Weird tire wear on boat trailer

[paulmandude]

Did the wheel bearings a few years ago on my ‘96 Ranger R72 boat trailer and got new tires. It has bearing buddies and I thought I did everything correctly. Fast forward 4 years or so without too many miles (prob less than 1000) I noticed some weird tire wear. The outside is down to barely any tread and the middle lugs are worn on the back side of each block. I did a search on tires wearing outside and tire pressures came up. I normally run 40-42 lbs in the tires. Others have said run 50 or you get outside wear like something fierce. These are cheap Hi-Run tires. Trailer seems to pull smoothly even at 80 mph. The place I got them mounted said they didn’t need to be balanced which I thought was weird. After talking to my buddy who is pretty mechanically inclined, he asked if I torqued the wheel bearings when I put them in and I did not. He wants me to tighten the castle nut to say 65 ft/lbs and back off. I only finger tightened the nut, that’s how I believe it was. Not sure it would do much since I lightly tapped the bearings in the race with the tool that barely fits inside the race. Also if I remember correctly, if the castle nut was tight, the wheel was having trouble moving. After packing the hub and bearings, I remembered to fill up the bearing buddies too. I always thought the trailer had a loud humming sound after new tires and repacking.
According to google the boat weighs 1,100 lbs. motor is around 300. 17 gal gas tank times 6 lb/gal so about 100 lbs. So 1,500 plus gear. 1700?
Load index 102, load range C, 6 ply. Speed index L
102=1874
C=1,820 per tire, 2 tires so 3640 lbs is what I think google says
Tires are not directional. 
Another part of me says just run some different tires and have them balanced and see if I run into the same problems. I just don’t want to have my tire fall off while towing!

[riverbasser]

It's not the tires or a balance issue.

 

Wheel bearings must be torqued when installed to properly seat the bearing on the hub. Then they are backed off.

 

Trailer tires are meant to be run at the max air pressure rating written on the sidewall.

 

To check alignment run a tape from center of tongue to both sides of hub. Compare measurements and adjust as necessary.

 

Plenty of YouTube videos that will walk you through both procedures. Good luck

[Jig Man]

It looks like out of balance issue to me.

[slonezp]

I've never had trailer tires balanced and never had a wear issue. 

[Rocketvapor]

Balancing tires only finds the light/heavy points (only one each).

Balance wear (bouncing) will not be uniform around the tire. 

Watch for it and have them balanced, otherwise don't worry about it. 

Bearing chatter can cause the cupping you see in one tread.  

After a highway run check hub and tire temperature by hand.

Sidewall flexing from low pressure (for the load) will cause the outer treads to wear and allow the tire cords to move around inside the rubber weakening the structure. 

 

 

[Bird]

I've always run trailer tires to max psi.

 

Heads up on bearing buddy:

Found jacking up each tire and spinning during the greasing process works best.

[Way2slow]

It's easy enough to check the bearings.  Jack the wheel up, grab the tire at points 180 degrees apart and see if/how much you can move the tire back and forth.  Anything more than a very slight movement is too much.  There are all kinds of ways you hear about to tighten the castle nut.  The way I have found works for me, I torque it down until it won't spin without considerable force, this is to squeeze the grease out, then I back if off until loose and then turn it back in until I feel it just start to make contact and starts feeling tension on it. 

Run one too loose and that help contribute to uneven tire were, run one too tight and it does not get a grease film and burns out.

Regardless of who says what, I always balance my tires and I set my tow height so it has a slight drop toward the ball.  I think most recommend a hitch height of 12-13 inches.  I also have my axles aligned but that's something that's getting very difficult to do because modern shops don't have either the equipment or the know how to do that...You have to find a shop that has to ability to align straight axles (this has to be done by bending the axle) and the smarts to be able to do it without having to look up the year and make of the vehicle in the computer to know how to set it.  Also be ware, this has to be done at the tow high of you hitch, so it has to be measured and then set at that height on the alignment rack.

[Born 2 fish]

I don’t think you should run those tires at 80 mph. 

[gim]

Boy that is odd isn't it?  The outside is worn down and the inside is worn down and the middle isn't.  Can't say I've seen that before.

[Way2slow]

My old single axle Stratos trailer had tires identical to those when I first got it.  I put a new set on it, packed and did a proper tightening on the wheel bearings and had it aligned and never had a problem with tire ware on it. 

[slonezp]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Boy that is odd isn't it?  The outside is worn down and the inside is worn down and the middle isn't.  Can't say I've seen that before.

Typically under inflation will cause that and over inflation will wear the center 

[TnRiver46]

Jack it up and if there’s no play, you’re good. If there’s some wiggle you’re too loose. I’ve always been told to tighten the bearing nut very tight and then back off a quarter turn and put the cotter pin in 

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

Boy that is odd isn't it?  The outside is worn down and the inside is worn down and the middle isn't.  Can't say I've seen that before.

I’ve done it! Haha

[looking45]

Make sure you're using trailer tires and inflate them to the max psi printed on the sidewall. Trailer tires are typically 50 psi

[Alex from GA]

Air pressure for the size of tire you're using and the load range is 50 lbs.  I always go up 5 lbs.  Adjust bearings like others said, "tighten until it won't turn and back off until it turns with no play".

[Dwight Hottle]

On 9/25/2020 at 1:13 PM, slonezp said:

Typically under inflation will cause that and over inflation will wear the center 

Totally correct. 

[GaryH]

If under inflated they will wear down on both inside and outside edge. Also if the tires aren't rated for the speeds your going that will hasten the edge wear.

Good luck on fixing the issue.