the southwest followed by a trip up the west coast to Alaska for next summer. Lots of miles planned so it would be nice to have this little glitch sorted before we leave.
Thank you all, love all the advice on this forum,
Don and Jane

cpaharley2008 · 10-20-2018, 06:05 PM

Spring stack? do they know you have a torsion axle, not springs? I know in automobiles you have toe in/out or caster/camber and wearing the outside could be an issue, particularly since it is happening on 2 tires at the same location. Camber can wear the outside of a tire

War Eagle · 10-20-2018, 08:33 PM

Try towing it backwards from Maine to Alaska and see which tire wears. Oh, wait. That won't work....

Devil Dog · 10-20-2018, 08:35 PM

Check for a bent or broken center pin on leaf spring. Loose tie down bolts.
Measure from eye of spring to the center pin both ends / both sides, even a .250 in.
difference will wear tires( i.e.) bad spring length.
Even the hole drilled in the axel that the center pin goes into may be in the wrong place.
Even the bracket the eye of the spring goes into welded on frame maybe in the wrong location.
Lot of things to check , if your worried about it a good frame shop should find your trouble with tire ware.

Kingfish · 10-20-2018, 08:37 PM

Had similar issues with my 2016 19' last winter. Wear was on the inside tho. Dexter sent new axles and paid for labor and shipping. I had to pay for the tires. Labor was only two hours for both axle/hub/brake assemblies.

SFDavis50 · 10-20-2018, 11:33 PM

I have the same outside wear problem on both rear tires of my 2017 5.0TA. Right now the wear on the driver side rear is slightly worse than the passenger side. The front and rear sipes are gone and the middle sipe is still visible but shallow. I was thinking it could be more weight on the aft tires because the trailer was slightly nose high until the last long trip when I lowered the Anderson Hitch pin from the mid to the lower setting. Also I usually travel with the fresh tank full. I'm planning to swap them front to back and see if the wear pattern continues but I will also look into the camber of the front and rear axles. I have about 16,000 miles on the trailer.

Question, I have the high lift kit on my trailer, could that have any effect? What do others with a similar wear pattern have?

Brian B-P · 10-21-2018, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallyHo

We asked at the same rv place as last year and they suggested that they could replace the spring stack to see if that made a difference. Does this sound like a reasonable thing to do?

No. Did this shop actually look at the trailer? Unless you have mechanically customized your trailer, it does not have a "spring stack", which is a stack of leaves forming a leaf spring...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Spring stack? do they know you have a torsion axle, not springs?

Jim means that it does not have leaf springs. It has an independent trailing-arm suspension with rubber springs: a Dexter Torflex.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devil Dog

Check for a bent or broken center pin on leaf spring...

All good information for the 2014-2015 5.0TA owners who have leaf springs, but not applicable to any other Escape.

TallyHo · 10-21-2018, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

No. Did this shop actually look at the trailer? Unless you have mechanically customized your trailer, it does not have a "spring stack", which is a stack of leaves forming a leaf spring...

We were afraid they perhaps weren't our best choice. They actually even repacked the bearings and did the axle measurements for Dexter last fall. So either the office doesn't know what the shop is doing, or the shop just doesn't know what they are doing. We knew there weren't leaf springs that we ever saw but wondered if it was something we were missing (it's our first ever trailer). So now wondering if it is indeed the axle. Or it's possible we hit a pot hole or curb and bent the spindle.
Perhaps we should just leave it as is too until after the Alaska trip and more potential bangs, especially if we need to tow it backwards War Eagle

Viajante · 10-21-2018, 05:53 PM

Credit to Dexter for the warranty work. They could point the finger at the trailer manufacturer who installed the axles but it seems they don’t.

kfsmith · 10-27-2018, 04:38 PM

I have the same tire wear and ETI is sending us to dexter as well. Two tires are damaged I will follow up once we get home and have this addressed. I originally wrote this off because the bearings were loose when I took delivery (which I think ETI should have checked) but after repacking bearings and rotating the tires the problem persists.

casejh · 10-28-2018, 07:12 AM

Dexter sent the replacement axle to my local tire shop and they have changed out the axle. So far I have been over 3100 miles and it appears the problem may be fixed. After driving some more miles I will let everyone know, but so far I am hopeful.

cpaharley2008 · 10-28-2018, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by casejh

Dexter sent the replacement axle to my local tire shop and they have changed out the axle. So far I have been over 3100 miles and it appears the problem may be fixed. After driving some more miles I will let everyone know, but so far I am hopeful.

any idea on the old one, bent or installed wrong or what to cause the odd tire wear?

kfsmith · 10-28-2018, 08:21 AM

I'm no expert but my opinion is faulty installation.

cpaharley2008 · 10-28-2018, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kfsmith

I'm no expert but my opinion is faulty installation.

Is this what the axle shop stated?

mvassallo · 10-28-2018, 09:07 AM

Picked up our 2014 new in May 2014. 12,000 miles later, one tire on each axle on opposite sides totally worn (bald) for the first 1-2 outside inches of the tire. Without going into the whole process, Dexter replaced both axles and two tires. I think we are good as the next 12,000 travel miles show standard wear patterns.

casejh · 10-28-2018, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

any idea on the old one, bent or installed wrong or what to cause the odd tire wear?

I am thinking either the original axle was faulty or perhaps was damaged in transit to ETI. Reace seemed to think it was faulty, and said this has happened before. The tire shop said they installed the replacement axle in the same manner as the original. Again, I want to put some more miles on it before I conclude things are fine now, but so far things look promising, but I will let everyone know.

tdf-texas · 10-29-2018, 11:49 AM

It looks like I have a cupping problem on my passenger side.

Alignment doesn't look like the problem: I took a straight edge and laid it along the sides of the tires and that looked OK within a 1/8", I measured the distance between the axles from hub to hub on both sides and they are within a 1/16". Checked the bearings and they are both good.

Please look at these pics and let me know what you think. I'm guessing out of balance. My next step, unless someone has a better idea, is to mount the spare in the front passenger side and see if it goes away.

Oh, the driver side tires are wearing flat.

You may also like: