Axle alignment

[DWCTexas]

Tires not lasting at all (one less than 1500). I believe related to 2 blowouts in past 3 years. Does anyone know business in San Antonio, TX area that does axle alignment?

[DWCTexas]

Yeah that is advice I received from trucker friends. I have pulled my 08 3400rl almost 50k miles and have never had alignment problem until last couple of years. First couple of sets of tires lasted 14-16k but only got 4-5k out of last 3 sets and now have one tire that wore almost all tread off inside in about 1500. Have never heard from any 5ther friends of alignment problems but in other forums have found that alignment problems are common.

[pineranch]

Just had mine done in Pensacola after 21.7k. Shop confirmed issue that cause wear on two tires.
Mike

[Overlord]

Also, check for a grease contaminated brake drum, one under adjusted set of shoes, or non-working magnet. If one drum on an axle is not braking, and the other one is, the end of the axle that is braking will be pulled backwards, pulling it out of alignment every time you apply the brakes and causing tire wear.

Heavily worn bushings, oblong holes in spring hanger brackets and shackles on the leaf spring bolts can cause ongoing, variable, off again-on again alignment problems with axle angles as well.

Just a couple other places to look.

[dunrovin1955]

This man doesn't do axle alienment but he should know who does in town. Reliable rv service, Leroy Cruz. Phone is 210-386-7510. Very good mobile rv man. I have used him twice. Good luck, Brent

[Hooker]

I thought I had an axle problem with our 3400RL. Long story short, it was the lousy tires not the axle.

[richfaa]

We had Mor Ryde cut the suspension off our 06 3400 and install the IS system. .perfect after that. We did have bent axles on a Coachman TT, both of them. Went to a big truck place( International) and they did a good job. Coachman paid. That was after Coachman sent us a new axle and it was also bent.

[DWCTexas]

Thanks for all the advice. Have list of truck/trailer repairs places - will call a couple to find best one. Had complete brake assemblies replaced last year thinking that might be problem but did nothing for the inside wear on back tires. Once before I had RV repair place(Tyler RV, Tyler TX) get a little grease on 2 drums which caused brakes to lock up and ruin 2 tires. I had to buy 2 tires in Santa Rosa, NM & only tire place in town only had Hi-Run tires which I replaced as soon as reasonable with Goodyear Marathons. In past couple of years I have had so many tire issues that Good Sam Roadside Assistance in on my speed dial.

[sailer]

You keep running Goodyear Marathons and you will have problems the rest of your life RVing
sailer

[WaltBennett]

I decided to try something I used on a good sized band saw I had for many years. The manufacturer (Mini-Max) said to take a piece of plywood, keep an original straight edge and remove only what's needed to make a tool to check the saw's wheel alignment by having some of that original straight edge touching the rims of the wheels. I did that; only had to use it a couple of times, but it worked well.

After reading this post, I took a 5' or so scrap of plywood that had the original straight edge on one side. A little back and forth marking and sawing to remove wood that hit the tires and hub, but not the wheels and I've a quick and dirty alignment gauge. Turns out our rig is OK after all that, but at least I didn't spend much money on it.

[Rondo]

Had to replace the front axle on our 2004 last year on the way home from Q. Had it done in Pharr, TX. The DW notice we had a problem when we were backing the unit into the site at a CG. Talked to the manager of the CG and she told me of an axle place just down the road. Went down there and the owner came down to the CG and checked out the unit. He said the axle was bad and needed replacing. He ordered a new 7000 lb axle and we waited for it's arrival. Once in we hooked up and took the unit down to his shop and left it for him to back into the shop and we went to breakfast. When we came back he had the unit nearly complete and we headed out for the next destination. Before we left the owner of the axle shop told us when he backed the unit into his shop both wheels on the bad axle were wobbling in two different directions. He said we MIGHT have made it out or Pharr before the wheels separated from the unit. He said that after examining the axle, it had rusted in half in the middle. He said he frankly did not know how we made it as far as we had on the trip. We had two new tires and a new axle put on the rig. When we returned to Omaha we noticed we had tire wear on the outside of the rear axle tires. We took it to an axle shop here in Omaha and the rear axle was out of alignment. They aligned the axles and balanced the wheels and all is fine now!

[jlb27537]

When I had my M/H I used these folks for my chassis service. On the east side of town.

http://www.alamocitytruck.com/

Jim