joshuabardwell
Elite Member
Driving down the highway yesterday, I saw a trailer that looked askew. At first, I thought the axle must be overloaded and bent, because the tire was cambered out so far. But upon closer reflection, I realized that what happened was, one tire on a dual-axle trailer had blown, and the axle was riding on the rim on one side, causing the other side to camber onto the tire's sidewall. The driver was totally unaware, so I pulled up alongside honking like crazy and hollered at him through an open window. He pulled over and that was the end of it for me.
I was surprised because it had never occurred to me that blowing a tire like that would result in the remaining tire riding the sidewall like that. A friend of mine once significantly over-loaded a single-axle utility trailer, bending the axle. After about 100 miles, he blew a tire. Not realizing what had happened, he replaced it with the spare and drove on. 100 miles later, another tire blew. Riding on the sidewall was wearing the tires out prematurely. I'm sure that was what was going to happen to this driver before too long--although, thankfully, the trailer was not very heavily loaded.
I was surprised because it had never occurred to me that blowing a tire like that would result in the remaining tire riding the sidewall like that. A friend of mine once significantly over-loaded a single-axle utility trailer, bending the axle. After about 100 miles, he blew a tire. Not realizing what had happened, he replaced it with the spare and drove on. 100 miles later, another tire blew. Riding on the sidewall was wearing the tires out prematurely. I'm sure that was what was going to happen to this driver before too long--although, thankfully, the trailer was not very heavily loaded.