Outside edge tire wear on '06 Monterey

[Butch Martin]

Both of the Beavers I have owned were dog tracking when I got them.  Both the front and read axles were out.  How the previous owners could have driven them that way is a mystery to me.
I realigned both coaches, front and rear at Beaver in Bend and after replacing the front tires on my current coach, the problems went away.

Butch

[Robert Mathis]

The technician at Jo-Sam told me that over 75% of the motorhomes he works on have rear axles that are out of line. He attributed it to the fact that the chassis manufacturers buy the axles from suppliers, then weld their own suspension parts to the axles, and don't properly cool them to insure alignement. This is something most of us never think about.

[Jim Gill]

I agree with both previous comments.

My 2006 Monterey had an "odd" wear pattern on both front tires at 30,000 miles. The outside edge of the right front tire and the inside edge of the left front tire both appeared to be wearing abnormally. The owner of a local truck shop immediately suggested that this could be caused by improper alignment of the rear axle. So, he checked the front alignment and toe-in to assure that all was OK in front and then checked the rear alignment...it was off almost on inch from axle centerline to axle centerline. The rear axle on my coach has adjustable control arms on both sides to allow for proper axle alignment but unfortunately, the threads in the arm on the side which needed to be adjusted had siezed up over the years and there was not enough adjustment remaining in the other side for correct alignment. I ordered a new control arm from Coburg and had it air shipped to me but unfortunately, the mounting bore on the new arm was not the same ID as my old arm so I needed to source a new arm locally. Once installed and with both axles properly aligned, I installed new tires on the front and so far (<6000 miles), my coach handles better and the wear pattern on the front tires appears to be normal.

As mentioned by the OP, rear axle alignment may be as important as front axle alignment to assure proper handling and good tire life of all tires.

Jim  

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

On my '98 Patriot, after many alignments over 5 years, I discovered the rear axle was installed by the factory 1 1/2" too far to the right.  The rear axle was square with frame, but shifted to the right.  Correcting that, ended my long standing problem.  Beaver paid for the fix even though it was far out of warranty, because even their magnum service people could not find it.  I have since discovered at least 2 other Beavers with the same improperly installed rear axle problem.  In the case of a Beaver with a tag axle, the tag had to be cut off the frame and re-welded, to align with the repositioned drive axle.  Just aligning the rear axle did not solve the problem.  There are many causes of poor handling and tire ware.

Larry

[George Curry]

Gerald, that's what I thought re wear after allighnment. The Michelin  tire guide recommends this procces for uneven outside wear.

There was a thread on a Michelin factory price program....FMCA's web page has info on this program...not sure where the best place is to post this.

George