Thanks Carol for the heads up.....Now i have trailer woes

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
Well I am kinda down now and trying to get motivated to do anything. Got up nice and early this morn. Tried not to jinx my day by posting in the Friday post.
Plan was to take the travel trailer and park it in the winter storage place, get the cover on and say bye bye till next year.

Had everything planned, even made up polystyrene covers with hotmelt glue during the week one evening to be able to protect the cover we put on from tears from gutters (which on ours are not removable).

Bought a piece of 2x 12 x12 pressure treated last night had it cut in half and parked the trailer on this to keep wheels and tires out the mud.

This trailer is basically brand new only bought it end of last season in PA. So this year is the first season we have had any use from it.

I went to an unbelievable amount of trouble to make sure we were not over loading it or my vehicle etc even bought a tong weight scale (very worthwhile purchase btw).

Here I am reading about Carols trailer woes thinking well at least I have a new trailer and my tires are good etc.

So this morning I position the trailer in the field on the 2x12x6 get the jacks down, put the corner protection pieces up and get the cover on. The cover has straps that go under the trailer. A couple go between the wheels.

That's when I discovered my issues and boy what a shock I got.:eek: Touch wood someone has been looking out for us. We are just so lucky we did not have a catastrophe on our holiday.

1) First I see the rear two tires look pretty worn by comparison to the two fronts on both sides. Now picture this I am kneeling in a field of wet long grass and mud so not quiet got my head under the trailer......yet.:huh:

2) Then I had to reach a strap that Linda had thrown through and when I did I noticed wear on the inside edge of the rear wheel. Well that led me to check all tires and what do you know the rear two tires are both incredibly warn for the distance we have done. I am talking needing replacing. Then three at least of the tires are worn on the inside so badly that they are ready to burst. I did not even bother checking the third at that stage I was so in shock I was shaking at the thought that i did not spot this while on the asphalt drive at home. Last time i was under the trailer there was no sign of issues. But that was before our long trip to Boston and back.

I know its not from overloading or incorrect loading because i have been fanatical about what we have in it etc and we travel with nothing in any of the tanks. Most of the weight is from front row wheel to hitch.

I figure we got ourselves a lemon now i know why the deal was so great and the guy saw me coming.

I don't know what the issue is exactly did some quick searching and its possibly a bent axle as well as mis alignment ie toe in and camber.

But now we need at least 3 new trailer tires these are pooched you would not believe the wear, and its going to have to go into a shop that understands trailers. Fortunately the place i store it at is a trailer specialist place. They do box trailers and fit them out so i will get them to check it out in the spring.

But man you don't expect this from a new quality item. Pretty disappointed both with manufacturer, trailer place and myself for not spotting it.

But between Carols experience and now this, I got the message loud and clear.:eek: Chalk it up to learning curve. Does it ever stop. :(
Sorry but what little sense of humor i have has escaped me today.
 
Learned this myself on my cross country trip in '09. I took the trailer to a local tire dealer, put new tires on, had the brakes done and the bearings packed. Never thought to have the two axles aligned. I went through both rear ties in 11,000 miles.
 
Bingo. Alignment was my first thought. Now that I've wasted my one thought for the day, I'll keep quiet. Glad you caught it in 'situ-non-trasitus'.
 
Now I need to find an alignment shop that will look at my fleet of trailers. Before the next trip! And now you know why I had to trash a trailer on my move here. Sorry about your troubles, Rob, but thanks for yet another heads-up. Canceled my expo trip today. Now I know why. Off to look at trailer alignment before the trip next Friday to retrieve my belongings from the trashed trailer.
 
Wow thank you Bill thats just what the doc ordered.

Now i have recovered somewhat, i have decided to call the manufacturer in the US on Monday and see what they say. This to me is a manufacturing defect.
Thanks Bill I searched but never found anything as good.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
 
Well this is interesting.
I bought a Gulfstream Kingsport 26 foot travel trailer new in March of 2012.
About 8000 miles later all four tire were showing real excessive wear on the inside. Took it ti the dealer and they checked alignment and said the axles were right on.. Then this year at inspection I was talking to the guy doing the work and he brought out the lady that does warranty communications and she took pictures and got me another set of tires from Gulfstream. However these are showing wear from even fewer miles. The general concensses seems to be junk cheap tires from Asia.

I was always far from overloaded on this trailer. Previously I have had a small 5th wheel and had tire issues with it as well but they were mostly Carlisle tires. Any good truck ot trailer shop should be able to check alignment rather cheaply. Now fixing it might be another story..

Garry
 
"Now fixing it might be another story." Ain't that the truth!

Finding the problem isn't hard. If one was able, and didn't need a torch, fixing it should be straight forward. I think I will call my brother. At least he would do the job right.

Hate being told the problem is someone else's problem. Its OK if you don't know what you are doing or don't agree with what I want done. Just tell me and I'll get out of your hair and find someone else. Had similar issues with the generator and the MH this week. Sheesh1
 
Well after many phone calls to find the actual manufacturer warranty person for my trailer, I am delighted to say that they are going to honor the warranty on my trailer and have referred me to a local dealer to have it done.

They said without even seeing pics, it was a bad batch of tires. One would think then that they would have a recall notice out on their website.

Anyhow I got to go back to the storage and take some pics of my tires to send to the warranty rep and with a clear head found out that all 4 tires are wrecked and on both sides of each tire. In fact in some cases there are actually cracks in the tire walls, still cannot get over that I did not pick this up. :eek: I am usually fastidious about checking all these things before a trip.

But I also found out a bunch of info in the process which I will share here for all to make use of and have reference to.

1) In the cost savings category the trailer boys use cast equalizer hangers on tandem axle trailers, some have what is called a wet bolt used to secure them, most I have inspected at the trailer storage place I use, don't. Anyhow check this blog post out of what happens to these things http://rvtravel.com/blog/rvnow/2007/01/axle-equalizer-safety-alert.html

So you might want to check these types of equalizer if you have them and it means you have to loosen them down so you can see the center bolt hole or you could be just misleading yourself that they ok.

I have an arrangement that to me is even more scary when one considers forces and wear and tear etc. Its just pipe welded to a strip of u channel steel and the pipe acts as a "bushing".

2) There are sensible alternatives to replace these equalizers as Carol linked to their is a site that represents a manufacturer called Lippert that has tackled providing a solution for much of the trailer problems. They have a unit called an Equa flex you can see it in operation here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp5iRVPwYZg and how its installed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXM44uQ9K94. They also as Carol mentioned in the alignment post have brackets which are made to allow for correction of alignment and have even gone as far as providing a cost effective laser alignment tool for trailers along with a form to capture measurements and do the alignment after using their brackets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epV03FKV240

I have taken this experience to revisit all my load calculations etc and am happy that I am not anywhere near max load based on specs supplied by the manufacturer of both my vehicle and the trailer.

But I was disturbed by discrepancies on the literature for the trailer. They by law have to specify the gross vehicle weight, but they play with terms like ship weight in their marketing implying the "empty/unloaded weight" of the trailer and deliberately under stating it to have the consumer think that the difference between gross and empty provides for a good load of cargo. WRONG, well at least in my case. I caught them by going and actually having my trailer weighed on a government certified weigh scale. And by empty I mean nothing nada only the two propane bottles which I was told are included when they refer to ship weight.

Then I find on their actual trailer certificate they spec the gross weight different to the brochure by 38 lbs but that's no biggie except that the combine max load rating of all 4 tires is equal to 7040 lbs and they have the gross weight set at 7543 lbs .

So I wonder just how they think the tires are supposed to support the gross weight they stated. I presume in this case they banking on a percentage of the weight being transferred to the vehicle in the form of tongue weight to help out on the tires.

Anyhow if there are folks out there that have trailers its real worthwhile getting to grips with the various facts and checking these aspects to ensure safety.

This may seem like an overkill but I purchased a tongue weight scale when I got my trailer to ensure that the max tongue weight specified by my vehicle manufacturer was not being exceeded and to ensure the load was correctly balanced on the vehicle.
Here is the crowd I purchased it from and they performed perfectly http://www.etrailer.com/Tools/Sherline/5780.html for the $124 I think it was well worth the peace of mind and the ability to check things over if I add or modify anything in the future.

It has amazed me in my research on various forums how some people seem to just replace tires and carry on without fully resolving whatever caused the issue.

In the new year I think I might upgrade a few suspension items just to put some extra margin of safety into the trailer. Its much the same as woodworking. After any accident one has to ask was it worth it to save the dollars that could have avoided it. Just like safety glasses cheap price for saving an eye eh?
 
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