# Abnormal Tire Wear



## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

As I was setting up camp this afternoon, I noticed that the rear trailer tire on the drivers side has excessive wear on the inside edge. None of the other three tires show any abnormal wear. Unfortunately I do not know how long it has been wearing like this since I have not looked at the inside edges of the tires probably since our trip started (about 7,000 miles ago).









Can anyone give me any guidance what I should be looking for to figure out what is causing the tire to wear the way that it is?
I have checked the tire pressure and all are currently at 64psi.

Here is a pic of the tire...









Thanks for any help.

--Greg


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Being that's it only one tire I would guess it's not aligned properly, again I say guess. You can measure the axle mounts front to rear on the left and then the right side to verify it's aligned. Otherwise I'd guess overweight but that "should" happen on at least both of the wheels on the axle and or tire scrub from tight turns on pavement.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## RI-23rs (Jul 7, 2008)

I agree with 2500RAM, If it is only one tire the alignment could be off. Check the bolts underneath & make sure all are tight after you measure.


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

2500Ram said:


> Being that's it only one tire I would guess it's not aligned properly, again I say guess. You can measure the axle mounts front to rear on the left and then the right side to verify it's aligned. Otherwise I'd guess overweight but that "should" happen on at least both of the wheels on the axle and or tire scrub from tight turns on pavement.
> 
> Good luck and keep us posted.


Thanks. The alignment makes sense, but I am not sure where I need to be taking my measurements. 
From the front axle to the rear one? Or from some other point?


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## webeopelas (Mar 11, 2006)

Best place would be from the tongue to the axle or wheel. Do whatever is easiest. You just want to be sure you measure equivalent spots so the jack or ball cup on the tongue, to the middle of the wheel (axle) on each side and see if they are within 1". Anymore than 1" off and I would think you have found your problem.

Just thinking about it, the axle with the bad tire should be farther away from the tongue. However you would think you would have a problem on the other tire on that side since it also should be out of alignment.

Keep us informed


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

What's strange is that these wheels are on a solid axle. If one wheel exhibited "toe out" as the one pictured does, then the corresponding mate on the opposite side of the axle would normally be showing signs of "toe in" or the opposite effect. Take a good hard look at the opposite wheel for extra wear on the outside of the tire. I suspect you will see some.

Some possible explanations for this listed in likeliness are:

1. Loose or dislocated U-bolts holding the axle.
2. Axle not attached squarely to the camper.
3. Defective attachment of wheel assembly to axle.
4. Bent or broken wheel assembly where it connects to the axle.

Best wishes in your travels. Hopefully it's not a big deal.


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

So, as far as I can tell (measuring with a string) the rear axle is square on the frame. 
I have checked the U bolts and they are all tight and I do not see any signs that they have slipped at all.

Is it possible to overload a single tire (too much weight directly over that tire) and cause the wear that I am experiencing? Reason I ask... Our dinette bench is pretty much directly over that tire and that is where we have stored most of our soda/beer during our trip (cabinet has been pretty full most of the time). Could that weight cause the one tire to wear like it is?


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Hmmmm. I believe that an overloaded tire will usually show the same signs of wear as an under-inflated tire. That is extra wear on the outside edges with more tread in the middle. Additionally, unless there is something really funky going on with your suspension, I don't think you could put more weight on just one tire as the system is designed to equally share the load.

That tire shows classic out of alignment wear.

ON EDIT: Just one last thought, and I'm trying to think outside the box here. I have heard of and seen roadways where the highway is sort of "humped" or arched in the middle. Perhaps given the giant amount of miles you are putting on, and maybe combined with the tires getting near the end of their life cycle is causing this to be visable.


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

I guess I lied... I hadn't set my torque wrench correctly... The nuts on the U bolts for the rear axle were not torqued correctly. They are now torqued to 60 ft-lbs. Although they weren't properly torqued I still believe the axle is square to the frame (based on my crude string measurements). In addition, I do not see any abnormal wear on the passenger side tire, so not sure if it would be alignment issue?

Not sure what to look at from here.


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

I'm following this thread with GREAT interest!! Coincidentally, we, too, are currently having the same issue .... but on the front tire / passenger side. Metal stems were put on the tires before we left (for the as-yet-uninstalled TPMS) and they said that they had also checked the tire pressure at the same time. Because we trust this place with out lives (quite literally), Kathy didn't check the pressure again before we headed out. However, she did check them before we made the trip home 4 days later and the front passenger-side tire was very low. She was pretty aggravated as "they said they checked it" and vowed never again to rely on someone else's word. (Good lesson learned!!) 24hrs after we got home (about 250m 1-way), the tire was flat - flat - FLAT!!! Upon inspection, we did find a nail .... but we also found the inside edge of the tread worn to the belt. NOT GOOD!! All other tires were inspected and no unusual wear was found. fyi, on the 28krs, this tire is under the kitchen.

I don't know how old these tires are but we bought them about this time last year and then drove them out & back to Wyoming & to/from Ontario last year, and to/from PA and Acadia (ME) this year. That's alot of miles & road surface ... but steal belted radials should be up to it!! We leave again in 2.5 weeks for 2 weeks in the wilderness of Northern Ontario ...glad we found & fixed this tire now. But we are still left with wondering 'WHY"?


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

Well, since I cannot find anything obviously wrong causing the tire wear, I guess I will be taking the easy(and probably expensive) way out. I will be taking the TT into Big O's Trailers in Portage, WI tomorrow morning. Hopefully they can quickly figure out what is causing the abnormal wear. 
I'll post an update when I hear what they have to say.


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

And the answer is ........... Bent Axle ......









So after they told me it would take a week to get a new axle tube shipped to them, I decided to stick the spare tire on and watch to see how quickly it wears down. 
I have no idea when or how it got bent... I have no idea if it took 7000 miles to wear to the point it's at now, or if it only took 500 miles to wear down. I am hoping I will be able to make it back to California on this one tire (in Wisconsin now), but I'll have to keep a close eye on it. 
I know I did not hit anything that would have bent the axle so the other 2 possibilities are bad roads/pot-holes or that it was bent when I bought it.
Either way, I guess I'll be buying a new axle tube after our trip is done.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

folsom_five said:


> And the answer is ........... Bent Axle ......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ouch, sorry to hear that! I hope you have a safe trip home!


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

folsom_five said:


> And the answer is ........... Bent Axle ......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, bummer man. Sorry to hear that. My guess would be the pothole theory. If you hit a bad one it could bend the wheel to axle connection point backwards and cause the kind of wear you are seeing. It might also explain the loose u-bolt.

Hopefully you can just mount the spare and get yourself home to do the repair at a later date. Maybe worse case scenario you mess up the spare too.

Good luck on your trip


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

wolfwood said:


> I'm following this thread with GREAT interest!! Coincidentally, we, too, are currently having the same issue .... but on the front tire / passenger side. Metal stems were put on the tires before we left (for the as-yet-uninstalled TPMS) and they said that they had also checked the tire pressure at the same time. Because we trust this place with out lives (quite literally), Kathy didn't check the pressure again before we headed out. However, she did check them before we made the trip home 4 days later and the front passenger-side tire was very low. She was pretty aggravated as "they said they checked it" and vowed never again to rely on someone else's word. (Good lesson learned!!) 24hrs after we got home (about 250m 1-way), the tire was flat - flat - FLAT!!! Upon inspection, we did find a nail .... but we also found the inside edge of the tread worn to the belt. NOT GOOD!! All other tires were inspected and no unusual wear was found. fyi, on the 28krs, this tire is under the kitchen.
> 
> I don't know how old these tires are but we bought them about this time last year and then drove them out & back to Wyoming & to/from Ontario last year, and to/from PA and Acadia (ME) this year. That's alot of miles & road surface ... but steal belted radials should be up to it!! We leave again in 2.5 weeks for 2 weeks in the wilderness of Northern Ontario ...glad we found & fixed this tire now. But we are still left with wondering 'WHY"?


Hi Wolfie!
Eric here, from the Gettysburg rally: I think you remember me; I was the one with the same OB as you. Thought I'd share this post I have on another thread from the 2010 rally plans ( you might have read this already) please read it:

_I blew a relitively new tire on my 28KRS, this past week, on the way to WV on I-81! thanks to a fellow trailer- tower who alerted me to the tire in the throws of destruction.. turns out my 28 KRS came from the factory with tires that can just barely handle the load of the trailer at it GVWR; no wiggle room!!
Be aware fellow Outbackers: the Four -14" ST205 Load range "C" tires that come on most Outbacks can only carry a total capacity of 7040 LBS!

Eric, how long were you running on one tire? did you feel it to see how hot the remaining one was on that side? I would replace that one as well, if not all four........If you do all four i believe you can do an axle flip and go to 15's if not alt least move up to D rated. I had tires go out twice on a twin axle 4 place snowmobile trailer.............both times did not feel or here it going down.........and i am always checking the mirrors........Thats why i ended up getting a tire pressure monitoring system.............figure at a minimum i will know if 1 tire goes down........so i can pull over before the nxt one goes and then who knows what..........

Clark: I had no clue the tire was literally disintigrating on me as I was tooling down I-81; I had the great good fortune of a fellow trailer-tower, yell to me at 74MPH that a tire was going flat. I am sure that the moment that tire completely disintigrated, the other tire on that side, would have exploded from a load far heavier than it was designed to bare. I might have lost my whole rig at that point, it could have even caused a horrible crash. We dodged a bullit! I have bought four new Maxxis Load range "E" 2800lbs + per tire and wheels from Discount Tire and my trailer will not travel until those babies are on it. I am getting 225/75R15's! BTW My Outback didn't even have radials on it they were bias ply --cheap cheap; shame on you Keystone! shame on me for not seeing this before I started traveling with my new OB this past spring. I will do the axle mod if I have to, right now I like having the trailer at stock height._

After I did some research I found the following spec on the trailer we own:

Model 28KRS

Shipping Weight 6070

Carrying Capacity 1585

Hitch 655

Length 30' 8

Height 10' 3

Fresh Water 50

Waste Water 40

Gray Water 40

LPG 60

Tire Size 205/75D14C

Rim Size 14 x 5

If you fill the tanks 1/2 way with water and add 1000 pounds of weight that the front garage is labled to carry, you have seriously overloaded the tires on this camper if it has the stock load range "C" tires it came with from the factory ( rated @ 1760 lbs each). In fact this doesen't even allow for any cargo such as food clothes, appliances, propane, hoses wires etc
Secondly the tires are not radials.. they are Bias Ply! these are notorius for failure under stress.
I am going to contact Keystone about this.
Eric

Let you know how that turns out


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Just Add Dirt said:


> I'm following this thread with GREAT interest!! Coincidentally, we, too, are currently having the same issue .... but on the front tire / passenger side. Metal stems were put on the tires before we left (for the as-yet-uninstalled TPMS) and they said that they had also checked the tire pressure at the same time. Because we trust this place with out lives (quite literally), Kathy didn't check the pressure again before we headed out. However, she did check them before we made the trip home 4 days later and the front passenger-side tire was very low. She was pretty aggravated as "they said they checked it" and vowed never again to rely on someone else's word. (Good lesson learned!!) 24hrs after we got home (about 250m 1-way), the tire was flat - flat - FLAT!!! Upon inspection, we did find a nail .... but we also found the inside edge of the tread worn to the belt. NOT GOOD!! All other tires were inspected and no unusual wear was found. fyi, on the 28krs, this tire is under the kitchen.
> 
> I don't know how old these tires are but we bought them about this time last year and then drove them out & back to Wyoming & to/from Ontario last year, and to/from PA and Acadia (ME) this year. That's alot of miles & road surface ... but steal belted radials should be up to it!! We leave again in 2.5 weeks for 2 weeks in the wilderness of Northern Ontario ...glad we found & fixed this tire now. But we are still left with wondering 'WHY"?


Hi Wolfie!
Eric here, from the Gettysburg rally: I think you remember me; I was the one with the same OB as you. Thought I'd share this post I have on another thread from the 2010 rally plans ( you might have read this already) please read it:

_I blew a relitively new tire on my 28KRS, this past week, on the way to WV on I-81! thanks to a fellow trailer- tower who alerted me to the tire in the throws of destruction.. turns out my 28 KRS came from the factory with tires that can just barely handle the load of the trailer at it GVWR; no wiggle room!!
Be aware fellow Outbackers: the Four -14" ST205 Load range "C" tires that come on most Outbacks can only carry a total capacity of 7040 LBS!

Eric, how long were you running on one tire? did you feel it to see how hot the remaining one was on that side? I would replace that one as well, if not all four........If you do all four i believe you can do an axle flip and go to 15's if not alt least move up to D rated. I had tires go out twice on a twin axle 4 place snowmobile trailer.............both times did not feel or here it going down.........and i am always checking the mirrors........Thats why i ended up getting a tire pressure monitoring system.............figure at a minimum i will know if 1 tire goes down........so i can pull over before the nxt one goes and then who knows what..........

Clark: I had no clue the tire was literally disintigrating on me as I was tooling down I-81; I had the great good fortune of a fellow trailer-tower, yell to me at 74MPH that a tire was going flat. I am sure that the moment that tire completely disintigrated, the other tire on that side, would have exploded from a load far heavier than it was designed to bare. I might have lost my whole rig at that point, it could have even caused a horrible crash. We dodged a bullit! I have bought four new Maxxis Load range "E" 2800lbs + per tire and wheels from Discount Tire and my trailer will not travel until those babies are on it. I am getting 225/75R15's! BTW My Outback didn't even have radials on it they were bias ply --cheap cheap; shame on you Keystone! shame on me for not seeing this before I started traveling with my new OB this past spring. I will do the axle mod if I have to, right now I like having the trailer at stock height._

After I did some research I found the following spec on the trailer we own:

Model 28KRS

Shipping Weight 6070

Carrying Capacity 1585

Hitch 655

Length 30' 8

Height 10' 3

Fresh Water 50

Waste Water 40

Gray Water 40

LPG 60

Tire Size 205/75D14C

Rim Size 14 x 5

If you fill the tanks 1/2 way with water and add 1000 pounds of weight that the front garage is labled to carry, you have seriously overloaded the tires on this camper if it has the stock load range "C" tires it came with from the factory ( rated @ 1760 lbs each). In fact this doesen't even allow for any cargo such as food clothes, appliances, propane, hoses wires etc
Secondly the tires are not radials.. they are Bias Ply! these are notorius for failure under stress.
I am going to contact Keystone about this.
Eric

Let you know how that turns out
[/quote]

Yes, most trailers are designed this way. Remember that 1000 lbs will be on the tounge and therefore not on the tires.

My big beast is the same, if I assume the GVWR, and simply divide by 4, I'll have 3460lbs on each tire that is rated for just over 3000 lbs (The axles will also be over their 6000lb limit). However, if I remember that a minimum of 15% of the weight will be on the pin, the tire loading drops to 2950, which is just below the tire and axle ratings. Of course this assumes that the loading is completely equal between the 4.









As far as upgrading tires for better load carrying capability, it should improve durability, but just remember, you're moving the failure mode to the next weakest link.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Nathan said:


> I'm following this thread with GREAT interest!! Coincidentally, we, too, are currently having the same issue .... but on the front tire / passenger side. Metal stems were put on the tires before we left (for the as-yet-uninstalled TPMS) and they said that they had also checked the tire pressure at the same time. Because we trust this place with out lives (quite literally), Kathy didn't check the pressure again before we headed out. However, she did check them before we made the trip home 4 days later and the front passenger-side tire was very low. She was pretty aggravated as "they said they checked it" and vowed never again to rely on someone else's word. (Good lesson learned!!) 24hrs after we got home (about 250m 1-way), the tire was flat - flat - FLAT!!! Upon inspection, we did find a nail .... but we also found the inside edge of the tread worn to the belt. NOT GOOD!! All other tires were inspected and no unusual wear was found. fyi, on the 28krs, this tire is under the kitchen.
> 
> I don't know how old these tires are but we bought them about this time last year and then drove them out & back to Wyoming & to/from Ontario last year, and to/from PA and Acadia (ME) this year. That's alot of miles & road surface ... but steal belted radials should be up to it!! We leave again in 2.5 weeks for 2 weeks in the wilderness of Northern Ontario ...glad we found & fixed this tire now. But we are still left with wondering 'WHY"?


Hi Wolfie!
Eric here, from the Gettysburg rally: I think you remember me; I was the one with the same OB as you. Thought I'd share this post I have on another thread from the 2010 rally plans ( you might have read this already) please read it:

_I blew a relitively new tire on my 28KRS, this past week, on the way to WV on I-81! thanks to a fellow trailer- tower who alerted me to the tire in the throws of destruction.. turns out my 28 KRS came from the factory with tires that can just barely handle the load of the trailer at it GVWR; no wiggle room!!
Be aware fellow Outbackers: the Four -14" ST205 Load range "C" tires that come on most Outbacks can only carry a total capacity of 7040 LBS!

Eric, how long were you running on one tire? did you feel it to see how hot the remaining one was on that side? I would replace that one as well, if not all four........If you do all four i believe you can do an axle flip and go to 15's if not alt least move up to D rated. I had tires go out twice on a twin axle 4 place snowmobile trailer.............both times did not feel or here it going down.........and i am always checking the mirrors........Thats why i ended up getting a tire pressure monitoring system.............figure at a minimum i will know if 1 tire goes down........so i can pull over before the nxt one goes and then who knows what..........

Clark: I had no clue the tire was literally disintigrating on me as I was tooling down I-81; I had the great good fortune of a fellow trailer-tower, yell to me at 74MPH that a tire was going flat. I am sure that the moment that tire completely disintigrated, the other tire on that side, would have exploded from a load far heavier than it was designed to bare. I might have lost my whole rig at that point, it could have even caused a horrible crash. We dodged a bullit! I have bought four new Maxxis Load range "E" 2800lbs + per tire and wheels from Discount Tire and my trailer will not travel until those babies are on it. I am getting 225/75R15's! BTW My Outback didn't even have radials on it they were bias ply --cheap cheap; shame on you Keystone! shame on me for not seeing this before I started traveling with my new OB this past spring. I will do the axle mod if I have to, right now I like having the trailer at stock height._

After I did some research I found the following spec on the trailer we own:

Model 28KRS

Shipping Weight 6070

Carrying Capacity 1585

Hitch 655

Length 30' 8

Height 10' 3

Fresh Water 50

Waste Water 40

Gray Water 40

LPG 60

Tire Size 205/75D14C

Rim Size 14 x 5

If you fill the tanks 1/2 way with water and add 1000 pounds of weight that the front garage is labled to carry, you have seriously overloaded the tires on this camper if it has the stock load range "C" tires it came with from the factory ( rated @ 1760 lbs each). In fact this doesen't even allow for any cargo such as food clothes, appliances, propane, hoses wires etc
Secondly the tires are not radials.. they are Bias Ply! these are notorius for failure under stress.
I am going to contact Keystone about this.
Eric

Let you know how that turns out
[/quote]

Yes, most trailers are designed this way. Remember that 1000 lbs will be on the tounge and therefore not on the tires.

My big beast is the same, if I assume the GVWR, and simply divide by 4, I'll have 3460lbs on each tire that is rated for just over 3000 lbs (The axles will also be over their 6000lb limit). However, if I remember that a minimum of 15% of the weight will be on the pin, the tire loading drops to 2950, which is just below the tire and axle ratings. Of course this assumes that the loading is completely equal between the 4.









As far as upgrading tires for better load carrying capability, it should improve durability, but just remember, you're moving the failure mode to the next weakest link.








[/quote]
You have a 5th wheel that carries 15 - 20 percent of the load; the 28 KRS connects via a rear hitch; the most tongue weight is 10% of load; if you look at the specs I retreived from Keystone for the 28 KRS the tongue weight is 655 lbs, that leave a load of 7000 lbs divided between four tires that max out at a total of 7040 lbs (1760X4). 40 lbs of spare capacity...on a bias ply tire... I don't think so..
This is negligent
Eric


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Just Add Dirt said:


> You have a 5th wheel that carries 15 - 20 percent of the load; the 28 KRS connects via a rear hitch; the most tongue weight is 10% of load; if you look at the specs I retreived from Keystone for the 28 KRS the tongue weight is 655 lbs, that leave a load of 7000 lbs divided between four tires that max out at a total of 7040 lbs (1760X4). 40 lbs of spare capacity...on a bias ply tire... I don't think so..
> This is negligent
> Eric


Eric, I'm just saying check your tounge weight. The 28RSDS was around 1k lbs. The 23KRS is around 1k lbs according to reports on here. I'm betting a loaded 28KRS is over 1k lbs







. 655 lbs is empty without propane tanks, batteries, etc. The OB's tend to run more like 15% on the tounge, which is on the heavy side of the 10-15% guideline for a bumper pull.

I'm not defending Keystone, just saying that it is standard practice, and that if you assume 10% on the tounge, I bet the weights (barely) work.









Edited... Ok, I went and ran the numbers at GVW:
GVW: 7600lbs
10% TW: 760 lbs (I still bet it's more than this, but let's use it for argument's sake)

Resulting weight on each tire (assuming completely even loading







): 1710 lbs.

Look at that, 50 lbs to spare!!!

It's also interesting that it has approximately the same percentage of safety margin as mine: 3%


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

Thanks for the heads up, Eric. But after I had that initial "Nanco issue" with our 1st camper .... I was all too well educated on tire "quality". When we got the 28krs, our dealer confirmed that we had no Nancos on it (of course, he didn't check the spare - which was, you guessed it, a Nanco!







). We hauled for a year on the stock tires but with every intention of replacing them with Radials...which we did before last summer's trip to Wyoming.

Personally, I'm happy NOT to pay a TT manufacturer to put top quality tires on. I want to choose them myself. HOWEVER, the tires they put on should be able to safely carry the box that sits above them (no dry rot, etc.)


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Nathan said:


> You have a 5th wheel that carries 15 - 20 percent of the load; the 28 KRS connects via a rear hitch; the most tongue weight is 10% of load; if you look at the specs I retreived from Keystone for the 28 KRS the tongue weight is 655 lbs, that leave a load of 7000 lbs divided between four tires that max out at a total of 7040 lbs (1760X4). 40 lbs of spare capacity...on a bias ply tire... I don't think so..
> This is negligent
> Eric


Eric, I'm just saying check your tounge weight. The 28RSDS was around 1k lbs. The 23KRS is around 1k lbs according to reports on here. I'm betting a loaded 28KRS is over 1k lbs







. 655 lbs is empty without propane tanks, batteries, etc. The OB's tend to run more like 15% on the tounge, which is on the heavy side of the 10-15% guideline for a bumper pull.

I'm not defending Keystone, just saying that it is standard practice, and that if you assume 10% on the tounge, I bet the weights (barely) work.









Edited... Ok, I went and ran the numbers at GVW:
GVW: 7600lbs
10% TW: 760 lbs (I still bet it's more than this, but let's use it for argument's sake)

Resulting weight on each tire (assuming completely even loading







): 1710 lbs.

Look at that, 50 lbs to spare!!!

It's also interesting that it has approximately the same percentage of safety margin as mine: 3%








[/quote]
How much load do you think is on those, 3% safety margin, bias ply tires, when you hit a big ugly divit it the highway (and boy ain't the highways littered with those...) and your putting about an extra 1 or 2 G's in of the load weight of trailer onto those tires?
It scares me to think about it...


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

So I ran about 400 miles on the spare tire today and cannot see any indication of abnormal wear on the inside edge of the tire. Based on that, I am going to assume that my axle has been bent for quite a while and ~7000 miles is all I'm going to get out of the tire in that location. Hopefully when I get back home (~2300 more miles) the tire will not be worn down that much... Hopefully I will only have to repace one worn tire instead of two.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

folsom_five said:


> So I ran about 400 miles on the spare tire today and cannot see any indication of abnormal wear on the inside edge of the tire. Based on that, I am going to assume that my axle has been bent for quite a while and ~7000 miles is all I'm going to get out of the tire in that location. Hopefully when I get back home (~2300 more miles) the tire will not be worn down that much... Hopefully I will only have to repace one worn tire instead of two.


Good to hear! Hope things continue to go well.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Just Add Dirt said:


> How much load do you think is on those, 3% safety margin, bias ply tires, when you hit a big ugly divit it the highway (and boy ain't the highways littered with those...) and your putting about an extra 1 or 2 G's in of the load weight of trailer onto those tires?
> It scares me to think about it...


Ok, being en engineer, this is a topic near and dear to me. Of course the dynamic loads are huge, but that SHOULD be factored into the study when determining the max static load (It's the same with how your truck is designed, it should be able to take bumps). Now, the blowout I had on my OB, was a very bumpy road, the trailer started bouncing and on the third bouce, I heard the bang. That would definetly support your theory that they do not have a sufficient safety margin for the dynamic loading.


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## anne72 (Apr 27, 2007)

folsom_five said:


> So I ran about 400 miles on the spare tire today and cannot see any indication of abnormal wear on the inside edge of the tire. Based on that, I am going to assume that my axle has been bent for quite a while and ~7000 miles is all I'm going to get out of the tire in that location. Hopefully when I get back home (~2300 more miles) the tire will not be worn down that much... Hopefully I will only have to repace one worn tire instead of two.


If it starts wearing again, knowing what your next few stops are, can you contact a dealer in that area and have the axle shipped to arrive when you get to that stop? My in-laws have to do that when they are on the road. Would hate to see something bad happen to you guys!


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Nathan said:


> How much load do you think is on those, 3% safety margin, bias ply tires, when you hit a big ugly divit it the highway (and boy ain't the highways littered with those...) and your putting about an extra 1 or 2 G's in of the load weight of trailer onto those tires?
> It scares me to think about it...


Ok, being en engineer, this is a topic near and dear to me. Of course the dynamic loads are huge, but that SHOULD be factored into the study when determining the max static load (It's the same with how your truck is designed, it should be able to take bumps). Now, the blowout I had on my OB, was a very bumpy road, the trailer started bouncing and on the third bouce, I heard the bang. That would definetly support your theory that they do not have a sufficient safety margin for the dynamic loading.








[/quote]
Precisely my point: I called Keystone, and all they could do was 1- advise me my trailer was out of the 1 year warranty and 2- tell me that all tire issues are a warranty item for the tire manufacturer. I tried to explain to the "Customer relations specialist" that this was and engineering- design, flaw. and that a lot of outbackers were posting about tire issues; he told me, mine was the only call he's ever recieved. 3% is not acceptable as a buffer for tires load, on a dynamic load of 7000+ lbs. *Tire failure is inevitable *especially given the conditions of todays infrastructure. My Tire failed just after I hit a huge pot-hole in series of major pavement issues (potholes, ruts, huge, speedbump like, protusions, on I-81. These pavement conditions are not unique to I-81; almost all of our highway system have these condition. That, combined with the Trailer Manufactuers blindness to this problem, in the engineering and design of recreation Vehicles, is putting our "happy, oblivious, camper lives" in jeapordy.

Eric


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

If I had to replace an axle, replace both and upgrade to a heavier pair. We bent the Heck out of 2 on a spill trailer we had and upgraded to heavier ones and have been good to go ever since. I would lean for a heavier rated tire too. A load "C" is kinda weak, go with a D at least. Price is always a factor too, I have no idea on the cost. Good luck.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

battalionchief3 said:


> If I had to replace an axle, replace both and upgrade to a heavier pair. We bent the Heck out of 2 on a spill trailer we had and upgraded to heavier ones and have been good to go ever since. I would lean for a heavier rated tire too. A load "C" is kinda weak, go with a D at least. Price is always a factor too, I have no idea on the cost. Good luck.


I already am going to 10ply Maxxis with a load rating of 2830, but it does no good to upgrade the tire if the wheels are rated substantially less; what good is a "D" rated 8 ply tire, if the wheel is only able to handle 1850 lbs? FACT: most wheels that handle a 14 or 15 inch tire with a 5 on 4 1/2 bolt patttern will only handle less than 2200 lbs I happened to find some 15 wheels that handle 2830lbs with a 5 on 4 1/2 bolt pattern. usually you have to go to a 6 on 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 before you'll get a real substantial increase in load capacity. I spoke to some mechanics in the RV service industry and was told a 3500 lb axle will handle 4000 lbs with no problem: I was told axles and springs, unlike tires, are usually underated and have a reserve capacity for dynamic road conditions.
I saw your thread about an axle flip: I plan to do it only if necessary the tires/ wheels I bought have diameter of oly about 1" more than the 14" 6 plys 
I discovered that you can't just "flip the axles 180 degrees and use the existing perches. first the axles are slightly bowed for tire camber so the must be just removed from above and stuck under the springs with new perches. Any trailer shop sells the perches. I was told welding is not necessary, but usually desired.
Eric


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