Need advice on axle alignment / tire wear / wheel bearing issue

[MurrayN.]

Please move this to the appropriate category as I couldn't find anything pertaining to wheel bearings / axles. I just started servicing my wheel bearings when I noticed that one tire is worn unevenly about 3/4 the way around the tire. When the axle is lifted up with a jack is makes contact with the cement at one point only one every rotation. I put my spare on the same axle and it does the exact same thing. Any ideas what is going on?

 

[jnbhobe]

Sounds like a bent axel or spindle. It should spin evenly not with a lot of runout.

 

[cookie]

One thing that stands out here is your statement that "when the axle is lifted up with a jack".
It is not recommended to lift on the axle. Although I believe that many people do.
I guess there is a chance that you bent the axle by jacking on it.

Peace
Dave

 

[Sandpirate69]

Then the question is, if you have a flat tire where would you lift the RV to change the tire? Unless you have Hydraulic lift jacks that will raise your rv off the ground (not recommended) I see no other way to raise your rig. I have seen folks use the metal/plastic wedge to load one of the tires, which raises the next tire. I happen to use a bottle jack at the frame because my jack is too large to fit under the leaf pack. What would be the best way to raise the rv then?

Thanks

 

[Hastey]

Have you put the trailer in a tight turn? My Sundance did the same thing because I made a hard turn and bent the camber out of the axle. It was peeling the rubber off of the left rear tire. You probably have 6K axles and the flex too much.

 

[MurrayN.]

I know that the manufacturers official line is that you are supposed to lift the frame of the trailer and not jack under the axle, not sure that I believe that that is the safest way to lift as you have to lift way further on a jack that is standing on top of a bunch of blocks before that same tire comes off of the ground. There is no more pressure on the axle if i am only lifting it 2" to get the fully inflated tire off of the cement. Short answer no I am pretty sure that I have caused no damage. Also if the axle was bent then wouldn't the tire still be making contact with the cement 360* around and not just at a certain point. It would just be making more contact on a certain side of the tire that the other, but there would still be constant contact.

 

[Sandpirate69]

Just another Dumb question. If you park on uneven ground, lets say on the side of the road, and only one tire is 1.5" higher than all 3, that will bend the axle? I'm going to say, that if your axle bends it was because of poor material or workmanship. I think that's the manufacturer looking for a way to not fix your equipment.

Just my 2 cents

 

[westxsrt10]

Dosnt sound like a bent axle. From what you discribed I'd say you have 2 out-of-round tires. (common on low quailty tires)

 

[MurrayN.]

After some further work and going all the way around the trailer checking the axles I found out an interesting thing. On the other side of the same axle that drivers side tire does the exact same thing - makes contact with the cement at only one point when lifted off slightly and rotated. Both axles when looked down with a wheel off are perfectly straight across the trailer and have the correct arch in the when looked at from the end. All of the running gear looks fine, my springs all still arch the right way. I don't think that I am going to lose a whole lot of sleep over this even though I am leaving with the family on our main summer holiday next week. The tires should last this trip of a couple of thousand miles and then it will be time to replace as they are four years old now. I will take another look at the end of summer. Thanks for your info.

 

[TeJay]

Lets think about this a minute. You have 4 tires setting on the ground. They support your rig. You drag it down the road and each tire is subject to bumps and dips in the road. As it travels along the road it is lifted up and down, up and down, up and down. Sometimes it is lifted a lot depending on the bump. That puts a lot of pressure on each tire. The end of the axle is supported by the suspension. You will have either one leaf spring or torsion bar per axle. That leaf spring is designed to support and suspend the weight of your unit along with the road conditions that it is going to be subjected to over the course of its life. Now you're telling me that if I park my rig in the driveway place a jack under the axle housing close to where the leaf spring is attached and lift a tire off the ground that I'm going to bend the axle???? Unless I'm missing something it seems like I'm doing nothing more than placing the same kind of pressure that hitting bumps in the road does to the axle. I do realize that I'm placing a constant amount of pressure in one spot on the axle. That seems no more than if I hit a big bump with one wheel forcing the unit to rise with a lot of force. In the past I placed a 4X4 under both axles out at the end by the leaf springs and lifted my rig on the ground with no adverse effect. As far as jacking on the frame I think it might subject the frame member to an adverse amount of weight in one spot as well. That might cause a bent frame. I could be wrong on this and I am not adverse to learning and or changing my opinion. This may also fall under the idea of being overly cautious when it comes to lifting our rigs. Probably the lawyer thing has a lot to do with it.

TeJay

 

[TravelTiger]

To change a tire, we used two bottle jacks, on the frame, one on each side of the tires, and lifted until the wheel was barely off the ground. The bottle jacks were 12 ton each, and sitting on a stack of Lynx Leveler blocks, to get the height needed. We were also hitched up, with front landing gear raised, back stabilizers up.

I felt safe with this arrangement, and since the rig basically pivots on the hitch, I don't think this put excess stress on the frame.

 

[danemayer]

Unless I'm missing something it seems like I'm doing nothing more than placing the same kind of pressure that hitting bumps in the road does to the axle.

The axle has a very thin wall and you're probably using a jack that concentrates all that pressure on one small portion of that thin wall.

 

[MTPockets]

Adding to the mix ..... When we took delivery of our unit October 21st, I read all the mauals and noticed several recommendations to check nut torque in a number of places... One of those is the axle U-bolts... these U-bolts hold the axle in place and loose nuts can affect alignment.... my book recommends 65 ft. lbs. and there are two bolts at each wheel (4 nuts). that's 16 nuts i checked and most of them were below the 65 ft. lbs..... I checked them again in April and found a couple were below spec. I checked them again today after about 1200 miles towing and found 6 U-bolt nuts below spec..... So far I've had no tire wear issues.

Could be an issue for many of the tire and alignment problems reported... just a thought.

 

[TeJay]

Last year I went through all four leaf springs and added wet bolts and new bushings. All nuts were torqued and red lock tight was used so they couldn't come loose. Any time I work on systems that could be a safety issue I use lock tight. Cotter pins are always used on tie rods and other key steering linkages.

TeJay

 

[MTPockets]

Last year I went through all four leaf springs and added wet bolts and new bushings. All nuts were torqued and red lock tight was used so they couldn't come loose. Any time I work on systems that could be a safety issue I use lock tight. Cotter pins are always used on tie rods and other key steering linkages.

TeJay

This is wise .... I have to remember to get some.