Uneven tyre wear

If you find you have a Dandy with uneven tyre wear there are a couple of possibilities, one is overloading but the other is failed suspension where the arms twist slightly. Suspension can be changed and isn't out of the realms of most peoples abilities, if your looking to buy a Dandy then it's also a very visual sign that could indicate suspension troubles ahead, don't just rely on tyre wear though as it could be that the Dandy has been overloaded ...... check the suspension, if buying a cheap dandy new suspension is going to push your costs right up.

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I'm puzzled by your comment of overloading.
I thought that for the trademark inner side tyre wear then the suspension had to have started to twist along the trailing arms. Even if this was from overloading and not obvious weakening through rust the result is the same and lessening the load doesn't cure a bent trailing arm.
Even once you have seen the symptom of tyre I would imagine that it is hard to perceive the arm twist. Or do you know an easy way to measure this?

An example of a tyre with inner side wear.

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I asked regarding uneven tyre wear a couple of years ago ..... not on this forum, and the general thoughts were that the trailer was overloaded leading to the uneven tyre wear and taking weight off would alleviate the problem. This was obviously not the best advice I've been given as it turned out that the suspension arms were twisted although not really rusty so probably as advised overloading had caused it. No you can't see the twist until you take the units off and place them upside down on level ground when all is revealed ...... ours looked fine until we laid the plate on a flat surface.


Thank you for correcting me regarding overloading, as for saying check the suspension ..... I put a link to the advice sheet regarding what to look for when buying a used Dandy that Mike wrote, there are ways to check the suspension listed in it but what your saying is uneven tyre wear means you have to replace the suspension full stop. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


As you know I'm not the most technically minded person in the world, feel free to edit my posts.

Helen wrote:I asked regarding uneven tyre wear a couple of years ago ..... not on this forum, and the general thoughts were that the trailer was overloaded leading to the uneven tyre wear and taking weight off would alleviate the problem. This was obviously not the best advice I've been given as it turned out that the suspension arms were twisted although not really rusty so probably as advised overloading had caused it. No you can't see the twist until you take the units off and place them upside down on level ground when all is revealed ...... ours looked fine until we laid the plate on a flat surface.


Thank you for correcting me regarding overloading, as for saying check the suspension ..... I put a link to the advice sheet regarding what to look for when buying a used Dandy that Mike wrote, there are ways to check the suspension listed in it but what your saying is uneven tyre wear means you have to replace the suspension full stop. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Not sure I've got some of what your saying the bit I'm talking about twisting is the trailing arm. the bit running from the pivot point to the stub axle.

No you can't see the twist until you take the units off and place them upside down on level ground when all is revealed ...... ours looked fine until we laid the plate on a flat surface.

If you are talking about a twist in the box structure that houses the pivot and the rubber then??? I have no idea.

but what your saying is uneven tyre wear means you have to replace the suspension full stop.

The simple answer is yes. The more exact answer is "yes and no and no and yes" (Copyright KAB 2008)

I'd imagine in almost every case you will have buggered the suspension but...
The Physics bit.
Steel if bent has an elastic and inelastic ability to bending forces.
If you take a steel rule and apply a small force the rule will when released flex back to it's original shape and produce a most pleasing twang if this action was performed upon a school desk. Go too far though and the rule is bent permanently.
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Now the trailing arm isn't a flat bar of steel but I'm guessing that the square section tube that is the trailing arm could act as a torsional spring. (twisting motion)
So theoretically if you had a new suspension unit I'd guess you could get to a point of overload where the trailing arm could just begin to deform and removing the excess load would allow it to spring back.
In reality if is severe enough or long term enough to affect tyre wear I say it was almost certainly buggered.
Would I make the effort to strip the component to establish that the stub axle was or was not parallel to the pivot bar or would I just be replacing the units? I wouldn't see me wasting time with the former action.

I only know that ours wouldn't sit flat when put on a level surface, even the fixing plate was twisted and now we've changed the suspension unit's (the new ones did sit nice and flat) all is well with our Dandy and it's tyres, it also made a big difference to the space between the top of the tyre and the arches so it was well overdue. I then bought a roof box to ensure I don't carry too much weight on the Dandy

But once the box is full...............

It's only a matter of time Helen

One thing I don't understand. Does several people sitting in a Dandy overload the suspension.

navver wrote:One thing I don't understand. Does several people sitting in a Dandy overload the suspension.

That completely flummoxed me for a moment but fortunately I was reading [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] last night and remember

When a wheel encounters a bump, it is driven sharply upward (with a force proportional to the square of the driving speed), compressing the spring in so doing.

So while a few of us may have a mass of several hundred kilos that is a relatively static load. The damage may be done by shock loads where whilst the mass of the trailer is 500Kg or less the shock load is far larger than 50,000 Newtons.

Ah, that makes sense thanks. Still struggling to visualise the shock load of 50,000 inhabitants of the planet newt though.

So as long as we don't have a disco in there with everyone dancing to the rhythm we'll be OK.

See I blame my suspension on Kevin and Jake doing their version of the Time warp in my Dandy, I told them if they had to dance then the awning had more space

Helen wrote:See I blame my suspension on Kevin and Jake doing their version of the Time warp in my Dandy, I told them if they had to dance then the awning had more space

Oh you silly silly silly girl. I now have you, for you have confessed a weakness for the Rocky Horror Show.

I missed it in March but it is the 40th anniversary tour this year. My mate Phil is booking tickets I'm not sure when for in June.

It has to be worth going if only to hear the full unexpurgated story of when we first went 25(?) years ago. Me in a basque and Phil in a silver lurex posing pouch. Silverwell Street sports centre when it was a hotbed (In more ways than one) of ladies plying alternative stress relieving therapies.

Alas the years may have been less than kind to the both of us. Instead of attending as Dr Frank-n- Furter, Janet, Columbia or Rocky I fear we are both more likely to attend as Dr Everett V. Scott.
If you have not seen TRHPS so far all this will be lost but fear not pack up your rice, newspaper, toast, water pistol rubber gloves and other props we're going out. No backing out of this if necessary you will be picked up.

I haven't seen it Kevin ..... but am running for the hills the description of items you've listed to bring along, the mind boggles

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Manchester awaits!