Tandem Trailer- Rear Tires Wear Quicker?

[PNA]

I have a tandem trailer. I am working on my 3rd set of tires. Since day one, seems the tires on the rear axle wear quicker (2 to 3 times more) than those on the front axle. Is this common because of the tandem axle geometry or do I have some kind of an "axle alignment" problem?
PNA

[jimslawnservice1]

if you do a lot of tight turning the rear axle "drags" which is kinda like skidding the tires through a turn and will cause significant wear. Sometimes changing the "drop" on your hitch can alleviate some of it by leveling out the trailer (important when the trailer is loaded)

Does your trailer have brakes on the rear axle?

[steve-o]

I have a tandem trailer. I am working on my 3rd set of tires. Since day one, seems the tires on the rear axle wear quicker (2 to 3 times more) than those on the front axle. Is this common because of the tandem axle geometry or do I have some kind of an "axle alignment" problem?
PNA

do you do maintance on your bearings with grease and keeping everything good and tight? if that wheel wobbles it will wear out quick.

steve

[PNA]

I am guilty of 2 things; not always completing the proper maint. and turning sharply, sometimes. I do not have rear brakes. Do you think that could cause tire wear problems? I should check the "drop" on my receiver. Should it be totally level wwhen loaded?
PNA

[ahlgrenlandscaping]

How you load your trailer could have something to do with it as well if you have a large rider sitting way back on your trailer so that the load is only distributed over that axle could have an effect on it as well.

[PNA]

I 'back' my ZTR on the trailer. I found that this allows most of the weight to be closer to the center of the 2 axles.
PNA

[ahlgrenlandscaping]

I would hook your trailer up to your truck and put a level on the rail and see how level it is my best guess would be that your going to have a pretty good angle towards the gate.

[GeeVee]

Leveling rails is pointless. Leveling the "bed" is pointless.

You will want to level the spring pivot.......

Each of the two leaf springs attach to a pivot.

When loaded, you can experiment with different drop or raise to your hitch and the loaded machinery to try and get that pivot more evenly layed out.

You need tongue weight. Just not excessive weight.

Ultimately, all this will do nothing for your tire situation. You ARE scrubbing the rear set, regardless of how well balanced the spring set and hitch height/tongue weight scenario is, its an unavoidable circumstance.

I suggest you use four jack stands and a floor jack once a month and rotate the tires front to back.

[PNA]

GeeVee,
Is "leveling the spring pivot" something the garage mechanic can do with basic tools or is this something I need to have a trailer company do?
PNA

[GeeVee]

You can do this.

The trailer has a leaf spring on each side for each axle. One end of the leaf spring is shackled to the frame. The other end of the leaf spring is actualy shackled to a "T" shaped pivoting shackle. This would be the upside down "T" you would see between the two wheels, on each side.

When you have your equipment loaded where you want, and 'spearmint with different drop and hitch heights you will see this orientation change.

You may do all that and still have a scrubbing problem.

Easiest to get the jackstands, as cheap as 20 a pair, you need four, and a floor jack, and rotate the tires more often.

ARe you using a high enough rated "trailering " tire? Aoutomotive tires are inadequate.

I know that in Florida, The production trailer manufacturers are selling a used wheel and tire on their open trailers to hit the lawndaryl's price point. Not all, but some, and if you are just replacing them with what came on it....