Trailer tire wear

Quick question about tire wear. I'm attaching a pic of some abnormal wear on my trailer tire and wanted to see what you guys think might be the cause. The tire is highly worn on the outside about a 2" wide strip and only on one tire. They are inflated to 35PSI cold and the tire has a 50PSI max. Do you think they are under-inflated or the tire could be out of alignment? This on a Tracker trailer roughly 2 1/2 years old. Just curious but I'm trying to avoid a blow out on the road.

Thanks guys and hopefully my Tracker Targa will be on the water in the morning at Jordan. I think there are two other guys on this forum with the same boat.

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These look like a bias ply tires. Buy radial trailer tires. Run them at least 40 pounds cold psi. I run 45 cold psi. Every bias ply tire I've ever owned did this exact same thing.

I'll definitely look at getting radials but all the information I've read is saying to inflate the tires to max. PSI cold rating. So I need to pump these boys to 50. Do you guys do this?

Under inflated probably. I had same problem and now run 45PSI. It could be a bent axle being just one side. That could cause a vertical alignment from top to bottom. Have you checked the bearings for play(loose motion)? Any one of these can cause the problem.

The pic shows some cupping in the wear. Under inflation will cause this.

It depends on how much weight you run. 45 works perfect for me. I get perfectly even wear. I've had my radials on 5 years or more now. if your running max weight rating of the tire, then run the max cold psi rating.

Again, radials tires will always get more even wear then a bias ply tire. Bias ply tires have very stiff side walls and tend to wear on the outside edges. They also tend to cup if they sit in one position for a long period of time. Run bias tires on your tractor or farm trailers or when you need absolute max weight ratings. Radical st trailer tires everywhere else.

Thanks guys. I pumped them up to the max and then I'll look to replace them in the spring. See you guys at Jordan tomorrow.

I got the same boat , had the same problem, hadn't found a fix yet, had mine since 05, Only does that on right side, on the second radial tire on that side, I pull it at least once a week. Changed bearing twice, I run 50 psi which helped them wear better but it still does that.

If it was under inflation you'd see it on both sides of the tire and most likely on both sides of the boat. I'd guess a bent axle.

Try rotating your tires. Right side is low side of road and wear is normal for right side to wear first and more . Big truck tires wear the same way.

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Originally Posted by Countryboy N.C.

I got the same boat , had the same problem, hadn't found a fix yet, had mine since 05, Only does that on right side, on the second radial tire on that side, I pull it at least once a week. Changed bearing twice, I run 50 psi which helped them wear better but it still does that.

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Check your spring clips. If they have slid back on that side of the leaf springs... That side will hop a lot more and cause it. The spring clips keep the return bounce from rebounding to much.

looks like a bent axle to me. they should be able to check castor/camber at alignment shop

check axle alignment from tounge center and make sure both sides are equal. It ain't rocket science. If it is, then check squareness of wheel to frame. Or take it to a body shop. :)

I'll make a point this week to rotate the tires and see if I get the same wear pattern over the next few trips. I fit starts on the new tire then I know to check alignment and so forth.

Hockey 86:

Me and my fishing partner both have a Targa. Mine is the black one (The Beast) with Jordan Limit as the Captian.
Dont want to sound like a hater but gotta hate on the Trailstar trailer tire situation.
If you are still running the Tracker brand bias ply tires donate them to the landfill. Sundance is right; get rid of the bias ply and get a good set of radials. The best for the price in my opinion are the Carlisles sold at Pep Boys.
I had the same problem on first my Bass Tracker and now with the Targa. There is not really a wheel alignment on a boat trailer so you must get the best set of radials and monitor for excessive wear.
Oh BTW, a Tracker service manager advised me to give up on the Tracker tires (but he must remain unnamed :-)).

Had the same problem. Did all the things mentioned. Switched to softer tire ...car tire instead of trailer tire ...Problem solved. I was putting a set of tires on the trailer every year...very frustrating. FB

Get radials and keep max inflation
I had 3 blow out on my RV, last one was new tire which was inflated to 60 lbs with a max inflation being 80lbs which I thought was good for the hot weather conditions. The were commercial grade tires 12 ply the best I could find.The blow out done consideralbe damage to the RV.
I contacted the tire dealer that told me the tire overheated because of under inflation and caused the fire sidewall to fail causing the blow out. They told be to always keep tires inflated to maximum inflation rating to avoid tire failure especially in hot weather. Been doing that ever since and not one blow out or tire failure.
Hard lesson learned.

Thanks again. Who would've thought that you need to put the maximum pressure in these tires?! I maintained the pressure that was in it when I bought the boat (new from Bass Pro) and it was only 35 PSI. Gonna get rid of the worthless Tracker tires because I have not talked to anyone who speaks good of the original bias tires. Hopefully I'll run into a few of you guys out on Jordan. I have a black Targa V18. Need to also get a crappie.com sticker and throw on the boat.

Well it didn't take long. After a great day of fishing as soon as I pulled into my neighborhood, the tire blew. I was just super lucky that it happened as I pulled into the neighborhood and not going down the road at 65. Looks like I'm off to buy a couple of radials tomorrow.
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Keep a check on them leaf springs, too. They ant no good either, one of mine broke going down 85 at 70 mph, Lucky I was right in front of northern tool when it happened, 8 pm at night in dec, pulled it into the parking lot and went in and bought new ones for both sides, changed the broke one in the parking lot and the other one the next day, tracker put some junk on them trailers, And put some odd size wheel hub bearing seal on the axle, too. found out about that the hard way too, they are not standard size! I will change the hole hub next time, northern tool has them. You can find seals and bearing for them any where, I had to go back to a tracker dealer to get the seals. They are not open every day like the auto parts are, when you need them.

That's good to know (not your misfortune but that I should be aware of the springs). Looks like the leaf springs are less than $50 each so I will probably go ahead and replace them shortly. It's amazing to take a decent trailer and ruin it with a few cheap parts. I noticed starting this year Tracker is supplying the same trailer with a dual axle setup.

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Originally Posted by Fishbud

Had the same problem. Did all the things mentioned. Switched to softer tire ...car tire instead of trailer tire ...Problem solved. I was putting a set of tires on the trailer every year...very frustrating. FB

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Fishbud you hit the nail on the head,Get rid of those sorry a$$ trailer tires and get some car tires you will not have any more trouble.My trailer came with high dollar goodyear trailer tires when I bought it new in 1991,the tires lasted two years and wore uneven as crap.I fixed the problem just like I did on my old trailer,New tires (car tires).I am on my second set of tires since 1994,and yes it goes up and down the road a lot

tracker trailers are junk. mine rusted out so bad that it had to be replaced. problem is the drain holes they have in the cross rails are not drilled out large enough to let any sand or debris out, crawl under it and look at the v in the center of each crossrail. drill it out just a little larger and prime and paint the hole.

Maxxis tires!

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Originally Posted by [email protected]

tracker trailers are junk. mine rusted out so bad that it had to be replaced. problem is the drain holes they have in the cross rails are not drilled out large enough to let any sand or debris out, crawl under it and look at the v in the center of each crossrail. drill it out just a little larger and prime and paint the hole.

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I'll make sure to check and enlarge any holes that need to drain a little better. Thanks.