Blow out on the freeway

[padlin00]

I had new shackles and brackets installed in my last trailer, the welder who did the work said he sees axles knocked out of alignment all the time on trailers. Hitting curbs and such is very common. none more so then on landscaper trailers.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

It seems that many people are trying to use situational ethics to justify their driving at speeds above the posted limit . That logic does not compute in my world

My partner is on restricted time for many of our trips together so I get the issue of limited time but I do the math ahead of time as to how many miles and the speed and adjust our plans as I really don't like doing trips that require a 1600 or more mile drive a day at 65 mph.

Heck just doing the math on how long/far and how fast someone on restrictive time would have to travel while towing to save "a day" of travel scares the **** out of me! In order to travel 1300 miles at 55 it takes 24 hours, in order to do 1300 miles in 12 hours of driving ( max length of time I am willing to drive on any give day) one would need to be towing at 109 mph!!

[Bob Miller]

Situational Ethics
Didn't we used to call that "The end justifies the means".
I don't agree with it either.

[MCDenny]

Originally Posted by padlin00

Looks like those tires were a disaster about to happen, your blowout could have had far worse results. Did you get the new tires balanced? I found I had to ask them to do such, it was not standard.

Walmart needed two hours to balance the tire. I didn't want to wait. I plan to get the balancing done soon though, when we are staying at Sue's parent house.


Denny Wolfe
Wanderingourway.wordpress.com

[MCDenny]

Originally Posted by floyd

There is not much wear thickness or road distance between bald and belt on most tires.
The tire pictured appears to have been subjected to excessive negative camber.
Check the tread where there is some. If you find more than 5/32nds anywhere or if it is
progressively deeper as you move away from the exposed belt, then your axle may have been habitually overloaded or it is worn to the point of needing replaced.
If the good part of the tread is worn to less than say...4/32nds then it may be that your axle has some wear but is OK. A little negative camber wear can be tolerated since any trailer tire should be replaced when the tread wears to 3/32nds anyway.
Most will warrant replacement even sooner. With a little axle wear you can still get reasonable tire life and replace them when the inside tread reaches 3/32nds.
When this starts to happen too often, then it is time to consider a new axle.
If you use the "Logan's Run" method for tire replacement, then you could base your axle replacement decision on whether the inside tire wear commonly reached 3/32nds before your arbitrary time limit.


BTW I've seen plenty of tires on cars which were at least that bad, and the TPMS is no substitute for tire maintenance.

It's a three year old trailer with a 3500# rubber torsion axle. Wouldn't just one edge be worn away if the camber was out of spec?


Denny Wolfe
Wanderingourway.wordpress.com

[floyd]

Originally Posted by MCDenny

It's a three year old trailer with a 3500# rubber torsion axle. Wouldn't just one edge be worn away if the camber was out of spec?


Denny Wolfe
Wanderingourway.wordpress.com

A hands-on look is always better,so my response was elaborate in order to cover most likelihoods.
Generally... underinflation will cause a tire to wear on both edges fairly evenly.
Slight to moderate overloading will mimic underinflation with slightly more wear to the inside edge, caused by induced negative camber.
If the tires have been rotated they will develop wear characteristics of each side. A torsion axle wears each side independently.
Sad revelation... Many torsion axles do have or develop a slight bit of negative camber from new. (nature of the beast)

Question...
Which brand of axle? Most come with "EZ-Lube", but Lil'Snoozy says it supplies "Bearing Buddies"??

[Mike Magee]

I am thinking back to when I picked up my Hauley. I seem to recall looking at the tires that came on it, and thinking that the tread did not look even from side to side. I mean, the tread was deeper in the center than it did toward the edges. I think I even checked it with a gauge to confirm this.

Those tires didn't last me long, because of an injury to the axle. So they were replaced after only 3-4 months. But if my recollection is accurate, and if they were the same brand as Denny's, then maybe this wear pattern is simply a reflection of the tires' construction. That pattern doesn't make sense to me otherwise, because it looks like classic underinflation/overload but those possibilities have been ruled out.

Trailer (ST) tires seem to be made for low mileage, probably because most trailers sit so much the tires age out before they wear out. All the more reason IMO to use LT tires whenever such will provide sufficient load capacity and needed service life. LT tires have higher speed ratings and much longer tread life. A trailer like Denny's is being towed many miles, and a 40,000 mile (or greater) tire could prove beneficial.

[TomK]

Originally Posted by floyd

Question...
Which brand of axle? Most come with "EZ-Lube", but Lil'Snoozy says it supplies "Bearing Buddies"??

I think Lil Snoozy might use modified boat trailers. They sure look like it to me. Many, if not most, boat trailers use bearing buddies, so that wouldn't surprise me.

Tom

[charlsara]

My axle is made by Tie Down Engineering. It is the EZ Lube. The trailer is an LS3 , 2014.

[jennykatz]

Yes Lil Snoozy rides on a Wesco boat trailer with drum brakes (surge style) It's a 3500lb. torsion axcel set up. The fiberglass bottom and top go together just like a boat does ,shoe box style . My Snoozy rides on 205 Radial 14 in tires . It tows very nice .The only problem is backing up with a short trailer . I need to keep practicing

[MCDenny]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

Yes Lil Snoozy rides on a Wesco boat trailer with drum brakes (surge style) It's a 3500lb. torsion axcel set up. The fiberglass bottom and top go together just like a boat does ,shoe box style . My Snoozy rides on 205 Radial 14 in tires . It tows very nice .The only problem is backing up with a short trailer . I need to keep practicing

Well you will get some practice this afternoon 😳


Denny Wolfe
Wanderingourway.wordpress.com

[jennykatz]

we are in 95 be there by 2pm

[TomK]

I used Shoreland'r boat trailers in a former life. They look like Lil Snoozy trailers but had leaf spring suspension. They were a breeze to back up compared to the Scamp 13. I never had any problems with sway, and they tracked like a dream. The boats were 4-5,000 lbs.

Tom

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by TomK

I used Shoreland'r boat trailers in a former life. They look like Lil Snoozy trailers but had leaf spring suspension. They were a breeze to back up compared to the Scamp 13. I never had any problems with sway, and they tracked like a dream. The boats were 4-5,000 lbs.

Tom

LOL most probable due to the total length of the boat trailer being longer than the Scamp 13'? The shorter the trailer the harder it is to back up - the slightest of steering wheel movement results in big movement by little trailer. It does indeed take some getting use to!

[steve dunham]

Carlisle tire has a PDF on tips and best practices for towing and trailer tires.
Carlisle recommends (Best Practice) that towing speeds do not exceed 60 MPH
There was no mention in the article about towing at speeds above the tire's rating of 65 MPH.