Dang wheel bearings

[Tomme boy]

Tried to go fishing today. Got about halfway to the ramp and I start hearing a grinding noise. I have a 45% hearing loss and can not hear very well. When I do it usually cost more money on whatever breaks.

I stop and walk back to the trailer to feel the spindles. Driver side was HOT! So I said screw it, it is already bad. I got to the ramp and unhooked the trailer and started to take it apart. Only thing left was the races. on the outer bearing. Got the back off and could not see any #'s on it to see what I needed. Went back to town to Autozone to get a new set. Get back to the boat and put in the new bearing and seal on the back side and then try to slip it on.

NOPE!

He gave me a 1" bearing and I need 1 1/16" Called all around town and no one had any. So I remembered a small engine repair shop I was in a few weeks ago. I seen they had some bearings on the wall. YEP! they had them.

I hate working on stuff like this along the road. I ordered 2 complete hubs so I don't have to look for stuff for a while to come.

 

[462]

Oh, boy! I had the same thing happen, except it required an hour's drive back to the nearest town, then a long search for the bearings. To add to the unpleasantness, it was raining and the road's shoulder was mud.

The same boat trailer had a tire explode.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

That is why i purchased a bearing packing thingy. So i can repack all of my trailer bearings in my general maintenance.

 

[Joshua]

About ten years ago I used an old flat bed trailer to deliver a small row boat I had sold. The new boat owner was a friend from work, we both lived about 40 miles from the shipyard. So it was a 160 mile round trip. I dropped it off before work.
When I got home that evening I backed that old flat bed trailer into the gravel next to the drive way.
Went to unhook the trailer.
Noticed the tire was tilted.
So, I jacked up the trailer and pulled the wheel off. No wrenches. Just pulled it over the cotter pin and nut.
There were no bearings, there was no outer race, and a large amout of the cast iron hub was gone.
The inner race had friction welded itself to the shaft. I had to take an abrasive cut off wheel and split it into three pieces. Then beat it off with a hammer and cold chisel.
The shaft had one 1/32" gouge in it.
I bought a new hub with bearings, took some sand paper to the shaft, and got it back on the road.
Josh

 

[RBHarter]

January , I80 west , discovered the failure about 10 miles east of Little America , gimped into Rock Springs ......... Worst one ever .

The last one came all undone in Elk Grove Ok . Warm , long day , parts on hand , no shrapnel in the hub , the parts came off/out easy , exactly the opposite of that Wy one .

 

[Tomme boy]

That is why i purchased a bearing packing thingy. So i can repack all of my trailer bearings in my general maintenance.

I add grease, a couple pumps every 4-5 times I go out. Plus I repack them every spring. All you need is your hand to pack the bearings with grease. These bearings have over 35K miles on them. It was due. Several 1000 mile trips each way on interstate. I am surprised they actually lasted this long. If you read the warnings on the trailers they are not meant to go over 45 miles an hour due to the small wheel size and the rpm they get to. My Ranger bassboat was the same thing with 16" rims and tires. Now the bass boats come with an oil bath bearing that runs a lot cooler and you change the gear oil in them like you change your oil.

 

[JWFilips]

That is my fear of a boat trailer. When I had my pickup I just hung my john boat out from it. My wife & I both have jeeps now and the only way the boat is going to the lake again is if I buy a trailer..... I do not need a big one for 10 ft flat bottom boat but the small trailers look really iffy!

 

[RicinYakima]

Buy USA made Timken bearings and seals, Put "buddy bearing" grease units in and lube with the blue boat trailer grease. I put 77,000 miles on my first 5th wheel and never had any more bearing issues AFTER THE FIRST TIME. FWIW

 

[358156 hp]

Most of the boat trailers , campers, and 5th wheels we get in at work with bearing failures tend to have burned up the spindles as well. The only real repair for this anymore is a new axle. The worst offenders are the hotshot truck drivers. They don't stop for nothing, and it always ends up being our fault that they destroyed an axle, even if we never worked for them before.

 

[Joshua]

Buy USA made Timken bearings and seals, Put "buddy bearing" grease units in and lube with the blue boat trailer grease. I put 77,000 miles on my first 5th wheel and never had any more bearing issues AFTER THE FIRST TIME. FWIW

Or,

If you are launching your boat in salt water buy Chinese bearings and replace every other season! I now change out bearings and replace the trailer light assemblies at the same time. The off years seem to be when I replace impellers on the outboards.

I have also gotten better at fogging my motors and draining the carbs.

I never thought that I would live to be middle aged and have an annual marine maintenance checklist!

Josh

 

[CZ93X62]

Saltwater eats everything it touches. Saltwater is EVIL. Its saving grace is the larger, tastier fish it produces. But that is its only notch in the plus column.

 

[Tomme boy]

Normally I use SKB or SKF bearings for everything. But I did not want to wait for 2 days to get them in. Timken are Chinese bearings put into a box that says USA on them. My last employer ordered all Timken bearings and half were USA then China. Even the China ones were in a USA made box. Same as their chains. We have a Timken chain factory here about 2 miles away. Some are outsourced. They bought out Drives if you know anything about chains. Took over the plant about 15 years ago or so.

I don't fog my motors or drain the carbs. I use them year round. Non ethanol gas only. Yamaha motors do not like it one bit. 3 cyl 2 stroke and it feels like you fouled a plug when you run it. My other Mercury does not matter but they all get non ethanol gas.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Sorry for the troubles Tommy!!

Been there done that!! I keep a tongue box on all my trailers. In there is a complete set if bearings and tools to change JUST IN CASE!!

Like you I grease regularly and need it
Or not change out before any major use.

Nothing like middle of night middle
Of no where No stores open changing bearings in the rain on the freeway to make ya remember!

CW

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm amazed that bearings on boat trailers last as long as they do.

Fixing stuff of the side of the road sucks and I really try to avoid doing that. However, I've certainly done it.

 

[Ian]

Buy USA made Timken bearings and seals, Put "buddy bearing" grease units in and lube with the blue boat trailer grease. I put 77,000 miles on my first 5th wheel and never had any more bearing issues AFTER THE FIRST TIME. FWIW

Yes. Especially the blue, calcium-based marine grease. Lithium grease will form an emulsion with water and fail at high speed, can't tell you how many times I've seen people pumping out their bearing buddies with whatever cheap Li grease was on the automotive shelf at walmart, or how many welded inner races I've cut off. Small tire rpm is bad for tires but the bearings can take it fine with grease lubrication....as long as they are adjusted properly, the trailer has enough axles under it, and the grease isn't broken down.

When you dunk a warm hub in cool water the air inside contracts and sucks in water past the lip seals. Grease and oil seals for trailer spindles do not have lips designed to prevent this, and if they did it would require a special installation sleeve to get them over the spindle anyway. Poor design. If you fully purge the air out by pumping grease through the bearing buddy BEFORE dunking the hubs, a lot less water would get in there in the first place.

Timken bearings can be made anywhere, for example Turkey and India are two countries of origin I've seen, but that doesn't mean they're garbage. It doesn't always mean they're good, either.

My previous shop fixed a boat trailer axle permanently against water intrusion by drilling the spindles all the way through and installing a vent on the axle tube that ran up to the winch pylon. Putting double-lip, gartered, oil-type seals instead of grease seals and sealing the seal in the hub with Permatex 3H and the hub cap with RTV silicone, and not over-greasing the outboard bearing allowed pressures to equalize and sealed well enough to keep 1 PSI of water out.

 

[Rally]

Ian,
I'm trying to picture how the hub was vented, and still rotated? Was the vent installed by drilling the spindle shaft?
You don't know anybody that hates trailers worse than I do. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
My problem is I'm launching in ice, and often in "Indian Landings", ie, no true launch/landing, muskeg most often present, and winch required for extraction. Always looking for a better built mouse trap!
I have bearing buddies on everything, use marine grease, Timken bearings, and always have a replacement set onboard. If you have a cure for boats freezing to trailers that would be great too! LOL

 

[Brad]

Boats freezing on trailers?
Simple fix- move south!

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Reminds me of a friend in South Carolina. We where talkin about cold and ice. He said that the pond froze. I commented he could ice skate. With his drawl in a very condescending tone. "Ya kant walk on it!!!" Hahaha Like THAT NEVER HAPPENS!! Haha. I explained how many times we parked the truck on ice going ice fishing and needed auger extensions to drill thru 5' of ice to hit fluid water...

CW

 

[Rally]

Boats freezing on trailers?
Simple fix- move south!

Just as soon as they figure out how to raise beaver down there, that have 450,000 hairs per square inch.

 

[Brad]

Just as soon as they figure out how to raise beaver down there, that have 450,000 hairs per square inch.

Picky picky