Trailer wheels bowing out?

[pmoomba]

I never noticed this before but seems like my wheels might be bowing out a little bit. I only noticed it because someone else was looking and pointed it out and seemed to imply his did the same thing and it was by design. Now that I'm looking at it though it's bugging me. Are these normal for an 06 single axle or do I need to get this fixed up? The pictures weren't taken perfectly level but you can still see what's going on I think.


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[mmandley]

Its actually by design. The axle is the suspension and it also uses the tires as a sock absorber. If you ever pull a trailer with fancy wheels and low profile tires you will notice how harsh the ride can be for the trailer and boat. As long as the tires are properly inflated and you dont see wear on the inside or outside of the tread then there is nothing wrong with it at all. Also when you look at the front tires they play tricks on your eye because of you back up with a dual axle trailer and turn at all the front axle tires will flex as they are actually drug on the ground. Yours looks like a single axle and with that you also have more weight on the one axle and as you keep adding weight the axles will bow out more. Your axle is carring 2x the weight as my duel axle so my tires dont bow out at all.

[mnpracing]

pmoomba, I had an 06 OBV with the single-axle as well. It had the oil bath Reliable-brand hubs. Mine did not bow out (negative camber) like yours. I can't say whether anything is wrong with yours, but I thought I'd post my experience for your reference. From the looks of the pictures above, I would not think that's normal. The suspension of the trailer is a torsion axle, which should be an up-and-down motion of the wheel, not in an out. Do you trailer the boat over-loaded (ballast tanks not empty, tons of gear, coolers, etc). the SA axle should be rated for 6,000 lbs (can't remember the placard on the axle should say), but each axle on the DA trailer is 3,750. It's not double the capacity, but in total is more than the single.

[murraymoomba]

Our 07 is doing the same thing. Boatmate blamed me for hitting curbs bending the spindles. Funny thing is it has never hit curbs much less on both sides.
I thought about switching the left one for the right and vice versa, it might bend them back straight. My tires are wearing on the inside as well.

[pmoomba]

Thanks for the info, sounds like the jury is a little out. I don't tow with anything but a full tank of gas and a little gear (no ballast full, etc), and haven't been running over curbs. I will have to double check the tire wear when I get home.

murraymoomba, are you concerned about your 07 and/or getting it taken in to be worked on? I don't have a dealer nearby (2.5h or so) but have a few general marine places that also service trailers. I'd hate to leave it unchecked and wind up on the side of the road or worse.

[murraymoomba]

Same here. I think something is wrong but my dealer assured me they would not break off. I checked on new spindles and they were about $300. I think it would be an easy swap. Thats why I thought about switching sides. My local mechanic said he could put the new ones on for me. I'm still on the fence about it.....

Thanks for the info, sounds like the jury is a little out. I don't tow with anything but a full tank of gas and a little gear (no ballast full, etc), and haven't been running over curbs. I will have to double check the tire wear when I get home.

murraymoomba, are you concerned about your 07 and/or getting it taken in to be worked on? I don't have a dealer nearby (2.5h or so) but have a few general marine places that also service trailers. I'd hate to leave it unchecked and wind up on the side of the road or worse.

[FargoDawg]

was worse than yours, more camber, I took my trailer with boat to a trailer sales place and they fixed it up including fixing some of the electric brake wiring that had been pinched for about $250, I dont know what they did but it is now less camber and the reassurance an "expert" gave me was enough for me to pull it 8 hours with no problems.
note: I had no funny wierd wear on the tires.

[rc5695]

Only the rear axle tires bow out like that on my 16' flat bed trailer and my boat (both tandem axle trailers). no weird wear that i've noticed on either one, and bearings are good on both.

[rdlangston13]

Both axles on my tandem bow all over the place in different directions when make tight slow speed maneuvers.

Also, I have a buddy with a single axle boat mate on it looks like his trailer rides waaayyyy higher up than my tandem. is this normal or are my torsion axles about to bust???

[pmoomba]

For what it's worth, I took it to a dealer that's a little closer (not an SC dealer, but work on trailers and some of their boats use boatmate) to be inspected, and they found no issues.