Did you ever get a "wheel alignment" on your 5th wheel

[richardmacdonald2001]

I recently purchased a 2013 Montana 5er, and after a few thousand miles I noticed very severe wear of my door side tires, while the opposite side tires still have great tread left. The lead tire seems to have suffered from the most wear, while the follow tire has suffered a bit of wear.

 

I'm thinking it is time to get it into a specialty shop that specializes in frames, springs, axles and wheel alignments on transport trucks and trailers.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience and I would like to know what your outcome was like. Did you get your problems fixed with a simple "wheel alignment"?

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Yes you can get alignment done. Find a heavy truck shop that aligns the big trailers, they should be able to help you. Depending on your axle manufacture- Dexter, Lippert, ???, you many be able to get a recommendation from them, as well.

[champ_49]

You can purchase what they call a Correct Align add on for your axles that allow you to adjust your axles yourself if you are mechanically inclined. I think its right around $225.00 and very easy to do. Just another option. And yes it can be done at most truck repair facilities also. My guess is you need it done with what you have explained.

 

Dave

[richardmacdonald2001]

Thanks all. I have it booked in for today now at Standens in Calgary. They specialize in heavy trucks and trailers. I have the Dexter Easylube axles.

[Big Greg]

Good luck, the first time the alignment was $120, The second time the axles were removed and placed in a jig to be sure they were correct then aligned on the fifth wheel. The third time we upgrades to MOR/ryde IS and haven't had an alignment/tire problem in 6 years. Greg

[Ronbo]

You may have bent axles. I upgraded to moryde IS also.

[SCClockDr]

Thanks all. I have it booked in for today now at Standens in Calgary. They specialize in heavy trucks and trailers. I have the Dexter Easylube axles.

How did it turn out?

[richardmacdonald2001]

The work has been completed and it seems to tow just about the same... Never did notice a problem towing. The service guys said it did need a bit of work on the one side, but was not all that bad. Just had to set it in their jig and align the two right axles. Now I will have to get a new set of shoes for it and see if they wear any better. Total costs - $399 CDN., including the GST taxes, or about $289 USD. I thought that was fairly reasonable. I don't expect that this is something that will have to be done often, maybe only this once.

 

The one thing I do have to comment on was the service at Standens. TOP NOTCH !!! I can't say enough good things about their service department and the guys all working in it. Very friendly, accommodating and professional. The job took about 2 1/2 hours and they called me when it was done. Had my rig sitting in a spot that made it very easy to hook up and get out on the road again. If anyone ever needed any work on their undercarriage while in the Calgary area, I would highly recommend these guys.

 

Now I just need to get some new shoes and wait for spring so that we can get on the road again and get out into the mountains. Road trip coming in Late June to Montana, in the Montana...

[roy67ss]

I question doing an alignment with bad tires. I was always advised to have the new tires installed and then have the alignment done. This applied to vehicles and trailers and does make sense. If your tires are not worn exactly flat, how can an alignment be done properly and if they are worn even, you wouldn't be needing an alignment!!!

[RBH]

I question doing an alignment with bad tires. I was always advised to have the new tires installed and then have the alignment done. This applied to vehicles and trailers and does make sense. If your tires are not worn exactly flat, how can an alignment be done properly and if they are worn even, you wouldn't be needing an alignment!!!

It depends on how the alignment is measured. In all the automobile alignments I did the adapter head was attached to the wheel, so the tire was immaterial. On the Correct track system it seems that the front of the tire is used as a target so that uneven wear from one side to the other would affect the measurement.

[Bob Cochran]

The last time I had it done the 5er was raised wheels off the ground and lasers was used for alignment. Then lowered and done again. the tires would make no difference. I want to go up from 16 wheels to 17.5 and when I do will get aligned again just because. I am still trying to decide which wheels and tires going to go with. I will try and get through my little next month 400 mile trip hope with no tire problems and make the change after that.

 

I have posted about my extreme wear problems on hear you can search for with pictures. Should have went to 17.5 wheels then but didn't(20/20 hindsight). Oh my breaks went fast as the tires with the bent axle. I just changed all wheel bearings and for brakes the whole assembly was not that more expensive,

[champ_49]

Tires should have no affect on the alignment. They are aligning the axles so they work with the axles.

 

Dave

[TreyandSusan]

Another issue not yet mentioned is weight differences. Sometimes significantly. Enough to cause an issue with uneven tire wear and component wear on the heavier side. It would be good to get any RV weighed by Wheel position to know the side to side weight differences for proper management of all components.

[carnolddsm]

You can purchase what they call a Correct Align add on for your axles that allow you to adjust your axles yourself if you are mechanically inclined. I think its right around $225.00 and very easy to do. Just another option. And yes it can be done at most truck repair facilities also. My guess is you need it done with what you have explained.

 

Dave

If you are referring to Lippert's Correct Track product, it will get the alignment in the ballpark. Correct Track moves the axle in 1/4inch increments.

[skp51443]

Several different things are checked by a good alignment shop, in our case we had a bend in the end of one axle so while the axles were lined up right the wheel was off a couple degrees which was enough to give us pretty bad tire wear. If we had an alignment issue again we'd pay for a good shop to check and fix things.

 

We had alignment issues on our MDT too, several shops looked at things and couldn't find a problem to fix even though it was eating front tires. Finding a good alignment shop was a night and day difference, the alignment guy came back to the waiting area after just driving the truck from the lot to the service bay and told us he had found the problem and it would be about an hour to have it fixed. BIG difference in going to a small shop that is using minimally trained folks and a specialist with folks that know their trade.

[champ_49]

carnolddsm, on 24 Feb 2016 - 5:45 PM, said:carnolddsm, on 24 Feb 2016 - 5:45 PM, said:

If you are referring to Lippert's Correct Track product, it will get the alignment in the ballpark. Correct Track moves the axle in 1/4inch increments.

I am referring to the Correct Track and only know what I have seen. I'm trying to figure out why only 1/4" increments as that makes no sense to me. I have worked with cam bolts on race cars for 30 yrs. and I can change the degree by less than 1 degree. Maybe the cam bolts aren't like what I have used and built.

 

Dave

 

Correcting my post. After looking into the Correct Track System I see now why you say 1/4" adjustment because that's what Lippert claims you can do. You are correct and I was not. But the system could be fixed in a heart beat by welding and offset huge washer type and inserting a bolt off center and welding it to the washer. That way it could be set at any position and exactly where you want it........