Thread: trailer tire wear

That looks like a bad day waiting to happen. Sure, it's common, but not standard. Something is not right. I'd replace the axle assembly before I put a new set of tires on it.

Wannabe...

Okay, I'll say it again. Most boat trailer manufacturers put too light of an axle on their trailers to save a little money. They are rated just to carry the boat. The problem is when you add a motor, gear and everything else, the axle is overloaded. Combine that with the boat bouncing while going down the road and you are putting a bunch of down pressure on the axle. I had a Bear trailer under my G3 boat and was replacing tires every 6 months for wearing the same as yours are. A trailer manufacturer explained to me what was going on. I replaced my 1/2 ton axle with a 3/4 ton from Southwest Wheel. Problem solved!! I had the same set of tires for 2 years after that and they were still in great shape when I sold the boat.

My boat and trailer is about five years old and within the first year one tire wore completely bald on the outside about two inches in and other tire still has no wear at all. I'm still on both tires and it has not worn anymore. Weird

Like WB said those tires are a disaster waiting to happen. If you turn them around the bare spots are just waiting to pick up a screw,nail or sharp rock. Go have Serwicputt a new axle under it. Like Speck said most are to light for the job they are asked to do. If you loaded your boat and got under there and layed a straight edge across top of axle you would find you have a slight bow in center that gets worse as you go down the road.

Originally Posted by cray

Like WB said those tires are a disaster waiting to happen. If you turn them around the bare spots are just waiting to pick up a screw,nail or sharp rock. Go have Serwicputt a new axle under it. Like Speck said most are to light for the job they are asked to do. If you loaded your boat and got under there and layed a straight edge across top of axle you would find you have a slight bow in center that gets worse as you go down the road.

Now go on and use up some of that money uncle Fred is giving you!!

Add a leaf in the springs. Sounds like the boat is to heavy for the springs.

Originally Posted by Speck

Okay, I'll say it again. Most boat trailer manufacturers put too light of an axle on their trailers to save a little money. They are rated just to carry the boat. The problem is when you add a motor, gear and everything else, the axle is overloaded. Combine that with the boat bouncing while going down the road and you are putting a bunch of down pressure on the axle. I had a Bear trailer under my G3 boat and was replacing tires every 6 months for wearing the same as yours are. A trailer manufacturer explained to me what was going on. I replaced my 1/2 ton axle with a 3/4 ton from Southwest Wheel. Problem solved!! I had the same set of tires for 2 years after that and they were still in great shape when I sold the boat.

I ve got a Bear Trailer with a G3 on it and I put new tires on it last spring and its been to sippi 3 times and to my trailer almost every weekend all summer and that would be around 5000 miles total and I cant even tell that they are worn. I think the key to it is keeping the max air pressure in them and also getting them balanced when you get them put on.

and those tires are past rotating

Low pressure in a tire gives a different wear pattern than what the picture shows. Inside wear usually is from a bent axle, or a weak spring system. The boat is to heavy for the trailer springs if the axle isn't bent. The trailer should have a camber to the axle when the boat is off of it. The axle should have a rating sticker or stamp on it also. Even with a relatively light 3500lb axle, I doubt your boat weighs that much.

Oh yea, those tires are dangerous. They are Shot.