I noticed the trailer tires on my Venture trailer were wearing very rapidly and with a strange wear pattern. Cast/camber/the Coriolis effect/etc. are meaningless with a rigid axle so I was perplexed. First thing I noticed was that the two outer treads on both sides were worn more than the middle. Well, that means under inflation. I was running my tires at 50# so I bumped them to 65#, the max pressure for my tires. The outside tread on the right tire was scuffed. I figured the culprit must be that the axle was cattywampus on the trailer so I figured a way to measure cattywampusness. I tied a piece of twine to the end of a 25' tape measure (and, no, my pants didn't fall down when I removed the twine...I used a "C" clamp to clamp my pants to to my shirt ;-)...sing along..."I hold my pants up with a piece of twine, I keep my eyes open all the time, because you're mine, please pull the twine...") and duct taped the twine to the center of the bottom of my tailer tongue. Using some small chunks of 2x6 I had laying around, I build three platforms on both sides of the front of one trailer wheel and another platform on the outside back of the wheel. I then placed one of those larger metal squares used by construction guys against the wheel. I placed the long side parallel to the wheel and the short side against the front of the tire. I then measured from the tongue to the outside corner of the construction square. I did this on both sides and found 1/2" difference! My left wheel was back 1/2" and the outside tread of the right wheel was scuffed. This made me look at the inside tread on the left wheel and I found it was scuffed also, not as badly as the right wheel, but scuffed none the less. This made sense. I was dragging my trailer a little sideways down the road which would scuff tires just like the scuff pattern I saw. I loosened a few "U" bolts, including the U bolts on the Axles, jacked up the left side of the trailer, and moved the axle forward. This was a pretty easy job actually. On my older Venture trailer, the springs are attached to a long narrow plate which is U bolted to the frame. I loosened these U bolts, jacked up the trailer, and tried to move the axle forward. It did not want to go so I loosened the axle U bolts as little on both sides so the axle could twist a little. Viola...the distance from my tongue to my wheels is now identical side to side and I am confident I cured my alignment problem.
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pants falling down
Interesting post Paul. I'll have to look at my tires to see if I have an allignment issue. Although, I'm now worried about my pants falling down if I try to clip a heavy duty 25' tape measure to them
Interesting post Paul. I'll have to look at my tires to see if I have an allignment issue. Although, I'm now worried about my pants falling down if I try to clip a heavy duty 25' tape measure to them
Engineering terms
Paul, It's interesting to note the term cattywampusness as I have used it many times in my career as an automotive body engineer. It's sort of all inclusive for a lot of situations. Now to the point. Just a few hours ago I picked up my trailer and brought it home to check the tires, grease the bearings etc. in anticipation of taking my boat out tomorrow. The first thing that I noticed is that the winch support was loose. I started checking and found a number of loose nuts. I also noticed that my axle was cattywampus relative the nearest cross beam. It was well over an inch out. I used a 25' tape from the front surface of the axle tube to the front of the coupler latch since there is no guarantee that the beam is where it belongs. I hope that all who read this will check their trailer to minimize the chance for a disasterous occasion.
Paul, It's interesting to note the term cattywampusness as I have used it many times in my career as an automotive body engineer. It's sort of all inclusive for a lot of situations. Now to the point. Just a few hours ago I picked up my trailer and brought it home to check the tires, grease the bearings etc. in anticipation of taking my boat out tomorrow. The first thing that I noticed is that the winch support was loose. I started checking and found a number of loose nuts. I also noticed that my axle was cattywampus relative the nearest cross beam. It was well over an inch out. I used a 25' tape from the front surface of the axle tube to the front of the coupler latch since there is no guarantee that the beam is where it belongs. I hope that all who read this will check their trailer to minimize the chance for a disasterous occasion.
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