Tire Wear - Montana Owners Club

grooving grandpa · 03-16-2009, 12:01 PM

I have Tacoma tires on my 2005, 2955RL. At least 10k miles. They have done me good. However, both tires on the front axle are wearing faster on the 1st inside groove. They are wearing evenly, not round. I have hit and gone over some curbs rather hard and have a bad feeling about that. The rims are aluminum and I do not see any weighs on them for balance. I will grit my teeth in preparation of what the MOC members are going to say is wrong and what cost to expect. Would tire rotation help?

Thanks Lou

Glenn and Lorraine · 03-17-2009, 02:10 AM

Your problem is apparently alignment. You can rotate the tires to extend their life but I would strongly recommend an alignment. If you never had the tires and wheels balanced than they should be done also. The factory did not balance the tires when the trailer was new.

bsmeaton · 03-17-2009, 03:47 AM

Alignments run about $150 an axle. A little hard to find a place that can do it, but usually the trucker service area side of town with the large repair facilities is the place to start.

stiles watson · 03-17-2009, 04:06 AM

I agree about the alignment. Dealers rarely know how to do it though. They tend to want to replace the axle.

Large truck bays are needed to get at the work. The $150 per axle more or less seems about right. I would also check the shackles while you are at it.

rvfirefighter · 03-17-2009, 07:50 AM

I had Tacoma tires on my 2005 3670RL. I was having irregular wear as you are having and asked the Service Center in Elkhart in Sept. 2007 to look at them. They sent me to a body shop to have the alignment checked, there was no problem. They said it was probably the tires. I had a blowout the next May. Still had good thread, but irregular wear.

I replaced all tires and I am watching the wear patterns.

daneboy · 03-17-2009, 03:49 PM

GG,
I had Mission tires on my 2955RL with the rear axel wearing the tires on the inside. Alignment, balance & new tires was the cure.
Jerry

grooving grandpa · 04-06-2009, 03:56 PM

A follow up on my Tire Wear Tread. A local RV repair shop here in San Jose wanted $60 per axle to check. I had an uncomfortable feeling they were going to tell me the axles need to be replaced. Went to Ross Equipment Repair, they do heavy duty alignment for trucks and heavy equipment. $99 per axle to straighten. Also both front and rear wheel bearings on the curb side were loose. Just 8 months ago I had all wheels bearings repacked at CW. HUM. Oh yes there was a $2.97 hazardous waste disposal fee. I guess that was for the grease that got on the rag. Can't complain. These guys knew what they were doing.

8.1al · 04-06-2009, 04:51 PM

Gpa,
Glad you found good shop to align your axles, hopefully this will take care of your problem.

rvfirefighter,
Keep a close eye on those tires. That body shop in Elkhart should stick to body work as they are not much good on trailer axle alignment. I sure wish the factory would stop sending people there.

NCFischers · 04-07-2009, 12:46 AM

As stated above, have your tires balanced. The shop put 5 to 6 ounces of weight on mine. Those tires had to be bouncing pretty good.

tulwick1 · 04-07-2009, 02:44 AM

I had a 2955 o4 Montana. We blew a tire after 700 miles. I talked with keystone about it and they or the dealer would not do any thing. Both said "low air pressure" Thought I might have picked up a nail and did have low pressure. At about 1000 miles I blew a nother Tacoma tire on the other side and this time it tore up the side of my coach. Again I was told "low air pressure". Wrong this time as I check the tires daily now. I found a tire shop and had all them replaced. No more problems. Found the tires were manifacutred in Oklahoma. Manifacture would not do any thing. Had to eat the tire replacement. About nine months later found out they had a recall on the tires. Not saying your tires are defective as you have had them for a long time. My new coach has name brand tires on it. Have not had problems with this one. Alignment never hurts except the pocket book. A couple of years you will have to replace them any way.

HamRad · 04-07-2009, 02:47 AM

Grooving Grandpa,

Glad you found a place to work on the axles and I hope that solves all your tire problems. The price was not bad at all. I think you got a good deal. Even with the EPA charge of $2.97!

We just lost the tread again on one of our older tires. It just came off in a big sheet! It had no abnormal wear on it and had plenty of tread. This is the second one we've had this problem with. Different sides and axles so have no idea what the problem might be other than just an old tire.

AAA was out within 10 minutes to change tire. Stopped at next town and got a spare. I will keep watching them for wear but we've got about 25k on these and so far no obvious wear patterns.

Thanks for keeping us updated. It is always good to know what happens.

HamRad

**Rondo** · 04-07-2009, 11:58 AM

Hamrod-- Never heard of a whole tread coming off in a sheet unless they were retreads! I've seen that happen around here with farm equipment and also some of the trucks. See it happening on the interstate all the time but talked to one trucker that was in the shop getting a new tire because he lost his tread on one tire going down the road. He said it mainly happens to trucklines and independents that put on retreads instead of going out and buying new tires. The glue or whatever does not adhere correctly and heats up and the whole retread comes off. I'm sure you're not putting retreads on your Monte but it does sound like that is what it was!

HamRad · 04-07-2009, 12:35 PM

Rondo,
I've never knowingly put retreads on the rig. I only pay for new tires. But when I saw the tire that is exactly what I thought too! The strange thing is that this is the second tire that has done this. And they were different brands on different axles and different side of the rig.

If the things didn't look like new I'd just change them all out with some brand name and be done with it. But they look like brand new tires with lots of rubber!

I will check the dates and make sure they're not too old.

Thanks for suggestion about recaps.

HamRad

H. John Kohl · 04-07-2009, 01:06 PM

Tires Ply do separate - here are pictures of one I lost in 05.

grooving grandpa · 04-07-2009, 01:16 PM

My Tacoma Tires say "made in USA" Have looked on the internet but cannot find any Tacoma Tires Distributors or who really makes them. Anyone else with Tacoma Tires. Mine are going on 4.5 years old.

8.1al · 04-08-2009, 01:15 PM

The Tacoma's were made by Cooper

kilch123 · 04-08-2009, 01:51 PM

That is a casing failure. Thay are typically caused by running underinflated, or overloaded. It's caused by the outer rubber ply getting too hot, and losing it's adhesion to the steel or fiber belts. They typically cause considerable damage to surrounding areas when they come apart, as the tread assembly does not come off all at once, but more like a flap that whips around, and causes the damage before the entire tread assembly comes off.

They can also be caused by incorrect puncture repairs that allow water and rust to attack the steel belts which can start the separation process.

Low quality tires, or tires in improper applications (which usually cause overloading) can also have catastrophic casing failures as shown

8.1al · 04-08-2009, 02:39 PM

According to Goodyear it is also caused by the side loading placed on the tire when making a tight turn with a tandem-tri axle trailer. Jack knifing while backing into a site is the worst. This literally tears the tread plies from the casing

Clyde n Deb · 04-09-2009, 05:10 AM

Have Tacomas on my '05. No problems to date. Wear pattern is a bit irregular. Think part of that was self inflicted with early turning habits with the rig.
Want one more season out of them and will get new ones next spring. Keeping a close eye on them. Did rotate them late last season.

skypilot · 04-09-2009, 09:11 AM

Other than maybe heavy aircraft landings, I don't think there is a more hostile environment faced by a tire than being used on a trailer. Side (lateral) forces are constant in turns; heavily crowned roads, and crosswinds. Had our local Goodyear describe it as taking your two hands, palms together and then just move them side to side. That is basically the same movement observed in trailer tires -- the wheel assembly is moving off-center of the tire until the tire tread area comes back under it. A lot of lateral movement. Underinflate your tires and the travel distance just increases. According the training literature I was allowed to see, it is a major reason they recommend changing trailer tires every 4 to 5 years regardless of tread left.

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