BJ Minno Max rear axle tyre wear

[Bert320]

I have a 2009 Brian James Minno Max which I bought used in 2011 and both tyres on the rear axle are heavily worn on the inside shoulder, tyres on the front axle are wearing evenly. All the tyres were good when I bought it and it’s probably done about 2500 miles on them since. May be it’s unrelated but I’ve also lost the wheel bearing cover from the left hand rear hub twice this year.

 

I’ve spoken to BJ and they suggested it could be:

Overloading – it has a tyre rack which I’ve never used, a fuel can box which usually has two full 20litre cans in it and I’ve only ever had an S3 on it which sits with the timing strut on the grill approx 10mm clear of the fuel can box.

Play in the wheel bearings – I’ve checked them and they’re OK.

If neither of the above then swap the axles front to back and see if the wear occurs on the same axle or the same position (IYSWIM?) - I’m not about to swap axles around just to see what happens.

 

Spoke to Indespension who also suggested overloading and that the axle may have failed. He described the axle construction as an outer box section with a rubber bush inside and then an inner box section pressed inside the rubber bush. Theory is that overloading the trailer causes the rubber insert to fail which cannot be replaced and a new axle is required.

 

Anyone had similar experiences and got any advice on what can be checked and/or adjusted and how to do it? If it does come to replacing an axle, where is the best place to get one from, Indespension said they would have to measure it up and get one made - quoted £300+VAT with a four week lead time, I daren’t ask BJ for a price !

 

Read on BC:

Camber should be zero – is this correct and how do I measure and adjust it?

Toe – assume it should be straight but if not how do I adjust it?

 

I’m going to need two new tyres as an absolute minimum – any suggestions for best place & price to source them from?

 

Thanks in anticipation,

Rob

 

[2GBR]

I bought a brand new Brian James A max around the same period collected it from their works and had lost bearing cap by the time i got home 140 miles or so. I rang them and thay sent one down Foc. Then done a french track day tour around 1200 miles and lost two more and also a hole 50p size blew out the side wall when reversing the trailer with a bit off lock on. With full respect Brian James sent me more bearing caps and a new tyre complete with wheel. Then i find out the hubs were machined with a sight taper so the bearing caps worked out so i dot punched then from the inside out and this cured the issue. Brian James sent a large wooden box down via carrier with a new set off four correctly machined hubs bearings sets etc. Which never were fitted as my mod solved the issue. Your tyre wear could be caused by nose height to high perhaps.

[Roger Ford]

I use Falken Mini tyres on mine. For example here at £35 each. Some people reckon you need 8-ply tyres, CAMAC being the common choice, but I've had no problems with mine - and the speed rating is higher. Thread here.

 

Edit: oops, Minno max has different size wheels from Minno (13 inch?) so the above advice is not relevant.

 

Edited by - Roger Ford on 22 May 2013 13:47:17

[I reply to every thread]

A minno weighs around 370kg and they are usually plated at 1380kg - I'm assuming a minno max is higher so unless you are carrying 300kg over the weight of your car you shouldn't be having an overloading issue

[tin duck dave]

If your nose height is too high you can put too much load onto rear axle with front carrying little weight. On a twin axle combination you need to look at axle loading as well as overall weight.

[Bert320]

Thanks for the responses.

The axles are stamped as rated at 800kg and I know my car is less than 700kg fully loaded with fuel and me in it so surely in theory it should be ok with just one axle?

Not checked the nose height but the towball height is fixed so only option would be to lift the hitch with packers on the A frame - is this good practice?

[Grubbster]

Normally you would use a drop plate to lower the towball height on the car, something I need to do on my Hilux. Like these

[The Pikey]

Bent axles/torsion rods. Run a length of string across the centre of the tyres faces on each side and see is the wheels all point is the same direction Also compare the camber on them too. Also as 2GBR mentioned the the tow ball height could make the rear axles wear but I would think it would have to be a good bit out plus maybe loaded with not enough nose weight to cause this.

 

There is no adjustment if wrong, it's just bent ☹️

 

 

Jason

[Mark Durrant]

If the nose weight is too high Brian James sell a spacer to fit between the A frame at the front and the tow hitch. I fitted one of these to my Minno Shuttle and it reduced the nose weight to within the cars limits. I have a swan neck removable towball so adjustment on the car is not possible.

[Mark Durrant]

See here

[tin duck dave]

Quoting Bert320: 

Thanks for the responses.

The axles are stamped as rated at 800kg and I know my car is less than 700kg fully loaded with fuel and me in it so surely in theory it should be ok with just one axle?

Not checked the nose height but the towball height is fixed so only option would be to lift the hitch with packers on the A frame - is this good practice?

 

car at that weight plus trailer can mean overloaded axle if nose height is resulting in high percentage being on rearmost axle , front axle may literally only carrying only its own weight.

[Grubbster]

Quoting Mark Durrant: 

If the nose weight is too high Brian James sell a spacer to fit between the A frame at the front and the tow hitch. I fitted one of these to my Minno Shuttle and it reduced the nose weight to within the cars limits. I have a swan neck removable towball so adjustment on the car is not possible.

 

Thanks Mark, I've not seen these before

 

Edit - just checked my trailer and I can't use one of these as I have the fold-up hitch which uses a different type of fitting, so I'll go back to plan A and get a drop plate.

 

Edited by - Grubbster on 27 May 2013 10:50:33