Help with tire wear

[KimandChris]

I have an AF 1140 with a 48 inch Torklift Superhitch/truss system to pull a 7x12 tandem axle cargo trailer. Also use a wd hitch. The trailer sits just slightly nose high when parked on a level surface. Here is the best pic I could find:



I am getting wear on the outside of the tires on the front axle. Passenger side is worse but also happening on driver side. My thought is a bent axle. With the odd(for everybody but people in this forum) setup I am wondering if maybe it is a combination of the heavy TC/long extension/wd hitch. I know I use much of my suspension travel going over bumps on the highway. No bottoming but my guess is the deeper into the suspension the truck goes the more the WD hitch is removing weight from rear axle of truck and front axle of trailer.

Any thoughts on what to do?

[KimandChris]

Looks like it is time to flip the axles then....Already dragging the WD bars in some road dips.

Thanks for the opinions!

[SidecarFlip]

Bedlam is right on, you are scrubbing the front tires every time you turn because the weight is transferring to the back axle more. Time to level it drop the nose slightly.

[thedavidzoo]

We put 6 brand new tires on our dually before driving 13500 miles to Alaska and back. Passenger front tire had extreme wear on outer edge. Driver front inside edge had some edge wear. We blamed it on alignment issues. Back tires still look great even with 1000+ miles gravel road and heavy load.
We have since aligned the front and rotated the worn front tires to the inside back. I hope that will cure the problem.

[KimandChris]

Sorry I was not clear. The wear is on the front axle of the trailer.

[brholt]

If referring to the truck this came up in a previous thread. A number of people had this problem and it didn't seem to be easily tied to alignment (at least unloaded). I looked at my trucks front tires and found the same thing (AF350, DRW F350). My solution is what,others had done, I had the tires flipped on their rims.

[Bedlam]

You need to drop the hitch height on your extension so the trailer rides slightly nose down. Currently, you are biasing the rear trailer axle more and getting tire scrub and roll on the front axle on every turn.

[jmtandem]

I think he is referring to the front tire wear on the truck. It would help if the OP clarified which axle and tires.

[SidecarFlip]

If he is, the axles aren't running at 90 degrees to the frame, or one side is bent or if torsion ride (rubber ride), the end is shot. They are replaceable, at least Dexters are.

[Grit_dog]

Pretty sure he's talking about the trailer front axle....

[narcodog]

I also think you need to have the front end aligned .

[SidecarFlip]

Think I'd get it aligned and have the toe and caster and camber checked with the camper on the truck.

[jmtandem]

The truck camper puts almost all the weight on the rear axle of the truck. It adds almost insignificant weight on the front axle. Your trailer's weight distribution system will add at most a minimal amount of weight on the front axle of the truck. Some of the redistributed weight is put on the trailer's axles as well. You should look at alignment issues first. Best to take the combination to the scales and determine what the axle weights really are and take it from there.

[mkirsch]

Front axle of the truck or the trailer?

If the trailer, lower the hitch head so it tows level.

If the truck, you're way light on the front.