WhumpWhumpWhump - classic bearing sound?

[nelsons]

Driving home today from our vacation in the Kootenays BC, I was riding in the Boler at around 40-50km/hr for about 5 mins (long story…).

I hadn't ever noticed when pulling the Boler, but from inside I could definitely hear as well as feel a 'thump thump thump' sound or vibration as the wheels turned. It was actually quite alarming as the Boler began to vibrate.

Is this an obvious wheel bearing issue?
Or possibly a bad tire?

Anything else I should check?
Thanks group!
Steve

[Donna D.]

Did you pull over immediately and "feel" the hub on the trailer? Was it hot? I put my hand to the bearing area every single time I stop. YMMV

[mary and bob]

Tire is my guess, possible tread separation.

[Jack L]

Sounds like a tire issue. Check your hub for temperature. Jack up the trailer and spin the wheel and tire to see if they have any run out.

[Borrego Dave]

Yup Steve, I'd say tires too. I put new tires on my truck not to long ago and have had two separate but not peel off....fortunatly. They are gone now. But I do have to ask about riding inside the trailer.....did it suprise you how much it moves around on the road ?

[RogerDat]

Did you have the tires balanced? An out of balance tire will tend to thump pretty bad. Picking up some packed mud that sticks and dries can also throw off the balance. Had a car that would vibrate something awful if I got snow or mud packed in the rims.

Loss of a wheel weight used to balance the tire will cause the same thing. Ever had a load of laundry in the wash hit spin cycle with the load unbalanced? Same kind of thing, except with tires it only gets bad at certain speeds that have the heavy side "slamming" the ground each revolution.

Tire balance noise/vibration tends to come and go at different speeds. Bearings tend to be more of a rumble noise and it changes pitch at different speeds but generally is always there even going slow.

Bad tread things happening with the tires as mentioned is another possibility but I would expect that sort of problem to change vibration rate at different speeds but to have vibration or noise at all speeds.

[Mike Magee]

Yep, tire balance problem most likely. Although tread separation can do that also.

[nelsons]

Hi all, thanks for the replies!

I jacked up the trailer last night and the wheels all spin nicely, no obvious grinding sounds and they spin freely for quite a while.

When I removed one of the tires, that's when I noticed what I would call severe cracking in between the treads! I'll upload a picture shortly.

I wasn't able to remove the tire on the door side of the Boler!?!? Just couldn't get it out of the wheel well. Is there a trick to this?

So looks like I'll be buying some new tires shortly….
Thanks again all - still curious on how to remove the door side tire - any thoughts there?
Steve

[RogerDat]

And the winner is..... Tread Separation! For best performance in the hidden role of thump, thump, thump.

Glad you found the source and the picture might help the next person with the same symptom know what to look for.

Would be curios as to the date of manufacturer stamped on the tire.

[DJO]

Good job catching it before an accident!

[papa-t]

Glad it didn't blow. I had a friend that blew a tire on a sticky 5er. Tore the whole side out around and above wheel well. But that was a sticky.

[Bob Miller]

Sounds like your suspension has collapsed to the point that it is trapping the tire. Try lifting that side with a floor jack lifting on the frame so the tire can drop down as weight is taken off.

BTW: Don't even think about towing anywhere on those tires, you can place yourself, as well as everyone around you, at risk if it fails.

[TomK]

Originally Posted by papa-t

Glad it didn't blow. I had a friend that blew a tire on a sticky 5er. Tore the whole side out around and above wheel well. But that was a sticky.

When we camped in Backus 2 weeks ago, we were next to a Scamp 19 that was on it's way back to the factory for repairs. The curb side tire came apart on the freeway and tore up the wheel well. The damage was more extensive than I thought it would be, but the owner took it in stride. Good to know Scamp did repairs like that. The trailer was at least 10 years old.

Tom

[Dan Meyer]

Originally Posted by nelsons

Hi all, thanks for the replies!

>snip<

I wasn't able to remove the tire on the door side of the Boler!?!? Just couldn't get it out of the wheel well. Is there a trick to this?

>snip<

The first thing that came to my mind was to completely deflate the tire, and then try to sneak it out of the wheel well.

If that doesn't work, you may need to apply downward force to the axle somehow.

Be very careful, and have the trailer frame securely supported on jack stands if it comes to this. We don't want to see you hurt (or worse) if all the prying and 'persuading' results in the trailer falling off the jacks.

Best of luck!

-- Dan Meyer

[Bob Miller]

Errr... If the wheel doesn't drop down when you raise the trailer by the frame you may have other, more serious problems, namely, no suspension travel.

[RogerDat]

Have to pick the side of the trailer up high enough to let the tire drop lower. Might have to put some pry force on the arm behind the wheel to push it down if the wheel won't drop from it's own weight. When my axle was replace the shop said the could pry the torsion arm down with a big (12 inch) screw driver because it was so worn.

Typical problem when the axle suspension is really worn and the tire is sitting too high in the wheel well. Trailer rides low and tire is hard to get out of the wheel well.

Really important to have solid jack stands supporting the frame if trying to pry the torsion arm down or even just struggle with pulling the tire down far enough to clear the wheel well.

[Roy in TO]

Hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there might also be tread cupping. Can you take a picture of the tire from a little further back showing the sides and as much tread as possible?

[Bob Miller]

Because of the still apparent "Nibs", it looks like that is a very low mileage tire that has aged out. With the center bulging out from the casing cracks it's no surprise that the tire looks like the edges may have uneven wear.

My take: Age: 8+ years, Wear: Less than 2000 miles