Tires

Popup2012 · February 17, 2017, 07:03:42 PM

I have a 2016 16TBS with about 5-6,000 miles on it and the tires are worn on the inside on both sides. One side more than the other. I know I have them at the correct air because I use a Tireminder system. What could it be??

Steve and Dana · February 17, 2017, 07:33:02 PM

Could possibly be one of two things, although a combination of a number of different issues could cause this issue. First could be the alignment of the axles/tires on the trailer. Second could be the tow vehicle alignment. From reading your note below re: tire wear on the inside of tires on both sides of the trailer - sounds as if you may have a toe out issue with the trailer axles/spindles.

charliem · February 17, 2017, 11:17:22 PM

Quote from: Popup2012 on February 17, 2017, 07:03:42 PM
I have a 2016 16TBS with about 5-6,000 miles on it and the tires are worn on the inside on both sides. One side more than the other. I know I have them at the correct air because I use a Tireminder system. What could it be??

I assume you have the single axle model. Thor/LL went to a single 4400# axle on the 16TBS when they bought out LL. Make sure you are not overloading the camper. It doesn't take much water, propane, battery, stuff to add up to 1000# and overload that axle. Weigh it at a truck scale. Folks on other forums have had similar problems with single axle campers and the torsion axles. If you suspect an axle problem you can contact LL with the axle model number for verification. Faulty axles have been found.

EDIT: Check this archive thread: http://archive.aluminiumcamperforum.com/index.php?topic=1110.msg26161#msg26161

Popup2012 · February 18, 2017, 01:02:34 AM

No I have one of the last dual axle TBS and they are both 3500 lb.( if I remember correctly)

Merlin · February 18, 2017, 10:15:20 AM

What brand and type of tires? Since you have a dual axle trailer with the Dexter axles and all 4 tires are wearing oddly, I'm going to guess it's not alignment and that good radial tires would fix the problem. You could do a quick rear frame to axle measurement to make sure everything is square, but I bet alignment is ok. You probably have the cheap bias ply tires that often have wear pattern issues. Get some Maxxis or Carlisle radials and you'll get a better tread contact pattern and more even wear. Did you make sure the TireMinder system is accurate at 50 psi? Because over-inflation will mess with wear too.

charliem · February 18, 2017, 12:53:26 PM

I would agree the dual Dexter axles are not likely to be the problem. At 7000# total they easily handle the 16TBS. I've not heard of anyone having troubles with them except early tire wear out with Made In China tires. IIRC FasteddyB wore out a set of Chinas in 5000-7000 miles whereas my BFG AT KOs have more than 30K miles with no wear showing. To paraphrase an old saying: You can have good tires or cheap tires - your choice.

DavidM · February 18, 2017, 01:42:28 PM

I have a 2013 16TBS with dual axles. Late last season I had to replace the right rear tire as it had worn beyond the wear bars. The others looked fine. This was after 5-8,000 miles. I didn't think to check for alignment then as I just assumed it was a crappy tire out of the batch. When spring comes and the snow melts I will check for alignment issues and report what I find. If it is bad alignment it probably means a bent or defective axle as the fore/aft spacing looks fine and if it were installed wrong, ie crooked, you would expect wear on the opposite tire.

David

Popup2012 · February 19, 2017, 04:52:20 PM

I looked at the tires and I have Ridgeway Sport ST 175/80D13. I got the TT in Jan,2016 with a build date of Aug 2015. The tires have a date on them of Mar 14.

Merlin · February 19, 2017, 07:56:08 PM

Ok, so you have 3 year old bias ply tires made by Lionshead, one of the large suppliers of OEM tires to the RV industry. There are very few reviews of those tires and I don't know where they are made. However, I think that 3 year old OEM bias ply tires with 6000 miles on them that are wearing funny are definitely candidates for replacement. As I noted earlier, I recommend a set of Maxxis or Carlisle radial ply tires in the correct size and don't look back.

Right now the Carlisle Radial Trail HD and the Maxxis M8008 are both available in that size from Discount Tire Direct for around $77 each and they are offering a rebate of $100 on a set of 4, with free shipping. (Even another $60 on top of that if you have their credit card.)That makes them such a great price that you should seriously consider it. I may even contact Paul about the idea of having place on the forum to post good deals on needed parts and equipment because lots of folks need tires and getting a set of 4 Maxxis radials for just over $200 is like stealing them.

Popup2012 · February 20, 2017, 04:31:36 PM

If you order from Discount Tire Direct, do you have to pay someone else to mount and balance?

Pinstriper · February 20, 2017, 10:58:09 PM

Quote from: Popup2012 on February 20, 2017, 04:31:36 PM
If you order from Discount Tire Direct, do you have to pay someone else to mount and balance?

Not if you are my brother in law. But he has his own tire mounting and balancing machines.

No kids, for the win !!!

Yeah, you can't balance until they go on the wheels.

Merlin · February 21, 2017, 08:56:43 AM

Quote from: Popup2012 on February 20, 2017, 04:31:36 PM
If you order from Discount Tire Direct, do you have to pay someone else to mount and balance?

Yes, should be about $12-$15 per tire at a tire store or WalMart, etc (unless you use Pinstriper's sister's husband, in which case it would be double that).

TLBones · February 21, 2017, 07:45:01 PM

Quote from: Popup2012 on February 20, 2017, 04:31:36 PM
If you order from Discount Tire Direct, do you have to pay someone else to mount and balance?

I think you can have them sent directly to a local tire shop if you wish at checkout They tell you what the cost is to mount balence stems, etc when you select the tire shop if you go that route.

Whipfinisher · February 21, 2017, 09:26:55 PM

I will also be looking for new tires soon.

The tire direct information is great!

Any recommendations about taking camper to the tire shop or taking the wheels to the tire shop one-by-one, two at a time, or all four in one trip?

Thanks

Merlin · February 21, 2017, 11:09:46 PM

Quote from: Whipfinisher on February 21, 2017, 09:26:55 PM
I will also be looking for new tires soon.

The tire direct information is great!

Any recommendations about taking camper to the tire shop or taking the wheels to the tire shop one-by-one, two at a time, or all four in one trip?

Thanks

Unless your tire shop is familiar with RVs or you are wiling to watch carefully where they place the jacks, I recommend you take the wheels/tires as a set of 4 in one trip. It's very important to use the frame of the trailer and not the axle to jack up an RV and I'm not at all sure that most tire shop personnel know that. They would likely just slip their jacks under any convenient fast place (read axle) and jack away, probably bending the axle. If you have a bottle jack or floor jack you can fairly easily jack up one side, take off the wheels and lower it onto wood supports (at the frame) and then do the other side. Also, both the tire places near me have parking lots that are not good for turning around a trailer.

Edit: I guess I should add that if you are not comfortable with jacking and supporting your RV without any wheels, it's also fine to take the wheels/tires them one at a time to the shop!