Time to get my axles checked

Thanks for posting your estimate on an allignment. I'm still looking. I am in the market for tires for my WC, but don't know what kind to get. I'm just sick of these factory tow masters tires. Sorry quality that worries us every time we head out. I had to replace one this weekend at Myrtle beach but luckily the Goodyear tire store had a fairly new marathon that they sold me for $25.00 to get me by. But I need my axles checked first.

I've had great luck with the Towmasters. I have over 10k on mine. They have a lot of tread left and are wearing fairly even.

I have the 235/80r16Ds rated at 3250#. It sounds like the 225/75r15 are the problem.

Shooter:
I 2nd that about I-295.

Here are some pics:

Tread "peeling" off on passenger side rear:


Overview of that tire:


Tire is worn on the outsides (looks like it was run under inflated and then pumped up which makes it look over inflated):


Passenger side front tire, looks flat across, no wear (both tires have the same pressure):

I'm getting more paranoid with each post I read on this subject!!

I have to take the Cat in tomorrow for maintenance. Will ask if we have one of these axle alignment places in our neck of the woods.

TC

A buddy of mine who is selling construction trailers said that it might not be the axles but the tires itself (belts). That would explain the "bulging" in the center and the decreased clearance to the fenders. My next course of action is to take my spare out of the back and install it in place of one of the bad ones and see if this changes the clearance to the fender - then I know for sure that it is "just" a tire problem (Good Year Marathons LRD, manufactured in Mar. 2004).
I'll report back on this, probably after the weekend.

I just had a tire on my work trailer that was bulging in the middle like it was over inflated. It is definately the belts coming loose. I've had this problem before. Took it to a tire shop to get a new one put on the the tire guy said the same thing. He said it probably wouldn't last another 50 miles before it exploded.

I had the factory Firestone steeltex r4s form a bulge on the edge of the tread. It started vibrating from the out of round condition. We pulled over before it failed completely. That was about 8 years ago around the whole Firestone recall feasco. I remember hitting a bump in the pavement from a paving job in progress.

Shooter:
Last summer I had a Goodyear Marthon to blow the whole center of the tire out. It left only the side walls. That tire was made in Ohio. The replacement Goodyear was made in CHINA.
After the fall trip I found another one had a bulge in the center. After checking all the other tires I found one that had been Plugged, I had not had that done. I bought it like that. The factory or the transporter must have repaired it.
I had Metal valve stems installed and bought 2 Maxxis E rated and installed them on the back axle and installed the new goodyear and the spare on the front axle.
Just returned from Pigeon Forge, Tenn with no problems.

Well, here's the report:

Changed out one of the tires (the one with the tread peeling off) and installed the spare.....and guess what? The clearance is back!
Measured the diameters of the two tires and the bad one is about 2" larger in diameter and had 4 psi less pressure. It seems that I don't have to take the Cat to Downtown Richmond to get the alignment checked. BTW, the Marathons were manufactured in March 2004 (week 11).
Will order new wheels and LRE tires within the next few days. The tires will be Greenball Tow-Master or Transmaster and the wheels will be modular aluminum. I'll buy 4 wheels and 5 tires.

Mike,

Get the 16s if you are getting new everything.

I'm going to have some clearance issues with the fenders, that's why I need to stay with the 15's.

Check out the BF Goodrich Commercial T/As sold at Costco - they are 225 85 LRE 16 LT (so you don't have to worry about the width being too large) and if you do some searching, you can get nice 16" modular aluminum rims for $90 each shipped .... the tires were $126 each when I purchased them last winter. So far they have been great. I like the extra height. You will need different lug nuts .... the studs will be fine ....

So far the tires and Rims have made it from MD to Florida and back, and from MD to Utah, Arizona, Colorado and NM so far.

Thanks for the pics! That is the same way two of my tires look like. They are no longer flat across like a tire would normally look like. They look so over inflated, and ready to pop. They remind me of a new wheelbarrow tire. Good thing I took them off before leaving the beach. My WC is the 225/75R 15. Sure wish now that it would have came with the 16's.

Check your bushings too (if you haven't already changed them) - when they wear out, funny things happen to the tires.

cooksvillewildcat wrote:Check your bushings too (if you haven't already changed them) - when they wear out, funny things happen to the tires.

Changed them to greasable bronze bushings when I installed the Equa-Flex , the old nylon ones were pretty worn. Thanks for the info...

Shooter, after reading you post, I went out and measured the distance from the center of one wheel to the center of the other wheel on both sides. Dead on the same distance on both sides. Thank goodness.

I installed the Greenball's LRE's in May of this year and have been happy so far. I upgraded to 16" on new aluminum rims. Out the door at Discount Tire for about $800. That included metal valve stems and nice locking lug nuts. I was concerned about clearance on the slide out shaft like others but due to the rim offset I actually have a little more room now than before. Still trying to figure out how to post pic's.

The new wheels and tires arrived today

Here are some tire comparisons:

Overview new tire/wheel and old tire:



Detail of old and new tires:



Difference measurement:

My WC came with TowMasters, put over 25K on them and they still had fair tread, but put new TowMasters on just to be safe. Had two valve stem failures so had metal ones put in with the new tires.

Mike are those the greenball tires on the new wheels ?

Did you go ahead spring for the extra alum spare so you'd have a match all the way round ?

Admin wrote:Mike are those the greenball tires on the new wheels ?

Did you go ahead spring for the extra alum spare so you'd have a match all the way round ?

Yes, here's a better pic: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2231783940056654887uOuYoo

No, I didn't buy a spare aluminum wheel / tire. $860.- was good enough for now.....
I talked the the sales guy/owner and he said that because the original spare was always stored inside (in the back back storage area) and was never used, I should be OK to keep it as a spare for now. I also talked to Good Year and they said to have the old tires looked at....I might be able to get some newer spares in that case.

Went to the Goodyear dealer today and here is what I got:
Severe belt separation on 3 out of the 4 tires, one tire OK (these were the ones from 1104 out of Canada, spare OK (was made in 0104 in Australia). Goodyear wants to replace all 5 tires, but the 4 tires that were in use are prorated: Spare tire replacement @ $0.00, OK tire replacement after prorating @ $28.15, bad tire replacements after prorating @ $43.13/ea (all plus 5% sales tax, no charge for mounting and metal valve stems. Regular price for the tires is $143.00/ea + tax currently on sale for $115.00.
It just happened that a buddy of mine needs new tires for his equipment trailer, so I told the dealer to go ahead and replace them (I'll keep two for spares and my buddy buys the rest). The store manager said that he never saw tires that bad in his 40 years in business and was surprised that they still held air.

So belt seperation will cause the tread to get torn off ?

Anyone else would say your axles were shot....

Makes you wonder how many axles have been aligned and it was the tire instead. Cause how would you know ,,,, your gonna replace the chewed up tires anyway......

Ole Yella wrote:Shooter, after reading you post, I went out and measured the distance from the center of one wheel to the center of the other wheel on both sides. Dead on the same distance on both sides. Thank goodness.

I did the same thing AND I also measured from back axle to back bumper to make sure I had the same distance there as well. Reason being, I suppose it's possible to have both axles parallel to each other but out of square to the frame itself. Fortunately, I got equal measurements on both sides.

I feel better now.

TC