I've had my Chaparral for about two years now. After the first season
of boating I noticed that all four tires on my tandem axle were wearing
in the inside pretty bad. I checked the air pressure and it was on all
four, by the same amount. Probably shouldn't have trusted that the
dealer had done that. Also checked the lugs and they were all about a
turn shy of tight. Again...should have checked this when I picked it
up.
Anyway, I ran it again this past summer. I can't really tell if there's
more wear or not. There's no threads showing or anything but the wear
is pretty bad.

Anyway...I'm going to go ahead and replace the tires for peace of mind.
Does anybody know of another cause for this or would the pressure and
lug problems explain it? I did check the axle alignment by measuring
from each tire to the tip of the tongue and the measurements were the
same.

Thanks

If the axles are bending under load (or not straight to start with) it
would tip the top of the wheels toward the center of the trailer and cause
the inside of the tire tread to wear faster. You may be able to check this
by placing a bubble level vertically on the wheel rim (with trailer on a
level surface).



"Karen Kent" wrote in message
...
I've had my Chaparral for about two years now. After the first season
of boating I noticed that all four tires on my tandem axle were wearing
in the inside pretty bad. I checked the air pressure and it was on all
four, by the same amount. Probably shouldn't have trusted that the
dealer had done that. Also checked the lugs and they were all about a
turn shy of tight. Again...should have checked this when I picked it
up.
Anyway, I ran it again this past summer. I can't really tell if there's
more wear or not. There's no threads showing or anything but the wear
is pretty bad.

Anyway...I'm going to go ahead and replace the tires for peace of mind.
Does anybody know of another cause for this or would the pressure and
lug problems explain it? I did check the axle alignment by measuring
from each tire to the tip of the tongue and the measurements were the
same.

Thanks

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 14:02:05 GMT, Karen Kent
wrote:

Anyway...I'm going to go ahead and replace the tires for peace of mind.
Does anybody know of another cause for this or would the pressure and
lug problems explain it? I did check the axle alignment by measuring
from each tire to the tip of the tongue and the measurements were the
same.

Thanks

You could have bent axels, but on both axels, that is unlikely. Most
probably it's a load problem in that the load isn't balanced on the
trailer properly.

Find a piece of level pavement and use a carpenter's level (not a
small level) and see if the axels are straight, then check to see if
the hubs are loose on the axel or possibly tilted inward a little.
Check the load range of the tires (weight of the trailer and the wet
weight of the boat).

Other than that, I can't think of much more.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)

Thanks. What should the load range of the tires be? The boat's about 3800
pounds and I'm guessing the trailer is less than 700-800. So, should each
tire have a load range of 1/4 that total weight?

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 14:02:05 GMT, Karen Kent
wrote:

Anyway...I'm going to go ahead and replace the tires for peace of mind.
Does anybody know of another cause for this or would the pressure and
lug problems explain it? I did check the axle alignment by measuring
from each tire to the tip of the tongue and the measurements were the
same.

Thanks

You could have bent axels, but on both axels, that is unlikely. Most
probably it's a load problem in that the load isn't balanced on the
trailer properly.

Find a piece of level pavement and use a carpenter's level (not a
small level) and see if the axels are straight, then check to see if
the hubs are loose on the axel or possibly tilted inward a little.
Check the load range of the tires (weight of the trailer and the wet
weight of the boat).

Other than that, I can't think of much more.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 22:20:52 GMT, Karen Kent
wrote:

Thanks. What should the load range of the tires be? The boat's about 3800
pounds and I'm guessing the trailer is less than 700-800. So, should each
tire have a load range of 1/4 that total weight?

1/4 to 1/2 - all you are really checking for is that the trailer plus
the boat is well within the load carrying range at the recommended
pressure for that particular tire.

There is something else I just thought of - your axles might be out of
alignment - might want to measure from the back of the trailer to the
axels on each side and make sure they are square to the frame of the
trailer. I actually had that happen once on a bass boat I owned.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)

Yes ... minimum 1/4 since you have a tandem (you could subtract the weight
on the hitch but that's a tad nit picky) ... and I myself would add in as
high a safety margin as is practical especially if you travel the highways.
And might I suggest do some reading up on trailer tires vs auto/truck tires
characteristics. My radial trailer tires for example run well (the trailer
is stable) at 45 lbs and have a max rating of 50 lbs (higher than the
average auto tire).


"Karen Kent" wrote in message
...
Thanks. What should the load range of the tires be? The boat's about
3800
pounds and I'm guessing the trailer is less than 700-800. So, should each
tire have a load range of 1/4 that total weight?

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 14:02:05 GMT, Karen Kent
wrote:

Anyway...I'm going to go ahead and replace the tires for peace of mind.
Does anybody know of another cause for this or would the pressure and
lug problems explain it? I did check the axle alignment by measuring
from each tire to the tip of the tongue and the measurements were the
same.

Thanks

You could have bent axels, but on both axels, that is unlikely. Most
probably it's a load problem in that the load isn't balanced on the
trailer properly.

Find a piece of level pavement and use a carpenter's level (not a
small level) and see if the axels are straight, then check to see if
the hubs are loose on the axel or possibly tilted inward a little.
Check the load range of the tires (weight of the trailer and the wet
weight of the boat).

Other than that, I can't think of much more.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)

"Karen Kent" wrote in message
...
Thanks. What should the load range of the tires be? The boat's about
3800
pounds and I'm guessing the trailer is less than 700-800. So, should each
tire have a load range of 1/4 that total weight?


I would go a lot more than 1/4.

To start with, you need to consider how much the boat might be loaded when
you are on a long road trip. It is common to use the boat as a utility
trailer when you go boat camping and such. The weight of the camp gear, ice
chests, tool boxes, extra gas cans, etc. can add up pretty quickly.

A second issue is that the axels are not likely to be loaded equally.
Depending on a lot of issue, (such as the height of the hitch on your tow
vehicle) one axel could end up carrying significantly more weight than the
other.


I would recommend tires that had a rating of around 1700 lbs each.


Rod

"Rod McInnis" wrote in message
...

"Karen Kent" wrote in message
...
Thanks. What should the load range of the tires be? The boat's about
3800
pounds and I'm guessing the trailer is less than 700-800. So, should
each
tire have a load range of 1/4 that total weight?


I would go a lot more than 1/4.

To start with, you need to consider how much the boat might be loaded
when
you are on a long road trip. It is common to use the boat as a utility
trailer when you go boat camping and such. The weight of the camp gear,
ice
chests, tool boxes, extra gas cans, etc. can add up pretty quickly.

A second issue is that the axels are not likely to be loaded equally.
Depending on a lot of issue, (such as the height of the hitch on your tow
vehicle) one axel could end up carrying significantly more weight than the
other.


I would recommend tires that had a rating of around 1700 lbs each.


Rod

My 1991 EZ-loader tandem trailer weighs in at 1100#.
Bill