In a recent blog post, we discussed our mysterious tire wear. One of our tires has been rapidly wearing on the inside, in a pattern suspiciously reminiscent of crop circles. What was causing this strange phenomenon?
A number of theories were offered, including bad tires, bent rims, warped axles, and space aliens. Well, we’ve hauled our RV across the desert to a group of trailer axle experts, and today we report on what we found.
If you guessed that we had an AXLE problem — you get a gold star! The axle was indeed bent out of alignment. Apparently last year’s wheel-meet-curb incident did more than pop our tire like a paper bag. It also put a severe dent in my bank account.
This leads me to my expert tip of the day: Whenever possible, avoid steering your RV into curbs.
In today’s blog video (Axle Woes, for all of you hair band rock-and-rollers) you’ll see the humiliating examination to which poor Liv, our travel trailer, was subjected. They backed her up onto a platform, broke out some measuring tape, poked and prodded, and finally rendered the diagnosis. The repair job was somewhat labor intensive (CHA-CHING!) since the guys had to drop the fresh water tank to access the axle. While we had the wheels off the ground, we decided to toss on some fresh rubber. We pulled out of the repair shop with a straight axle, some new shoes, and a significantly lighter wallet.
Lessons learned? Other than the obvious (please see above tip regarding curbs and RVs), this episode demonstrates the depth of incredible RV information and community on RV.net. Take it from me: if you ever have an RV problem, that website is the place to go. A big THANK YOU to everyone who posted comments!
Hey Sean I just thought you are in the west time for a custom hat! When ya come back home stop and a place and pick ya one up. I thing Kristy would look just great in a good ole cattleman hat. Give it a thought. Glad to see someone could do the job on the axles. Looking forward to the next one!
Matt
Thanks Matt! I may take up that idea… Strangely, I like the thought of getting a cool cowboy hat — although I’ve never really owned one in my life, LOL.
The axle seems to be fine. We are now camping in Ventura Beach, and having a great time. Sunday I think we’ll head back down to Los Angeles. I will try to shoot some video, for sure. I know a nice place near the Hollywood sign that just beckons for a blog update… 😎
Assume things will go wrong, plan for it in your budget and don’t let it spoil your trip. That’s good advice. Just out of curiosity – how fast were you going when you clipped the curb?
Wiggly, I was probably going about 15-20 MPH. I still remember the exit in Amarillo, Texas where the accident happened. It was a weird exit in that it was unusually narrow. It was just a tight squeeze for our rig, and I wasn’t at my best from a piloting standpoint. Ultimately it was my error, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the folks in Amarillo to widen that road a couple of feet. 🙂
At the time, I didn’t think it was THAT bad. But the real damage started showing up when our tire wore out so quickly.
Wow, that is pretty slow considering the damage that resulted. I will try to learn from your experience and be extra mindful. I’m thinking the first year will be the worst for me as I learn how my trailer tows and cuts corners. But it is really eye-opening to realize that much damage can happen that easily. Still wow.
Well, I must’ve smacked the curb pretty good.
I guess you’re right that the first year is the most tricky.
When this accident occurred, it was late at night, I was tired, and we encountered an unusually narrow road. It was just a bad run of luck.
We actually didn’t discover the axle was bent until several months later.