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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Uneven Tire wear
    Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 2:43pm
Need some more consult from the experts - you!

Upon returning from our cross country trip, I noticed some uneven wear on the outside edge of both tires. The pod is just less than a year old but we do have about 10,000 miles on it. I do check for proper torque and tire pressur and the trailer pulls fine with no unusual pull or noticeable bounce. 

I removed both tires today so I could inspect things and have the tires looked at. Checking balance shows both tires to be out (apparently, not unusual on trailers). In fact, so far out that it would take almost 8 ounces on one tire to properly balance. That's a lot of weight. Shop said it wasn't practical. Based on what they saw, just go camping and keep an eye on them and replace with some better tires when necessary. Concluded that it is not a bearing or axle issue - just cheap tires.

Is it worth a call to dealer or Forrest River? Dealer is about 2 hours away and really don't want to make the trip if it's not really necessary. I'm guessing I won't put another 10K miles on the pod for two or three years at least.

I hope you can see my concern in the picture below. Like I said, the wear is on the outside and not even around the tire which leads me to believe it is a combination of cheap tires and/or bouncing do to balance.

Whatta you think?
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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Leo B View Drop Down
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Posts: 4508 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 2:49pm
I agree! 
Leo & Melissa Bachand
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Cap-n-Cray View Drop Down
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Posts: 121 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 8:18pm
What pressure do you run?

I thought outside or edge wear meant too low of pressure. Looks to be on both sides.

Are the rim pointing in the same direction? The outside (side away from the trailer) could be from turning too.

I'm not a tire expert, but have run many miles with trailer tires.
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GingerPod View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:06pm
Really not that bad for 10K miles.

Yeah the tires are not the greatest but not that bad either.Remember you can't rotate then like on a vehicle.

Front tires on a vehicle that have been neglected to have been rotated can show just about that much wear with similar mileage,especially the cheaper brands.

As far as needing 8oz. to zero out balance,it's the cheap wheels,not the tires.

I am in the middle of making some cool and major wheel-tire AND fender changes to my POD this next week.I will be starting a thread about it as well...hint-hint load range "D"

In my opinion the factory combo is satisfactory,but at the absolute limit when wet and loaded.
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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:11pm
Thanks Cap-n-Cray. I run @ 50psi and check frequently with a good gauge. The wear is only on the outside edge of the tire and it's not even. Some places on the tire show very little and even wear across the tire.

Not sure what you mean by "rim pointed in same direction"? Alignment? After 10K miles I think we turn left as much as right so not sure how that would do it.

Just finished reading this thread, which I found interesting and kinda supports the theory that the tires may just be doing what factory trailer tires do:
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:14pm
Originally posted by GingerPod

Really not that bad for 10K miles....

As far as needing 8oz. to zero out balance,it's the cheap wheels,not the tires.

Thanks GingerPod,

I was wondering about the wheels/balance.

fred
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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GingerPod View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:30pm
Sure,since we are on the subject I can elaborate a little more.

Out side wear on tires is a "Toe out" condition.Since the axles on Pod's is independent with no provision to adjust alignment,when traveling down the road tires have a natural tendency to "Toe out" following the path of least resistance.

The axles are set "straight ahead" at the factory and the rubber isolators allow for this to happen,I would guess about 1/16 " toe out while cruising down the road.Not a bid deal but does show up after 1000's of miles.

Now solid axle leaf spring trailer axles usually don't show uneven wear since it is solidly mounted,unless something is worn,bearings,bushing,etc.

This is why vehicles usually have the front wheels aligned to 1/16" to as much as 1/8" "TOE IN" so when traveling down the road they track perfectly parallel.
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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:35pm
Interesting. So it makes sense that the wear might be a little (naturally) pronounced on the outside because of toe out and uneven because of balance?

fred
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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GingerPod View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 9:55pm
Originally posted by fwunder

Interesting. So it makes sense that the wear might be a little (naturally) pronounced on the outside because of toe out and uneven because of balance?

fred


Yep,that's what I would assume.

Also the camber angles with these axles seem to vary from Pod to Pod,I see reading around here and certainly doesn't help.

Interesting link above from Forest River,Quote(The combined capacity of all of the tires should exceed the loaded trailer weight by 20 percent).

Well I've done the beer math and we could easily exceed 3500 lbs with all 3 tanks full and loaded with gear.The factory fitted 14" tires are rated for 1720lbs each....Ouch

Houston we have a problem....but load range "D" can fix that Big smile
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GingerPod View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2014 at 10:46pm
I left out on important point to help avoid confusion.....

We have to remember that in a vehicle a "Toe out" condition would wear the inside of the tires.
A "Toe in" condition wears the outside.

But in fwunder pictures the outside of the tires are worn,how could this be?

This is because the trailing link on our Pod axles is facing towards the rear,so the "Toe out" side is facing the rear, path of least resistance.

The "toe in" condition faces the front,thus the pronounced outside tread wear.The more often than not negative camber present by most Pod owners,myself included but very slight and seems to increase with age,further aids toward this tendency.

This seem very strange doesn't it,because if only negative camber came into play all the  wear would be on the inside Confused

Just wanted to be clear since using a vehicle's front steering wheels wasn't the best analogy but got the point across.

The axle and suspension system is of a good design but just has a little bit of weird traits in it's simplest form used on our Pod's
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