Left rear tire on Monty worn way too fast - Montana Owners Club

vipermanden · 09-17-2017, 05:18 PM

I measured the depth of the tread on all 4 tires of my 2017 3820FK Monty, after our first 2,500 mile trip, and they were all perfect. Since then, I have just watched the temp and psi readings on our TST tpms, and they are always within a few degrees or a few psi, unless the sun is on one side for a long time. Anyway, on this last mountainous trip, going over the Teton pass of 10% grade for 5 straight miles, ugh, I noticed getting ready to make our last leg home, that the left rear inside tread was totally gone, and the strands below the rubber were starting to show? How could this happen to this one tire so fast? We are not full timers, and do not carry any water with us, so we travel pretty light compared to most. We have weighed our fiver a couple of times on highway scales, and it has always been in balance front to back. I have not had the chance to measure side to side, but like I said, we don't carry anything heavy with us. So is there a bent axle, or is the "Correct Trac" system messing up, or is the Morryde suspension messing things up? I put the spare on, and went the remaining 335 miles home, and so far the tread wear seems normal for that spare? Any ideas? See the pic attached. It was worn on the inside of the tire, so I am not sure if this happened on one leg, or for the last 10,000 miles? But still every other tire measures really uniform for wear.

GLS3950 · 09-17-2017, 05:58 PM

I would take the camper in and have the alignment checked. It looks like the camber is way out on that tire. If you keep running the way it is you will just wear out another tire.

Golfmedik · 09-17-2017, 06:09 PM

It could be a bent axle or also the spring eyelet bolt could be loose. Check the torque on the bolts and also check to see that the shackles are the way they are supposed to be on that side. This happened in June to a friend of mine that has the same camper I do. He's from Montana and you will notice the salt. He had a really bad tire wear and found this after he called me and asked me for a pic of mine. Notice the difference. His was the right rear tire wear as well. The top pic was the problem, the bottom pic is the way they are supposed to look.

**AZ Traveler** · 09-17-2017, 07:10 PM

We had the same issue on SOB which turned out to be a bent axle after hitting an unmarked frost heave in AK. There is always the possibility that it was just a bad tire. I would have your dealer look it over.

RKassl · 09-17-2017, 08:42 PM

Bad alignment from factory.

beeje · 09-18-2017, 07:38 AM

Non of the units from any manufacturer are aligned at the factory. You defiantly have a camber issue. Find a truck shop that has the ability to bend the axels to correct the alignment. Correct track will not correct a camber problem.

Charli · 09-18-2017, 08:07 AM

We had one tire that was wearing off on the outside. Took it to an alignment shop in Mesa and they found all the tires were out but the one that was wearing was the worst. They aligned all 4 and I thought we were done.
This summer took the trailer in for new Sailun to replace the Trailer a kings and dealer found that both axles were bent. Not sure how that happened as I don't recall hitting anything and thealignment shop didn't say anything about bent axles.
Now I'm wondering how the alignment shop lifted my Trailer. Did they put a jack in the middle of the axles to raise the trailer? New axles are on order and I will have a word with the alignment shop when we are in Mesa this winter.

vipermanden · 09-18-2017, 09:57 AM

Yikes, I called my dealer, Sierra RV in Reno, NV, and they are going to get back to me on what they can do about this. I also called Keystone, and they don't deal with this either. I thought maybe they would have recommended alignment shops? So we will see where it goes from here? Might be a Morryde or Lippert warranty issue? Maybe my dealer will replace rather than sending me to an alignment shop???

Ram Montana High Country · 09-18-2017, 03:46 PM

Let them put on New and then get the alignment

Ram Montana High Country · 09-18-2017, 03:51 PM

After reading about some of these issues and our friends having to have suspension components replaced, the "Wet Bolt Kit" was purchased - My High Country had bronze bushing but no wet bolts - his unit had nylon bushings and wet bolts ... his failure was bushing and shackle. Now were both set.

Ram Montana High Country · 09-18-2017, 03:54 PM

Golfmedik - please confirm the difference between pics - is it the rocker that is upside down?

beeje · 09-18-2017, 03:55 PM

I have gone through this same exact issue before with a previous trailer. The dealer and keystone were of no help. Keystone told the dealer to remove the axle and ship it to them. If they determined that it was defective/ out of spec, they would replace it. If not I would have to pay for a new one. I was not willing to take that chance.

As I said previously, NO trailer axles are aligned from the factory. They just bolt all the parts together and send them out the door. Its kind of the luck of the draw as to weather you get a unit that wears out tires or not. This is not my opinion, this is what I was told from the heavy truck shop that aligned my unit. They do dozens of them every week.

vipermanden · 09-19-2017, 04:20 PM

So I am getting the same run around from the dealer and Keystone, and the dealer told me to go this particular RV and Truck alignment center, and they only align axles up to 6,000 pounds, so since mine are 7,000, he could not help me. So I guess i should just have my dealer order and install a new axle? Any idea how much a Dexter 297697 Nev-R-Adjust 7,000 pound axle costs? Of course I am outside my one year warranty by 1 month, even though I bought an extended 5 year warranty with the dealer, I guess they will not cover a bent axle, that could have been caused by a pothole etc.???

vipermanden · 09-19-2017, 04:21 PM

Do you think if I need to buy another axle i could upgrade to having the rear axle be an 8,000 pound axle for a little more cushion?

Irlpguy · 09-19-2017, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vipermanden

Do you think if I need to buy another axle i could upgrade to having the rear axle be an 8,000 pound axle for a little more cushion?

I would not be buying a new axle. Please contact Dexter directly, their warranty is for 2 years I believe, certainly longer than the so called warranty from Keystone.
I had the same problem you are experiencing with my previous SOB on a trip from Canada to Yuma, AZ. One tire only was worn down to the threads on one side and badly worn on the other. Although my unit was out of warranty the manufacturer authorized 2 new tires be sent to me in AZ and a confirmation they would pay for any axle repair. I made the arrangements at an axle shop in Vegas after replacing the tire with one sent from my dealer. I checked this tire every 50 - 100 miles and there was absolutely no wear on that or any other tire. I cancelled the alignment and continued the 1200 miles home with no wear on that or any other tire. I believe in my case there are three possibilities, (1) The tire was defective or (2) That wheel locked up during hard breaking at some point and started the process or (3) It was under inflated. I put several thousand miles on the unit and had no further issues with tires, so don't just assume it is an axle problem.
Now back to Dexter, they replaced both axles on my 3402RL when the dealer and Keystone would do diddly squat. They shipped them all the way up to me in Canada and paid a local repair shop to replace them. However this was an issue with wear on the spindles as the bearing spun on the spindles.

Dexter axles are sold everywhere, they are bent at the factory to provide proper camber and caster, since Dexter does not install them on the Montana's, they have nothing to do with the alignment on the unit itself. There certainly is no guarantee that when Keystone installs them on the frame that they are equally aligned on each side.

It is possible to bend a spindle by hitting a curb or a significant pothole, an alignment shop would be able to determine if that were the case.

I personally would continue using the RV, ensuring the tire pressures are "always" at the recommended cold pressure before each trip and monitor them visually regularly.

vipermanden · 09-19-2017, 07:40 PM

IRLPguy, I can rule out temp and pressure, since I have the TST tpms system. All 4 tires stay within 3 psi and 5 degrees. I did not know a defective tire could wear on one side, so maybe it is a braking issue? I use the control in my 2016 RAM and adjust the braking number to somewhat follow the speed i am going. If I am going 65 on the highway, I set that number to 6.0 if i am driving around town, I set it to 3.0. So maybe there was a time i left it on 6.0 in town, and I was locking up the rear wheels, and did not know it? Maybe i should just leave the setting at 3.5 all the time, and not screw with it? Maybe it happened coming down the Teton pass, and if i only would have checked right after that, maybe it was locking up all the way down the pass, even though I use mostly the engine brake. I agree with you, i will get a new spare tire and watch it closely on my ext trip, and see what happens. Thanks

Mudchief · 09-19-2017, 08:27 PM

I have had that problem a few times and it was a bent axle. Both time I went to a regular trailer place and had them changed for less than 400 dollars. If you go to a RV dealer you will pay a lot more than that. There is not difference between a 6K & 7K axle. They just put a larger hub on to get the extra weight.

vipermanden · 09-19-2017, 08:35 PM

They charged you $400 to replace the axle? How much was the axle?

beeje · 09-20-2017, 05:32 AM

I believe I paid $365 to have mine aligned. As previously said 6k and 7k axles are almost identical. I see no reason why they cant do a 7k axle, makes no sense to me. Since that alignment I found a missing wet bolt on the right rear. Tore it apart and found out all the bronze bushing worn through. So I ordered all new springs/ a new wet bolt kit/u bolts etc. Installed all that at a total cost of $285. I did not get it re-aligned and have not noticed any wear on my new sailun g637 tires.

If I have any more suspension problems I will take it to mor ryde in Indiana and have it all removed and replaced with there independent suspension and be done with it. But that's I $3000 pill to swallow.

If you have the $$ My suggestion would be to skip trying to get the stock suspension fixed and go straight for the mor ryde IS

Golfmedik · 09-20-2017, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

Golfmedik - please confirm the difference between pics - is it the rocker that is upside down?

What happens is that the shackle gets inverted due to the rig going through a low spot, off road a bit, of being jacked up. When they get this way, it pushes the axle out of alignment and wears the tires. You can raise the front end of the rig all the way up and it will pop back the correct way. Sounds like a gun shot. Or you can take it loose and put it back the way it is supposed to be.

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