Possible axle problems...

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Tom Hoffman

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Joined
Mar 1, 2013
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1,256
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Home: Eastern Iowa
Close friends of ours just came home to Iowa from Yuma last week upon arrival they noticed that the right side tires on their 2014 5er (36') were bald and down to showing steel belting olong the outside 1/2 of each tire.  Even though we have 3 RV dealers and a Camping World here in the Waterloo Ia area, no one would commit to saying they could fix it most refused out of hand to even look at it claiming they had no way to fix it even if they could figure out what has gone wrong.  They bought the 5er new in Nov 2014 in Tucson.

Camping World blew them off completely.  They sat there yesterday all day and only had one small repair done on the shower door handle only to be told around 4:00 pm that they couldn't help them with the wheel/axle problems.

Where would you all recommend they go now???  They don't know which way to turn now...
 
If the trailer has solid axles and leaf springs, the wheel hubs are solidly attached to the axle and alignment is done by bending the axle in the middle until the alignment is correct.  The axles are manufactured to allow this adjustment, they're not perfectly straight.

First thing to do is weigh the trailer and see if it is overloading the axles.  If it's not, take it to a shop that's equipped to do truck wheel alignments and this includes some truck tire dealers.  It's a common way to reset truck wheel alignment.
 
Weigh your trailer first and make sure it is not overloaded and contact a frame and axle shop and talk to them. I would not trust something like this  to a CW.



The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.

 
The specifics of the wear pattern will tell a competent frame & axle shop what is wrong with the axle & hub, but mostly that means which way to bend the axle (as Lou described)
 
Usually if the tires are worn on the outside edge, the axle may already be bent upwards in the middle. I know from experience when I jacked up my first travel trailer by putting a jack on the axle instead of the frame while pulling the wheels off.  I had to take it to an alignment shop to fix my goof.  It required chaining the axles down and re bending them straight.  Live and learn.  Most RV shops are not equipped to handle anything like that, so they were smart to decline trying.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
Where would you all recommend they go now???  They don't know which way to turn now...

Take it to a shop that does heavy-duty trucks and trailers.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions and advice, I have passed them on and will let you know of the resolution in the near future.

Tom...
 
Had the same problem with my Montana. Took to a place that bent the axles the way it should have been. No problems since I got it taken care of.
 
Mt friends took their 5er to a Tractor/Trailer repair shop, all the measurements came out OK, nothing bent.  They changed out the tires for a better grade, they have 20+K on the original late 2014 tires and are on their way to their home base in Utah and will take it to their trusted mechanic.  Hopefully it is sorted now.

Tom...
 
I had a similar experience in my trip back from TX to WI.  The dealer said it was a bent spindle. They are fixing it under warranty.
 
Right side tires often get "curbed" from taking sharp right turns so after 20,000 miles perhaps they were just dragged down a few sidewalks. The fact that both tires on that side were worn in the same way suggests that it was something other than an axle problem. That is probably in the window of normal tire life anyway.
 
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