1972 Hunter Compact Negative Camber Issue

[luckycharm]

Hi Folks,
I'm a relatively new owner of a really cool 1972 Hunter Compact. Purchased it last year and have taken it on a couple of trips - love it!

Great tips on here helped me fix the sagging pop-top, and I replaced the old vinyl boot with new sunbrella fabric - hooray!

Now, I'm dealing with this negative camber issue on the tires.

The previous owner was an off-road enthusiast, so flipped the axle and put on 15" tires. The trailer rides pretty high off the ground, which I don't mind... it rides very level with my truck... but then I noticed the negative camber issue is causing alot of uneven tire wear.

Not sure what I should do here. The axle is straight, so it must be the spindles that are causing the tires to lean in. I guess I could try flipping the axle back to it's normal position, but that would require me getting a drop ball hitch and 3 small original sized tires.

Today I'm going to rotate the existing 15" tires just to try to even out the wear.

What would you guys do? Attached are some pics for reference. Thanks a billion!!!

[Roy in TO]

To me it looks like the trailer is taller than the truck. Sounds like you need new tires anyways. I'd set the axle back to original, flip your stinger over and then see what size tire might fit.

Alternatively, find a body shop that straightens frames and see if they can't bend the axle to give the right camber.

[luckycharm]

Ok, so I went ahead and flipped the axle back to "normal" to fix the camber issue. That now seems resolved. I got 3 new tires and wheels from Six Robblees here in Seattle, and now the wheels all seem to have a wobble! I replaced bearings/repacked hubs, have double checked that the axle nuts are tight enough, but when I hand spin the tires, I can see that both wheels are out of round... I've taken all the wheels/tires off again and am taking them to a tire shop to be balanced. Will let you all know if balancing resolves the wobble, let me know if I'm missing something here...

[Bob Miller]

I'm a little late on this, but your original axle is not 'Straight" it is a dropped axle, and whoever flipped it over had the engineering intelligence of a small gopher.
As an alternative you can buy a new "Straight" axle and still use the 15" tires.\ and could add brakes at the same time.
You are lucky that the flipped axle didn't lead to several stability problems, especially in any cross winds. The odd angle and stress on the bearings with the flipped axle may have damage them.

[luckycharm]

Doh, ok, well I have to eat my humble pie here. Tire guy helped me figure out that I had the lug nuts on backwards (tapered side out). I feel like a real moron, but I guess I gotta learn somehow!

[Borrego Dave]

Glad you discovered it before you put it on the road.