Trailer Tire Issue

[EBass]

One of my tires seems to wear more than the other. Like a lot more. Could it be a bad bearning? They are the Fleet Farm/Carlise brand and that could be the issue right there. Any thoughts on what could be causing one tire to wear more than the other? Tire pressure is the same on both. Well I'll double check that.

[LightningBG]

out of alignment possibly.

[Northlander]

Get rid of those carliles to start with. They are JUNK! get a good set of radials. Check your bearings and measure to make sure your axle hasnt moved on you. Biggest thing is get some good radials and get rid of the junk Carliles!

[Jim Almquist]

I agree with Northlander

Those tires are JUNK !!!!!

They never lasted much more than a summer on my trailer.

If your axle has not moved and your bearings are good it may just be the lousy tires and the way they wear. I went to a radial tires on my trailer and have had no problems and they are 3 years old.

[reinhard1]

while i think there are some other issues with your tires as you describe them, i agree with northlander--carlise brand in my opinion are the worst tires i know of. i had my two carlise brand tires blow up on me in the first year of use on a brand new rig they were apart of. i spent over $20,000 on my boat,trailer, and everything that goes with it. why they put on these junk tires on a brand new rig is beyond me [except for the profit margin]. i put new tires on the tires since and have had no problems. that was 2002, and no problems with my tires says alot. good luck.

[EZ17]

assuming this tire is on the same axle as a tire that is not wearing I would check for a bent axle...to get a gnat's hind end accurate measurement you may have to remove the axle...mark the hub flanges the same on both sides(usually at 9 o'clock)..take measurement, rotate hub flanges so marks are at 180 deg(3 o'clock) and measure again..the measurement should be the same or close to within an 1/8 inch.

[lucky]

Bad news for me on the Carlisle brand i just bought one for my spare. 89 bucks compared to 130 for the Goodyear replacement. The Goodyear did last 11 years.

[Surface Tension]

If your wearing out a tire that fast I'd check for a bent axle or alignment.

[EBass]

Thanks for the replies - it's a newer axel, but I put it on, so it's probably off a alignment. Add that to the winter project list

[hitthebricks]

Carlisle tires are junk, I only use them on my work trailers where I need D range tires and in the Twin Cities. My boat has Goodyear Marathons, 11 years, 4 trips per year to I falls, never a problem but they need to be replaced for next year.

Also a buddy who owns a very well known tire shop here in town flat out said "Trailer tires are garbage, except for Goodyear

The problem with wear is most likely caused by your brakes.

Good luck

HTB

[reinhard1]

i agree that Carlile tires are junk. i had two new ones that came with my new boat and trailer. they had the proper air pressure ect. and they both blew up on me within one year. good luck.

[FM_Mike]

I have always had good luck with Goodyear Tires. But I don't think they are made in the USA any more. I have seen some post on other web sights where they are having trouble with the Good years.

Mike

[Loose]

I have never had any issues with Carlisle tires on my car trailer, and they get a work out!

[JohnMickish]

Ranger now uses Carlisle instead of Goodyear on their trailers now. I don't know if they are the same tires that the cheaper places sell or a higher build quality tire, but putting them on trailers with fenders like that must say something good about them.

[Northlander]

It just says Ranger is probably getting them on the cheap. If they start having issues they will get rid of them just like I did. Im sure they arent the cheap ones that are being put on single axle 17' and 18' boat trailers but probably upper end radials made by Carlisle. I hope Ranger and everyone else has good luck with them but out of the 3 sets I had they were all junk. I will never own another one.

[EBass]

I believe the issue with the one tire balding has to do with my leaf springs which makes my axel off alignment.

How can I explain this? I jacked up the trailer and used the axel as the point of contact to replace the bearings I believe. Any ways, the leaf spring connects with two bolts. The leaf spring moved on the rear bolt when I jacked it up and never went back. (hard to explain) So now I need a mini jack to put between the leaf spring and the frame to spread it apart again. OR I need to do something to get it back to normal. Hope that made sense. Any ideas?

Co-worker said take the boat off and use a pry bar between the spring and frame or he said the bolts could be rusty and I may need new leaf springs.

[Surface Tension]

I think what your saying is the shackle isn't sitting correctly.

It should be vertical but yours is tilted back and collapsed. Note that the shackle is supposed to move.

If the spring is weak its length increases enough that the shackle is no longer vertical when a load is on it.

Could be that you have a broken leaf too.

Could also be that the bushing(s) is shot which could be enough to cause misalignment of the axle and cause the tire wear.

[EBass]

I attempted to fix the leaf springs by jacking up the trailer and used jack stands to sit it there. I then was able to place my jack between the axel and the leaf spring and spread it. I tighted the back bolts and released the jack and it went back to the same place.

Most leaf springs have circles that the bolt goes through and mine has that on the front but a hook on the back.

To make a long story short I need new leaf springs and bushings and bolts. And probably new tires next year.

[EZ17]

is this a homebuilt trailer? sounds like your geometry is off...by your explanation it sounds like you have slipper springs...gonna need to do some measuring to figure out what exactly the issue is

[EBass]

Quote:

is this a homebuilt trailer?

I think it might be. And yes it's slipper springs with a hook on the end. It's a 1988 and it's falling apart. It does have a newer axel though.

I have parts ordered - we'll see if it all fits though when they come in.

[EBass]

New leaf springs are installed, but upon dropping the axel to get them installed my buddy noticed that the axel is bent. UGH - it never ends! So come spring I'll need a new axel and tires and a new drain plug insert.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Castinski]

What do you mean by a bend in the axle? I ask this because I think it is common for the axle to appear bent without a load on it (camber) that will flatten out when a load is applied.

[EBass]

Really? I would think it would be solid enough to hold the weight of said boat. Then again I have no idea.

We set the axel on some blocks and rolling it on the blocks showed that it's indeed bent.

I called Crystal Welding (where I bought the axel) and he said I need a new one and they can't be repaired.

[Castinski]

Info about camber

Your trailer may or may not have had camber built into it. I just put a brand new axle on mine and it definitely had a positive camber to it.

Of course, if it was actually bent and not a built in camber it could cause one tire to wear more than the other.

Just throwing one more thing out there to think about before you drop some $ on a new axle.

[EBass]

Interesting - thanks Castinski. I'll put that on a lower priority. Next up is the lower unit replacement.