Thank you! I ended my mechanic career at a flatbed company in 2016 and they always chewed up that passenger front axle super singles especially. I am going for securement training next week. Looking to be owner op this year. Grateful for your video!! Tires are just or almost as expensive as fuel.! :-) (in This particular situation)
Have you checked your brake adjustment lately? I had a similar problem with flat spots and high wear and found that one set of brakes was slightly too tight and caused just that one set of tires to drag a little when I hit the brakes. Not enough to lock up under normal braking but it was the first wheel to lockup under heavy braking with an empty trailer.
Its been said that you can't drive with air out of the trailer bags. I recall em saying the tires w/out air in bags will hit & cause the wear. How true this is I'm not sure. Shortly after gett'n new tires I stopped driving because oil market & gold market crashed. I was hauling pipe for both. I was going to quit anyway due to gov regs ie, E-Logs & having to stop after 8hrs.
Once you have the items listed under control the next most important factor is the rear tandem alignment to be perfectly square to the trailer center-line or fifth wheel king pin. Then especially on a spread axle trailer the parallelism it of utmost importance. You can easily have the camber and toe on each axle housing. This also can be corrected in the trailer by many local Bee Line heavy truck body shops. The chances the housing is out of specs on camber and toe is slight and is not often seen unless the trailer has been in an accident at one time. Loose wheel bearings is very common on both trucks and trailers and with today's well made wheel seals the only indication of loose bearings is often just inside tire shoulder ware. The same applies for today's trucks on both steer and drive axles. Then there is the actual load placement over and between the spread axles for proper axle load that is distributed over the tire contact during cornering with these loads. Then equal tire diameter, tread depth and air pressure to help achieve this is important for even weight distribution between the duels.
Pulling a 48' flat spread. Seems we all get some kind of goofy ununiform wear pattern. Just watching the trailer humping up, twisting, groaning & creaking backing into a parking spot, it easy to understand why. Last set they all had some combination of cupping, flat spotting, feathering and those were Bridgestones off a new Great Dane. Before I though it was just old worn out trailers. Current Generals 326's (I believe) are looking good with 100K mi plus on them, which suprises me for a cheap tire. Always making turns wide, on dirt, snow or wet whenever possible to cut down on scrub.
Check all braking components from that side of the axle, from slack adjuster , S cam to the brake pads , rollers , and bushings. Also something many drivers and mechanics miss are the shocks. If the shock is not good the tires will bounce causing premature wear. Specially if you get a flat spot on the tire and shocks are no good, that tire will be no good in a few thousand miles or less
Thanks for your comment. Its timely. As I'm working on getting this trailer back on the road. Back then I had a shop install an "air drop" on that front axle. I'd try to remember to use it on right turns as well as when maneuvering at pickups & drop offs in yards. Either I fail to turn the bags back on or the sytem failed. So I retired the the trailer after two sets of tires. I'm getting read to restart my operation. I seem to only have one choice, based on the "airbag drop" situation, and thats to have it disconnected and hope that the setup of the "airbag drop" didn't cause an on going problem. There seems to be no way to test my theory until I put another $1,000 worth of tires on and see if it works or kills another set of tires unless you or anyone else knows a way to actually test the front axle in a shop. Thanks again for touching on this serious problem.
Continental HSR2 or General S371 work well for spreads. The front axle takes the most abuse when loaded so rotating is recommended. Those XLETs were the wrong tire but inside rib wear would tell me that the air pressure would need to be bumped up. The non uniform wear and dipping tells be you have a break either hanging up or pulsing. Jack the trailer and spin the wheel to see if it hangs. Then have it spun with mild brake application. The friction caused by the brake trying to stop then releasing over and over causes the tire to wear unevenly. As a final recommendation I would not put any tire with a decoupling groove on the shoulder on a spread. Too much lateral scrub could result in tearing or damage to the tire.
+Matt Futrelle Thanks for the info. If I get on the road again I'll keep it mind. I still don't know what the outrageous wear is from. I have an air dump on the front axle. Its been said that if drive with the axle up it will cause the flat spots, and that you must leave the axle down, only raising it on turns. I don't know how the physics work on this. I can't wrap my mind around it. Its said that it has to do with breaking; the wheel locks up I guess and causes the tire to stay in one place, dragging it. Hence the flat spots. I was leaving the axle up supposedly saving fuel. I have, as I said, I haven't driven enough to prove this or disprove it. I hope the theory is right. The tire wear put a scare into me; costing a lot. Thx for the reply.
Yes. That's what they're for. I think the problem was failing to air up the bags after the turns, right away. Somewhere I heard this causes the tires to skip, & or slide on the asphalt. Thx for the reply.
Man I have a 2018 48’ spread axle trailer always check tire pressure, and adjust breakers before a run and all my tiers are sh*t! Uneven wear on all tires even took it to get a alignment and told me it was perfectly aligned. Then was told the tires aren’t meant for my trailer that how I got it out the dealer lol
I don't know. I'll say this. In cars its from having soft tires, from low inflation. Check your tire pressure. I always run recommended tire pressure. If it solves the problem let me know.
I'm not a trucker by any means, but I've been seeing more spread axle trailers on the road. One of the things I was wondering if having the axles farther apart lead to more wear on the tires?
Phil Kmetz MTB Yes it does lead to more wear. The tire pivots on the front axle dragging the tire along the ground shearing off tire tread as the truck makes a turn. A driver is suppose to make the widest turns possible, & not make u-turns. In either case this is not always possible. Weight hauled probably has something to do with it too, 50% of my loads are 46,000 #'s, and around 26-36,000 on the low side. Spreads allow for heavier loads on the back axles,around 40,000 #'s.
Justsay'n Dude, you rock! I wasn't expecting such a quick answer. That answered all of my questions I had about it, and that's actually really fascinating to me. Thank you for taking the time to reply.
You can see flat spots on the tires across from each other...looks like they have been lightly skidded...as someone said the brake adjustment may be out..if you reposition the outside tire 180 degrees from the inner one it will help slow the wear down and wont pound out as quickly.
Your flat spots on the right side trailer axle shown that both show in the same exact location are simply brake balance and adjustment, hanging "s" cam bushings, out of round brake drum adjustment and or moving the trailer before the brakes are completely released. Outside "and" inside wear is from OVER inflation and not under inflation. Inside shoulder wear only is loose wheel bearings that need to be inspected and adjusted to the tighter side of .001 to .005 end play recommended for adjustable wheel ends.
+Rusty Davis I was told it could be an axle problem along with the things you state in the 1st paragraph. The suggestion from the shop owner was that trying to find the real problem could cost a lot of money in work & tires & the problem still might not be fixed. I said well, the only thing I can think to do is ask that any work done needs to have a guarantee that the problem will be fixed for the money I put out. Of course he wouldn't do that. The 1st set of new tires were replaced for free. Then I had to replace two more front axle rt side tires with retreads they got so bad. After that I just parked the truck. I do thank you for your comment. If I decide to get out there again I'll refer to this. But as it is I can put up with mechanics who can't commit themselves to solving the problem. I can drive you broke. You got the best answer so far.
Thx for the reply. Micheln Website & a Rep said the tires were a good SA tire. Next: I have air dump in the front axel. I was doing a start up in the yard one day to move the truck & trailer around. After warm up I tried to move & nothing would move. After sitting there & running for awhile The trailer finally aired up just enough to move. I circled around the yard, dropped the trailer. Shut down the truck. The next day started the truck. It aired up in proper time. So my guess is there's an air leak in the "Air Dump Line" causing the problem . Whats bad about this whole thing is the shops I went to didn't find the problem after going to the shop a number of times. Between the mechanic's failures & the DOT red lighting lighting me at the state line I just shut down.
Thx 4 the comment. I went over this extensively with Michelin. Before I bought em I contacted Michelin & ask them if they were spread axle tires. They said yes. So I went with them bc all my tires are Michelin. I would never have had them put on with out their statement. The Redburn supported them & did the install. As I speak on this again I have to believe that I was loosing air in the front axle, which has an "Air Dump" on it. This said I took the FB back to my mechanic (that installed it) to find the problem. The shop couldn't find the problem. Basically failure to find the problem forced me to shut down after to sets of tires in 4 mos..
Call Bee Line Co. at (800)728-7828 and ask customer service to give you the name of your local area Bee Line rep then call your rep and he will guide you to a credible established independent shop or dealership that it well equipped and trained that can in turn check everything I mention in the order I mentioned. This is an established procedure I speak of and your tires are your second most important cost behind fuel so the shop you will be guided to will know exactly what to do and I am sure keep your costs on this to the minimum work needed. Keep it simple and don't overshoot in problem solving on the methods used by the pros. The shop you go to in the end may even recommend these trailer axles have shocks and brackets be installed to also control tire to ground contact during braking when the trailer is empty. I hope this has helped. -------------------------------- Rusty Davis Bee Line Co. Factory District Representative Southwest U.S.
Pulling a 48' flat spread. Seems we all get some kind of goofy ununiform wear pattern. Just watching the trailer humping up, twisting, groaning & creaking backing into a parking spot, it easy to understand why. Last set they all had some combination of cupping, flat spotting, feathering and those were Bridgestones off a new Great Dane. Before I though it was just old worn out trailers. Current Generals 326's (I believe) are looking good with 100K mi plus on them, which suprises me for a cheap tire. Always making turns wide, on dirt, snow or wet whenever possible to cut down on scrub.
+Andy M My tires where wiped out in just 5,000 miles. It may have been caused by air dump being dumped, and or break hanging up dragging a tire along the ground. I haven't been able to get an ans. to the problem. I was refered to Beline but haven't checked with them. I already ck'd with another top line alignment company and they could tell me what ii was; only probably this and probably that. I'd be glad to pay the price if someone will guarantee the problem will be solved or pay for the new tires. Nobody has enough confidence to do it.
Thank you! I ended my mechanic career at a flatbed company in 2016 and they always chewed up that passenger front axle super singles especially.
I am going for securement training next week. Looking to be owner op this year. Grateful for your video!!
Tires are just or almost as expensive as fuel.! :-) (in This particular situation)
Have you checked your brake adjustment lately? I had a similar problem with flat spots and high wear and found that one set of brakes was slightly too tight and caused just that one set of tires to drag a little when I hit the brakes. Not enough to lock up under normal braking but it was the first wheel to lockup under heavy braking with an empty trailer.
Its been said that you can't drive with air out of the trailer bags. I recall em saying the tires w/out air in bags will hit & cause the wear. How true this is I'm not sure. Shortly after gett'n new tires I stopped driving because oil market & gold market crashed. I was hauling pipe for both. I was going to quit anyway due to gov regs ie, E-Logs & having to stop after 8hrs.
Once you have the items listed under control the next most important factor is the rear tandem alignment to be perfectly square to the trailer center-line or fifth wheel king pin. Then especially on a spread axle trailer the parallelism it of utmost importance. You can easily have the camber and toe on each axle housing. This also can be corrected in the trailer by many local Bee Line heavy truck body shops. The chances the housing is out of specs on camber and toe is slight and is not often seen unless the trailer has been in an accident at one time. Loose wheel bearings is very common on both trucks and trailers and with today's well made wheel seals the only indication of loose bearings is often just inside tire shoulder ware. The same applies for today's trucks on both steer and drive axles. Then there is the actual load placement over and between the spread axles for proper axle load that is distributed over the tire contact during cornering with these loads. Then equal tire diameter, tread depth and air pressure to help achieve this is important for even weight distribution between the duels.
+Rusty Davis How much is all this going to costs, would you know or guess?
Pulling a 48' flat spread. Seems we all get some kind of goofy ununiform wear pattern. Just watching the trailer humping up, twisting, groaning & creaking backing into a parking spot, it easy to understand why. Last set they all had some combination of cupping, flat spotting, feathering and those were Bridgestones off a new Great Dane. Before I though it was just old worn out trailers.
Current Generals 326's (I believe) are looking good with 100K mi plus on them, which suprises me for a cheap tire. Always making turns wide, on dirt, snow or wet whenever possible to cut down on scrub.
Check all braking components from that side of the axle, from slack adjuster , S cam to the brake pads , rollers , and bushings. Also something many drivers and mechanics miss are the shocks. If the shock is not good the tires will bounce causing premature wear. Specially if you get a flat spot on the tire and shocks are no good, that tire will be no good in a few thousand miles or less
Thanks for your comment. Its timely. As I'm working on getting this trailer back on the road. Back then I had a shop install an "air drop" on that front axle. I'd try to remember to use it on right turns as well as when maneuvering at pickups & drop offs in yards. Either I fail to turn the bags back on or the sytem failed. So I retired the the trailer after two sets of tires. I'm getting read to restart my operation. I seem to only have one choice, based on the "airbag drop" situation, and thats to have it disconnected and hope that the setup of the "airbag drop" didn't cause an on going problem. There seems to be no way to test my theory until I put another $1,000 worth of tires on and see if it works or kills another set of tires unless you or anyone else knows a way to actually test the front axle in a shop. Thanks again for touching on this serious problem.
Continental HSR2 or General S371 work well for spreads. The front axle takes the most abuse when loaded so rotating is recommended. Those XLETs were the wrong tire but inside rib wear would tell me that the air pressure would need to be bumped up. The non uniform wear and dipping tells be you have a break either hanging up or pulsing. Jack the trailer and spin the wheel to see if it hangs. Then have it spun with mild brake application. The friction caused by the brake trying to stop then releasing over and over causes the tire to wear unevenly. As a final recommendation I would not put any tire with a decoupling groove on the shoulder on a spread. Too much lateral scrub could result in tearing or damage to the tire.
+Matt Futrelle Thanks for the info. If I get on the road again I'll keep it mind. I still don't know what the outrageous wear is from. I have an air dump on the front axle. Its been said that if drive with the axle up it will cause the flat spots, and that you must leave the axle down, only raising it on turns. I don't know how the physics work on this. I can't wrap my mind around it. Its said that it has to do with breaking; the wheel locks up I guess and causes the tire to stay in one place, dragging it. Hence the flat spots. I was leaving the axle up supposedly saving fuel. I have, as I said, I haven't driven enough to prove this or disprove it. I hope the theory is right. The tire wear put a scare into me; costing a lot. Thx for the reply.
What happened once to me was that when I released the air brakes it would not do it for one of the pair of tires all the way and dragged them
Are the axles both parallel to each other? If not, your dragging the corner with the least traction.
Have you tried dumping the air bags on your rear axle when making turns?
Yes. That's what they're for. I think the problem was failing to air up the bags after the turns, right away. Somewhere I heard this causes the tires to skip, & or slide on the asphalt. Thx for the reply.
Man I have a 2018 48’ spread axle trailer always check tire pressure, and adjust breakers before a run and all my tiers are sh*t! Uneven wear on all tires even took it to get a alignment and told me it was perfectly aligned. Then was told the tires aren’t meant for my trailer that how I got it out the dealer lol
They got all kinds of reasons why but no one will guarantee the fix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
What would cause serious tire wear on just the outside tire on a duel axle?
I don't know. I'll say this. In cars its from having soft tires, from low inflation. Check your tire pressure. I always run recommended tire pressure. If it solves the problem let me know.
I'm not a trucker by any means, but I've been seeing more spread axle trailers on the road. One of the things I was wondering if having the axles farther apart lead to more wear on the tires?
Phil Kmetz MTB Yes it does lead to more wear. The tire pivots on the front axle dragging the tire along the ground shearing off tire tread as the truck makes a turn. A driver is suppose to make the widest turns possible, & not make u-turns. In either case this is not always possible. Weight hauled probably has something to do with it too, 50% of my loads are 46,000 #'s, and around 26-36,000 on the low side. Spreads allow for heavier loads on the back axles,around 40,000 #'s.
Justsay'n Dude, you rock! I wasn't expecting such a quick answer. That answered all of my questions I had about it, and that's actually really fascinating to me. Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Phil Kmetz MTB Glad to offer up the info to satisfy your interest . :)
You can see flat spots on the tires across from each other...looks like they have been lightly skidded...as someone said the brake adjustment may be out..if you reposition the outside tire 180 degrees from the inner one it will help slow the wear down and wont pound out as quickly.
Your flat spots on the right side trailer axle shown that both show in the same exact location are simply brake balance and adjustment, hanging "s" cam bushings, out of round brake drum adjustment and or moving the trailer before the brakes are completely released.
Outside "and" inside wear is from OVER inflation and not under inflation. Inside shoulder wear only is loose wheel bearings that need to be inspected and adjusted to the tighter side of .001 to .005 end play recommended for adjustable wheel ends.
+Rusty Davis I was told it could be an axle problem along with the things you state in the 1st paragraph. The suggestion from the shop owner was that trying to find the real problem could cost a lot of money in work & tires & the problem still might not be fixed. I said well, the only thing I can think to do is ask that any work done needs to have a guarantee that the problem will be fixed for the money I put out. Of course he wouldn't do that. The 1st set of new tires were replaced for free. Then I had to replace two more front axle rt side tires with retreads they got so bad. After that I just parked the truck. I do thank you for your comment. If I decide to get out there again I'll refer to this. But as it is I can put up with mechanics who can't commit themselves to solving the problem. I can drive you broke. You got the best answer so far.
Thanks for the info
those are cuz by too much driver side parking.
Actual SA tires are actual more money. Those are a van trlr tire for a tandem
Thx for the reply. Micheln Website & a Rep said the tires were a good SA tire. Next: I have air dump in the front axel. I was doing a start up in the yard one day to move the truck & trailer around. After warm up I tried to move & nothing would move. After sitting there & running for awhile The trailer finally aired up just enough to move. I circled around the yard, dropped the trailer. Shut down the truck. The next day started the truck. It aired up in proper time. So my guess is there's an air leak in the "Air Dump Line" causing the problem . Whats bad about this whole thing is the shops I went to didn't find the problem after going to the shop a number of times. Between the mechanic's failures & the DOT red lighting lighting me at the state line I just shut down.
My tires are doing the same thing
Those are not spread axle trailer tires
Thx 4 the comment. I went over this extensively with Michelin. Before I bought em I contacted Michelin & ask them if they were spread axle tires. They said yes. So I went with them bc all my tires are Michelin. I would never have had them put on with out their statement. The Redburn supported them & did the install. As I speak on this again I have to believe that I was loosing air in the front axle, which has an "Air Dump" on it. This said I took the FB back to my mechanic (that installed it) to find the problem. The shop couldn't find the problem. Basically failure to find the problem forced me to shut down after to sets of tires in 4 mos..
Call Bee Line Co. at (800)728-7828 and ask customer service to give you the name of your local area Bee Line rep then call your rep and he will guide you to a credible established independent shop or dealership that it well equipped and trained that can in turn check everything I mention in the order I mentioned. This is an established procedure I speak of and your tires are your second most important cost behind fuel so the shop you will be guided to will know exactly what to do and I am sure keep your costs on this to the minimum work needed. Keep it simple and don't overshoot in problem solving on the methods used by the pros. The shop you go to in the end may even recommend these trailer axles have shocks and brackets be installed to also control tire to ground contact during braking when the trailer is empty.
I hope this has helped.
--------------------------------
Rusty Davis
Bee Line Co.
Factory District Representative
Southwest U.S.
+Rusty Davis Thanks a lot. I'll be sure and contact the Bee Line Co as you recommend. Yes, tires are huge cost.
air press ...road crown..air press in air bag...falty rubber,tire
DUMP VALVE needed on the rear axle lol smh
please don't say "acrossed', there is no such word, man the education system is lame
The flat spots will cause bouncing and will create flat spots further along the crown of the tire..
Pulling a 48' flat spread. Seems we all get some kind of goofy ununiform wear pattern. Just watching the trailer humping up, twisting, groaning & creaking backing into a parking spot, it easy to understand why. Last set they all had some combination of cupping, flat spotting, feathering and those were Bridgestones off a new Great Dane. Before I though it was just old worn out trailers.
Current Generals 326's (I believe) are looking good with 100K mi plus on them, which suprises me for a cheap tire. Always making turns wide, on dirt, snow or wet whenever possible to cut down on scrub.
+Andy M My tires where wiped out in just 5,000 miles. It may have been caused by air dump being dumped, and or break hanging up dragging a tire along the ground. I haven't been able to get an ans. to the problem. I was refered to Beline but haven't checked with them. I already ck'd with another top line alignment company and they could tell me what ii was; only probably this and probably that. I'd be glad to pay the price if someone will guarantee the problem will be solved or pay for the new tires. Nobody has enough confidence to do it.