For those who know trailer wheel bearings

_WW_ said:
Half the stuff I buy has the directions in such small print that I take a photo of them so I can blow it up and read them. The trick for me is getting a picture of the ones that are in English.
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I use the copier. Tell it to magnify copy by X% depending on size of font.
 
Annually, I jerk the hubs of my trailers, plunge the grease out of the hubs, flush and re pack the bearings with the fore mentioned tool. Washing bearings in solvent is a PIA, and a disposal nightmare. If the old grease in the hubs shows any sign of water, the bearings are replaced. Cheap insurance. Fresh seals and fresh grease, good to go.
In the off season, trailer goes on blocks, and tires are covered to prevent a set in the sidewall and UV damage.
BTW, I keep my packing tool in Tupperware so I don't have to clean it.
Pre torque all spindle nuts to 35 lbft, then back out to next available castle nut/ spindle bore/ cotter pin alignment.
Solid piece of mind with minimal effort.
 
iveofione said:
Pat, the DOT code for date of manufacture was initiated in 2000. If your spare tire has no DOT date it is damned old! In dog years over a hundred years old...
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351 stamped on the spare so that's the 35th week of 2001 on a tire that's been mounted flat on a boat trailer and uncovered in Central WA's sun for 21 years. I'm getting a new tire installed on the spare tire rim this morning.

I keep a pieces of plywood leaned up against the the fenders when my boat/trailer are parked to keep the majority of the UV rays off the rubber. I need to cover the spare.
 
One thing I learned pulling a Timeout camper trailer behind a motorcycle for thousands of miles; it's import to frequently check wear pattern on the trailer tires relative to pressure. Depending upon the weight of trailer and cargo, keeping the tires inflated at maximum rated pressure stated on the sidewall may result in very uneven wear...the center tread can disappear very rapidly. The converse, obviously, occurs with under inflation (which is probably even more dangerous because it also contributes to excessive tire material heating).

Considering the consequences of tire blowout or bearing failure on a heavy trailer being towed behind the motorcycle I was pretty damn dedicated to checking bearing cap heat, and repacking bearings annually. I even kept the fancy hubcaps off the trailer wheels so bearing issues weren't hidden.
 
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Great advice in this thread.

After getting a boat/trailer a few years ago my very meticulous/mechanical-genius and father in law asked. "How'd the bearings and races look when you serviced the hubs?" "Serviced the hubs?" I could hear his palm slapping on his forehead. Heard enough trailer tales of terror from him and some rafting buddies that I started to take hub/bearing maintenance very seriously.

The only thing I have to ad to the conversation is that after servicing my hubs I've started carrying a fully assembled and lubricated hub, a small grease gun loaded with compatible grease, spare grease caps, and a small toolkit whenever I'm towing. Would much rather just slide a new hub on the spindle and secure it in place than try to repack/replace bearings on the side of the road or a parking lot.

Even if you think the spare-hub thing is overkill (which I'd happily concede), writing down the part number for your bearings, races, etc and stashing the list in your glovebox isn't a bad idea.
 
I'm currently planning to replace all 4 hubs on my trailer. Apparently EZ Loader uses some proprietary/weird sizes for their spindles. I've contacted them a few times but they've been less than helpful. So once my busy towing season winds down, I'm going to get it up on a jack, pull off a hub, and start figuring out what I have in there.
 
JayB said:
Great advice in this thread.

After getting a boat/trailer a few years ago my very meticulous/mechanical-genius and father in law asked. "How'd the bearings and races look when you serviced the hubs?" "Serviced the hubs?" I could hear his palm slapping on his forehead. Heard enough trailer tales of terror from him and some rafting buddies that I started to take hub/bearing maintenance very seriously.

The only thing I have to ad to the conversation is that after servicing my hubs I've started carrying a fully assembled and lubricated hub, a small grease gun loaded with compatible grease, spare grease caps, and a small toolkit whenever I'm towing. Would much rather just slide a new hub on the spindle and secure it in place than try to repack/replace bearings on the side of the road or a parking lot.

Even if you think the spare-hub thing is overkill (which I'd happily concede), writing down the part number for your bearings, races, etc and stashing the list in your glovebox isn't a bad idea.
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Your "fully assembled" kit seemed a bit over the top but as I think back on one road trip, it would have been a real game changer. Three of us were headed north on SR17 to that big Lahontan lake east of Omak, WA., when DK noticed his boat wasn't trailering properly. We found one tire listing about 30 degrees from plumb. There were no bearings left and to this day I don't know what kept that wheel on the spindle. Fortunately we were at the turn off to Mansfield, where, low and behold there was (and I think still is) a truck repair shop at that intersection. Your "kit" would have had us on the road in short order. Great idea.
 
Buzzy said:
Optically challenged: that describes me to a "T".
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I'm only mid-50s but I carry a flashlight to help see small things in anything but bright light.
 
PhilR said:
I'm only mid-50s but I carry a flashlight to help see small things in anything but bright light.
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I'm hoping by this time tomorrow that my right eye will see things more clearly (cataract surgery), something I've put off for a few too many years. Last fall my casting had gotten so good that my indicator was too far away to see where in reality my casting hadn't improved, my sight had just gotten "foggy". I also get the bright light thing!
 
JayB said:
Great advice in this thread.



Even if you think the spare-hub thing is overkill (which I'd happily concede), writing down the part number for your bearings, races, etc and stashing the list in your glovebox isn't a bad idea.
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That is great advice. I really need to do that, we have a boat trailer, a travel trailer, and a utility trailer for my pontoon, and most of the use is in out of the way places. I do bearings on each of them every other year, but should really carry spares. Luckily the travel trailer and utility trailer have the same axles / bearings / tires.
 
my boat trailer had oil batch bearing, one of the greatest inventions ever. look into the clear window and make sure the oil was up to the dot, easy. regular bearings, every year they came out and were lubed at a tire place where they could force grease into them.
 
Just an FYI for those think theres nothing better than oil bath bubs. They need to be used on a regular bassis. If they sit most of the year they will have problems. A trailer shop I have used strongly opposed to using them on boat trailers because they tend to sit around to much.

But he did liked the extra work he got!
 
Buzzy said:
I'm hoping by this time tomorrow that my right eye will see things more clearly (cataract surgery), something I've put off for a few too many years. Last fall my casting had gotten so good that my indicator was too far away to see where in reality my casting hadn't improved, my sight had just gotten "foggy". I also get the bright light thing!
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Only one eye. You better get the other one checked. If one goes bad the other isn't far behind. If you can afford them get the good lens.
 
Hubs with a zerk that adds new grease from back to front, displacing old with new, are super easy to maintain annually without the hassle of disassembly and repack

DB3DABAC-7566-466C-B398-468C1728A16F.jpeg
 
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