Tire rotation/ tire wear

[MaxwellD]

Greetings,

Does anyone have advice on proper tire rotation pattern on the Montana, or fifth wheel trailers in general? It is a little late to ask because I just got through rotating all four in an X pattern - seemed logical to me.

While doing so, I found the passenger side rear tire worn down to exposed steel belts so I had to replace that tire. The rest are wearing evenly. It was the inside aspect of the tire, proabably the inside 2 inches worn down bad!. Deeper in some spots than in others - kind of an undulating tread wear pattern. Tire man says I may have a bent axle or alignment issue. I know there are lots of threads on that subject but I bring it uo here because I am glad I decided to rotate or I may not have seen the degree of wear!

Thanks in advance,
Max

[Carl n Susan]

Most likely you have a bent axle. Get it checked out soon or you will be buying another tire.

[BB_TX]

I agree with Carl. Have it checked. I never rotated my trailer tires. And never had one wear any different than the others.

[DutchmenSport]

I've never rotated either on any of my trailers, ever. But I did have uneven wear on one tire a couple years ago. When I had some work done at my local RV dealership, I had them also check the axle. Turned out, the bad tire was due to a bent axle. They ended up replacing the axle and I ended up getting a new tire. That was more than 2 years ago and we've traveled thousands of miles since. All tires look good, even now.

My advise, get the axles examined and determine if there is a problem or not. It is possible, you could have had a funky tire, a misfit from the factor that wore bad and the other 3 were perfectly fine. But then again .... maybe something caused it to do that too! (I had that happen once with my car tires when I had all 4 changed at the same time).

[MaxwellD]

Thank you all for the replies I am thinking about getting I./S. and disc brakes instead of replacing the axle, if indeed it is bent which it probably is. I will have it checked before I make that trip. Thanks again!

[mlh]

No need to rotate trailer tires. You have something wrong with that tire or axle. Fix that problem and your tire wear problem will disappear.
Lynwood

[ReneT]

I had to have ny fifth wheel axles realigned. They have special tooling to do it. They do one axle at a time. They jack up the axle and set the tires down on what I would call a lazy Susan. They also mount a device on the wheels. Then using a hydraulic jack and a special jacking fixture, they bend the axle to get the correct toe in/out and camber. They weee way out of alignment

[brycesteiner]

Better mileage when done?

[Derby6]

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...light=Rotation

Here is my 02.

[LeftOverParts]

Not saying this is the same problem, but in case it helps, we had a camping neighbor a couple days ago with a 5ver where the steel belts on the rear tire was showing on the inside third of the tread. He was just going to mount the spare. However, when he lifted the tires off the ground with the jacks and went to remove the wheel, he could wobble the tire back and forth about an inch. Turns out the cotter pin had fallen out and the castle nut had backed off.

Then we noticed the inside edge of the front tire was worn at a significant taper and when we grabbed that wheel, it would wobble about a 1/4 inch. Same thing with the cotter pin and castle nut.

Very fortunate he found those.

[Baldicon]

Just rotated mine in an X patten. I had already pulled the wheels to install two X-factor braces so why not. The driver side of my camper is heaver with the kitchen slide. My previous set of tiers showed more wear on inner tread of rear tires, especially the driver side. Couldn't find any local shop that would check alignment and correct so am just watching them. I did check with tape measure and was only about 1/2" off from kingpin to axle. Don't really know if that is enough to make a difference.

[ReneT]

I took mine for alignment to a heavy truck repair business. The name was Tampa Springs. They are located in Tampa and also Lakeland FL

[MaxwellD]

I appreciate everyone replies. So now, I cant get into Moryde shop till next year (Jan- Mar) and I dont like the idea of pulling into Indiana in the Winter so it may be a while. Meantime, I noticed that rear axle is "flat" and the front axle has a nice upward "bow" (like I assume they are supposed to be). The rear axle is 7k and the front axle is a 6k (when I bought it, the hangers were out of square so Dexter replaced the rear with an upgrade after squaring). Seem like the front axle should be flat, not the rear. Had all bearing packed and brakes overhauled - no bent spindles and measurements were within tolerance (almost perfect) per mechanic. I am now leaning towards a bad tire but dont understand why the axles are this way. Any thoughts here are appreciated!
Max

[ReneT]

If your trailer is not loaded then both axles should be bent upwards. That was for when you do load it up and your tanks are full, they will have the tendency to straighten out. The way your rear axle is now, the bow would be down throwing the wheels out of alignment. You need an entire alignment by a shop that has the equipment to do it.
I’d be curious how the mechanic took measurements to say they were near perfect. I would not rely on what he said. It would be like taking your car to a garage and the guy said the front end alignment is spot on without putting it on an alignment machine.

[77cruiser]

Well when you bring it to MoRyde make sure they have it right mine was all FUBAR when I got IS put on. They did buy me a new set of tires though.

[MaxwellD]

I appreciate everyones input -thank you. What do you think of this? I believe the wheels are in alignment per measurements and spindle inspection. Dexter wants 1800 USD for another axle and then I get it installed. OK. So we took a 200 mile trip to make a contribution to the Winstar casino, and on the way my mileage had increased to 12.5 from 10.9 MPG so I got to thinking while driving...my brake drums were caked with debris and at least one needed R/R (not the one on the involved tire though). I am beginning to think that the involved tire (worn to steel belts for about one-fifth of the tire circumferencce) may have been partially dragging due to caked-build-up of brake dust inside the drum. That would seem to explain the issue of the wierd tire wear. I am just not convinced that the axle is bent based on what I have found so far. Thoughts?

[MaxwellD]

Originally Posted by brycesteiner

Better mileage when done?

Yes, better mileage... are you thinking what I am thinking? Brake iissue?

[Derby6]

IMO hung brake would get VERY hot but not wear a tire unless locked.
I say watch it closely. If it happens again obvious axle/alignment issue. If not it was a bad tire.
If it is wearing — the question becomes how much? Meaning if you log minimal miles tire rotation may be cost effective vice repairing. But if you log a lot of miles and long distances axle repair/replacement is necessary.