Life of rear tires on lehmans monarch II LLS trike

[Hank]

Hi- Just getting ready to change rear tires after 30K miles-Is that the average life of rear tires on lehman independent suspension trikes--

[Lee H. Mann]

Hi- Just getting ready to change rear tires after 30K miles-Is that the average life of rear tires on lehman independent suspension trikes--

Hank, 30K is pretty low mileage for the rear tires.

What kind of weight are you pulling or loading and what air pressure are you running ?

Are the tires worn evenly ?

Jim

[Hank]

Hi- Out of 12 K a year 800 of that pulling a trailer with no mor than 30 lbs tongue weight- With 2 up at 340 lbs. plus 20 lbs. cargo -- tire tread is 3/32 in. outside 2/32 in. center and on far inside no tread---

[Hank]

I'm running 22 lbs of air in tires

[Lee H. Mann]

Hi- Out of 12 K a year 800 of that pulling a trailer with no mor than 30 lbs tongue weight- With 2 up at 340 lbs. plus 20 lbs. cargo -- tire tread is 3/32 in. outside 2/32 in. center and on far inside no tread---

Just by the measurements you have given in the tread depth, sounds like you have a negative camber situation. And given your complaint about ride height, it sounds like it is sitting low and causing negative camber.

[Hank]

Thank you Jim- I thought that with A arm suspension if its riding high or low the camber doesn't change. I must be wrong in my thinking and by adjusting the shock with more tension on the spring it should bring up my ride height and provide me with the right camber all-though my ride will be rough- Would this be something I should try?

[Hank]

The shock is turned out 5 turns now--

[Lee H. Mann]

The shock is turned out 5 turns now--

Hank, turning the pre-load outward is lessening the spring tension and allowing the suspension to be softer and lower.

[CrystalPistol]

Thank you Jim- I thought that with A arm suspension if its riding high or low the camber doesn't change. I must be wrong in my thinking and by adjusting the shock with more tension on the spring it should bring up my ride height and provide me with the right camber all-though my ride will be rough- Would this be something I should try?

On a independent suspension with unequal length A arms, arms swinging through different arcs as suspension works, lean tires in at top under compression, and straighten the tire up or even out at top on extension as a means to lessen tire wear due to side scrub at the contact patch.



Hows the ride now … rough or smooth?

You might want to look closely at the spring itself, occasionally a coil will sag or break.

[CrystalPistol]

The shock is turned out 5 turns now--

Upon further reading, I see your problem / fix above.

[Hank]

What I meant to say on the red colored shocks is I have compressed the springs from min. compression to 5 turns in to compress the springs thus putting more outward pressure on the shocks-so is the suggestion to compress the springs even more to bring camber into alignment which will raise rear and create a rougher ride--

[Hank]

Thanks for the suggestions ---I will try compressing the shock springs to see if that corrects the proplem

[Lee H. Mann]

Hank, I don't know if you bought the trike new or from a previous owner so I don't know what has been done other than what you have explained.

I don't know how far you can go with the spring compression before the ride totally deteriorates.

I have only run adjustment from the stock position up 3 turns to achieve what I was looking for.

I really can't help here other than repeat that it should not be that low.

Perhaps the springs are shot !!!