Tandem Axle Trailer Alignment

R

Ron on Meander

New member
Well after about 20,000 miles the Goodyear Marathon tires on my tandem EZ loader are just about gone. The tires have significant wear on the outside on one side and strange bulges on the tread on the other side. I'm wondering if perhaps the wear is caused by poor axle alignment. The axles are held in place only by u-bolts and have a thin metal spacer between the axles I guess to supposedly hold them the correct distance apart. Does anyone have any ideas on how to check alignment? The tires stores don't seem to know and the trailer dealers/manufacturers haven't been any help either.
Thanks for any help.
Ron
 
Ron,
Usually they measure from the center of the stud on the ball and measure to center of the ends of the axles. Get the end of each axle an equal distance from the center of the balls stud. Tighten the ditch side. Then on the opposite of the ditchside the ends of the axles are usually set back an 1/8 of an inch from the original equal measurement to help the trailer pull out of a ditch should that occur.

D.D.
 
Ron on Meander":330d0xkc said:
Does anyone have any ideas on how to check alignment?
Click to expand...

Several things come to mind...none of which I have any direct experience with, but seem logical to me.

First thing I would do - ensure nothing is bent, prior to aligning anything. For the axles themselves, this would seem to be pretty easy - simply measure the distance between the rims on each axle at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, and make sure they are equal. I'm assuming there's no need for toe-in or out on a fixed trailer axle, but that should be verifiable from the manufacturer.

For the trailer frame, maybe a bit tougher...perhaps find a common fixed point near the axles on each side, and measure up to the center of the hitch.

Once everything is verified straight, alignment shouldn't be too tough. Simply measure from the center of the front axle to the middle of the hitch, and ensure it's equal on both sides. This might be easier with the front tires/wheels removed.

Once the front axle is aligned, I'd mark the frame in some permanent fashion so you can easily see if things slip down the road.

Aligning the rear axle to the front, should be a piece of cake. Simply cut a couple pieces of wood to the same desired length, such that they fill the space between the axles at the frame. Use them as a jig to correctly space the two axles apart.

I'm sure somebody here has actually aligned axles on a tandem, and has something more than a hypothesis...but I can't see why the above wouldn't work pretty well.
 
Hi Ron,

From my experience you have had good service from those tires. If you have bulges in the tread I would replace those tires now!

I bought 5 Goodyear Marathon tires and three of them have had the tread separate and come off. That is with less than 6000 miles on them. Also they are less than 3 years old.

Last summer one tire lost the entire tread and it took off the fenders as it came off. Just a few weeks ago the third tire had a bubble in the tread and the tire was bouncing. A trucker stopped me to tell me. I was able to change it before it failed. I had checked all the tires only 30 minutes earlier.

Another thing to consider with tire wear is that the trailer is level when it is hitched to the truck. Just measure from the ground to the frame in front of the front axle and behind the rear axle. If uneven you can get a taller or lower hitch.

Traveling with any bulges or bubbles in the tread is asking for trouble in my opinion. Let us know what you find.

Good Luck,
Steve
 
Just had my tandem axles aligned due to uneven tire wear. The cost was $225.00 for the alignment and it was necessary. The trailer/boat (C Dory Cruiser-25') were new in 2004 and we haven't put an extraordinary amount of miles on the trailer, but the tires were wearing unevenly, hence the alignment. The alignment shop here in Bend, Oregon where the alignment was done has been doing alignments almost exclusively for 30 years. I'm confident that I was treated fairly and a good job was done. Our trailer was manufactured by Magic Tilt and is aluminum with disc brakes.
Ken
aka: Wood Duck
 
In my wasted youth I owned a body shop... Almost any auto body shop that has a frame machine can check and adjust axle alignment.. Rocket science it ain't...
And they won't need the machine to do the trailer, just the experience from straightening frames...
 
Alignment on trailers is fairly simple. As stated above you first want to make sure to check that the center of the hub is an equal distance to the center of the ball. Once you have that measurement correct you need to check the toe on each axle. Do this by finding a reliable spot on the tire or wheel to check the distance between the tires on that axle. Measure the front side and then do the back side. Typically Toe measurements should be within 1/8" with the narrower measurement on the front. If not then you need to take it to a shop to have the axle straightened.

From the sounds of your tire wear, I would say the tires with the wear on the outer edge of the tire have the camber set wrong. The ones with the "Strange Bulges" (probably called "Cupping") have the toe set wrong. I would definitely take it in to a frame/alignment shop if you are concerned about the wear.

I would not take it to a tire shop for this as they won't have the tools needed to adjust the alignment and probably would have no clue how to carry out the alignment.
 
Thanks so much guys. The knowledge on this site is extraordinary! I will try the measurements first to see if I can see any gross alignment problem. I have replaced all four tires yesterday. Considering the number of miles and the varying conditions from interstates to back roads I probably should be happy that I had no blow outs or flats other than the one I cause by running into a curb at a gas station.
Thanks again for the advice.
Ron
 
So nice to hear from you Ron! I'll have to visit all your pictures of your journey. We sure had a nice few days with you guys at Lake Mohave, enjoyed every minute.

On the trailer tires, I went up another load range to "E" on my 2nd set from original. And these are radials not bias ply (those were Carlisle and 3 of 4 developed large sidewall blisters on one trip). I went with America's Tire name brand, Green Ball, but these so far (<3000 miles) are far superior in all aspects of trailering that I can see. Time will tell -- and they have an excellent warranty-replacement program.

Sorry it's too late though for you since you just bought new ones. Keep us posted.
 
Could the outer tire wear also be a result of tight turns? I live in a Cul-de-sac and each time we go out I'm forced to drag the front tires across their tread pattern, due to the tight radius of the cul-de-sac. You can actually see the skid marks in front of my neighbor's house.
 
Mark, wouldn't think that would do it unless all you did all day long is drive around that circle!! :roll:

I think you'd get dizzy or someone would shoot you before the tire wore any appreciable amount!

Charlie
 
Ok, let's continue this thread. I ran about 320 miles today, for a total on the trailer of ~800-900 miles with 200-250 empty. I got out of the pickup and looked at the tires the left front is worn almost smooth. I guess I go looking for a frame shop in the morning.
 
I agree that 20,000 is on the just okay side of things.

My trailer tires on the boat wore significantly from parking it in the driveway where I had to make a very sharp turn.

I have used a local spring shop to do work over the years, I have been satisfied with the work.
 
I have had almost the same experience as SeaSpray. Last year in August the tread separated on the right side, but stayed on. This year the tread separated on the right side and flew off, leaving ugly black rubber marks on the fender and side of the boat. Same time of year, same highway, same side of trailer. They were the original Marathons that came with the boat when we bought it new in 2006. Probably 5000 miles on them.
 
I've been so P.O.d since the last that I couldn't talk with anyone but Snack (see Wild Blue adventures for description of Snack).

I rolled into a very nice, well equipped shop that does heavy truck, motorhome, and trailer alignment in Solon, OH. Here is the web site http://www.mainlinetruck.com/ . One tire was worn smooth in 915 miles, all of the other tires were wearing nicely. They dinked around 2 days with the trailer, finally pulled the axle off and SENT it to a trailer repair to have it straightened and charged me $745 ! You don't KNOW mad - 30 years of chasing some great contractors to make sure they performed according to contract - then I get this. Hell I could have, (had I known) just put a couple of spares in the pickup and waited till I got it home - I could have just replaced the axle, I could have done serious damage before I left but didn't do any of the above.

NOW, if you have ONE tire wearing on straight axles , s there ANYTHING other than; 1. An axle being bent outside of the spring hanger on that side. 2. A bad tire 3. REAL bad bearing slop - that could cause it ? Would anyone with a smidge of mechanical be able to check the above in less than an hour ?

Gotta quit this .
 
Dave,

Sorry to hear you ran into an unpleasant situation with the repair place. Unfortunately, bad (and overpriced) service shows up in any venue. We have found that when having a trailer problem on the road, we are better off with a trailer service place (even one that does RVs, but not motorhomes) than with a big shop that does BIG equipment.

Hope the rest of the trip is easier on your nerves. Is the place that made your trailer going to do anything for you?

Good luck - keep us posted.

Best wishes,
Jim (who grits his teeth when dealing with any kind of service outside the home area)
 
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