Tire wear on tandem axle trailers.

This is my second season with this trailer (2006 Extream for a Malibu V-ride) and I noticed the other day that my rear tires have worn much faster than the fronts. There is almost double the tread on the front tires as compared to the rears! The axles seem to be straight, tire pressures have always been good. Only difference was that I switched to a drop down hitch late last season, the trailer wasn't perfectly level and was hard to couple with the truck sometimes, but now the trailer sits nice and level with my truck.

Any ideas out there before I talk to the dealer???

Thanks
Kevin

I owned my last boat for just over 3 years, and trailered it a lot. Just out of concern for getting good wear on all tires, I rotated them at least twice a season, and they all wore very even. Just my $.02

How bad was the trailer sitting tongue-high when it was behind the truck, before the drop hitch? How long was it like that?

i bet your axle is tweeked. to check it, take something strait and about 2 feet long. you'll need 2 of them. place them so they're touching the rear tires so they're touching the tires. measure from one side of the trailer to the other in front of the tire and then do the same but on the back of the tire. it might be off by a half an inch or so. even jsut that little bit will wear the tires. if it is towed out or towed in contact your dealer adn let them know so they can contact extream. they will send a new axel with new tires and it'll be warrentied.

I agree with ryand121 on the tire rotation....I rotate mine a couple of times a year also. Every time you turn a little sharp with the trailer 2 of the 4 tires "slide." Over time it can wear them down more than a single axle trailer will. It is also possible that your axles may be out of alignment.

when you take sharp turns and as they said "tweeded" your axel the back tires drag hope it helps bro

can you say ROTATE!? Not being harsh, but don't you rotate your car or truck tires? Greg hit it right on, watch your tires when you make a sharp turn, two roll and two slide.

Sounds like your trailer is not balanced properly. Your ball mount on your truck may be too low creating too much pressure on the front axle of the trailer. You should not be causing more wear on one axle then the other even when taking sharp turns if the load is balanced between the axles.

Thanks for all the input guys, going to check on the axle alignment, as far as rotating, I don't think rotating will help due to the amount of wear that is occurring on the rear tires, it is really bad. But once I get this problem resolved I will rotate my tires a couple times a season.

Thanks again and I'll post an update when I find out what is going on.
Kevin

Let me share my experience with Extreme Trailer! I had a 99 VLX on a Extreme Tandom axle trailer. For about two summers the rear tire would wear faster like you said and one would fail. Usually somewhere in the middle of the desert going to or from Lake Havasu. We kept bringing it back to Extreme Trailer in Riverside CA. They would always blame the tire manufacturer. (Carlile or something like that) We were going thru 2-3 rear tires a summer. I finally got fed up with Extreme trailer and I took it and Collision/allingment shop in Escondido. Ca. They had a pit and backed the trailer on it to check the axle alignment and it was cantored (tweeked). It was a $100 fix and why Extreme never did this for us, or suggested it all the time we and others reportedly were having this problem is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps they just wanted to make money on selling tires! I never had a problem again after this alignment was done. Needless to say, I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER EXTREME TRAILER AGAIN! If you take your trailer back to Extreme, I recommend that you demand they check the alignment of your trailer!

Thanks for the info Leonard, I already have an appointment with the dealer requesting to check the alignment of the axles, hopefully they will treat me right and fix the issue.

If you were towing the trailer too high at the tongue, the rear tires should naturally show more wear. Take care and time to level the trailer both for storage and towing.

Another point I'll make is don't mess around with 'cheap' brands of tires for the trailer.

I had the exact same problem but the exact opposite. My front tires were worn down within a couple of months. I do think the level of the trailer may have something to do with it as well. I switched to a car tire and made sure I was level when towing and it looks pretty good so far.

i will back up those whom said your ball mount on your hitch is too low, causing the tongue of the trailer to point down. when this happens, the front axle carries the majority of the weight. when you corner, the front tires will be the pivot point of the trailer, which will cause the back axle (and consequently the back tires) to slide, hence the premature rear tire wear. it is kind of counter intuitive. there is a simple solution:



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