Skeeter tandem trailer rear tire wear

Just wondering if anyone else with a Skeeter tandem trailer is seeing excessive wear on the rear set of tires. I realize the outside edge of the rear tires will always wear faster on a tandem trailer since the rears have to slide on corners, but mine wear really fast. I’m lucky to get 3000 miles out of a set of tires before there is no tread left on the outside and/or is starting to tear chunks of rubber out on the outside edge.

Last fall I pulled the boat from northern California back to WI. When I left our house in CA, the tread looked OK and I thought I’d make it back OK. Wrong…….half way through Nevada, I stopped for gas and checked the tires. chunks of rubber missing on the outside tread of the rears with belts showing. Got new tires there and by the time I made it to our house in WI, the outside tread on the new tires is gone. That’s less than 2000 miles of almost entirely straight roads.

Is there anything that can be done to minimize this? Trailer alignment?……..

My trailer isn’t a tandem axle but they recommended that I take my axle in and get it bent and aligned so the insides of my tires don’t wear faster…I’d guess you could have a similar situation.

Has it been doing this since new? If so have you contacted Skeeter?

Otherwise I’d say a bent axle.

I have a tandom, and had slightly uneven wear. Skeeter Boat Center took it and had it re-aligned for me. They actually were the ones that identified the wear on my annual winterization/check-up. SBC has awesome service.

Alignment or more likely a bent axle is the culprit.

Do you have an appropriate drop hitch so the the trailer is running level? Tongue high can put excessive weight on rear axle.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Do you have an appropriate drop hitch so the the trailer is running level? Tongue high can put excessive weight on rear axle

I have a fully adjustable hitch for height. I measure from the ground the front and rear of the trailer frame. I set the hitch height so, on level ground, the trailer is level as possible.

Thanks for the responses guys. This has been happening since new, but the first few years I didn’t put many miles on the trailer. By the time I noticed it was an issue I was a few years into ownership, so never thought to check back with the dealer.

I do have the proper hitch height to run level, so I know that’s not the problem.

I’ll check with SBC to see if they have any suggestions.

alignment & wheel balance most likely will resolve the issue !

Dean, who do you recommend for doing axle bending and alignment?

arcticm1000 wrote:

Dean, who do you recommend for doing axle bending and alignment?

I don’t know who Dean uses but you can try Kreamer Spring in West St. Paul. They are right off Hwy 110 between the car dealerships. They have been there forever.

arcticm1000 wrote:

Dean, who do you recommend for doing axle bending and alignment?

Eric in Chippewa has a local shop there that does good work, sorry the name escapes the old guy ! :]

We use crow river up here.

Thanks Dean! I’ll check with Eric.

Thanks for the info Dutchboy and Dean.

to_setter wrote:

This has been happening since new, but the first few years I didn’t put many miles on the trailer.

I had that issue with both of my tandem axle trailers from Skeeter when they were using EZ Loader/UFP.

In fact, my current trailer was clearly “off” on the drive home from picking it up new. When I talked to SBC I was told it must be a problem with my truck or hitch height; it wasn’t, and an alignment with balancing a few months later at home fixed it right up.

Hopefully the new Skeeter-made trailers will be higher quality, and/or dealerships will check alignment and balance before delivery.

I’ve been told that bent axles usually is indicated by both tires wearing on the inside (axle bent down) or the outside (axle bent up). Alignment usually show with wear on the inside of one and the outside of the other. Kramer Spring is a good resource is the metro area.

Had the same issues with a 21 bass boat and a 2013 Skeeter MX. Couple leg of questions how fast do you drive what kind of tires do you use. I switched to the new Carlisle HD speed rating 81 mph. And Goodyear has come out with a 85 mph. Use to urine me off on all of the rear tire issues Do you see the tires starting to bounce at all and is the tire wear in about a foot area or all round the tire. Normal trailer tires speed rating of 61 mph. Too fast and you slip a belt then you have about less than 200 miles to cord. I have had both trailers aligned with not much adjustment needed went thru a lot of tires until I switched to the HDs. My experience good luck and watch your fenders to see if there is any bouncing when they are going out.