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Trailer Bearings...
rasbury
Member Posts: 8,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
I did not see a section for trailer and towing....I think there should be one! My 270 has a performance trailer, out of business but not the point.....it is kind of a low end trailer I would say...it is aluminum and looks like most of the hardware is stainless so not a bad trailer but a little cheap on the spindles.....the spindle is welded on to the axle and can not be replaced. Maybe on the bigger trailers like this, this is the way it's done and this is my first big trailer. What I ran into as I'm re packing the bearings, cleaning out the calipers and replacing the master cylinder, the zert fitting for greasing is pressed into the spindle and can not be removed or replaced. The "buddies" we a little different design than I have seen as the zert sticks through a rubber seal holding the grease in. The cool thing about this design is that when you pump it full of grease, it fills the hub through the back and not the front like a bearing buddy that the zert is attached to the bearing cover. I got the std. type like that and was going to remove that inner zert but I thought, what better way to keep everything greased that to be able to pump grease in the back as well as the front as I think it would be hard to get grease to both bearing with just one fitting in either place...thoughts? Also, I'm guessing since the hubs are all cleaned out I am going to pump a tube of grease at least into each wheel to fill the hub?
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If the bearing and seal is working fine and regularly disassembled and FULLY re-packed by hand (preferably an annual teardown) then it should never need additional grease. If I see grease sling on the fender then it won't be long before I tear it down to see whats up. Heat on a hub is the precursor to a more serious problem that needs immediate attn. All that said I always carry a small grease gun to use if I need to limp back home or to a safe spot to change a hub before it seizes up and toasts the axle/spindle.
I also carry an extra hub w/bearings pre packed with grease and lugnuts to swap out. Cheap insurance, especially on a tandem that'll go nowhere if one fails.
Don't worry about who built your trailer as much as how often the maintenance was done and when marginal (but critically important) parts are replaced, especially brakes and old tires. Trailer tires are especially tricky because they may have plenty of tread but are old enough to loose their elasticity and will shred with little warning. Look for the oval stamp with the date of mfg and change them if they're over 6y/o. It's not you or your eqt that you should be most concerned about, it's the other innocent people whose lives could be changed forever if you cut corners on issues you should have kept up with. It's a BIG boat at high speed on the highway. Remain alert to EVERYTHING / EVERYONE.
I bought a well used tri-axle thinking I'd have the basics...well I wasn't too far off. After I started tearing it down I realized that all I had worth using was the axles/rims/rails/bunks. After stripping off the crust and crap here's what I started with (pic)... Beware the guy with a torch, a shop and too much ambition.
Gotta say my trailer pulls like an arrow and launches this 270 like a bass boat. Couldn't be happier.
Good luck, Mike
Tiki - you make a great point about handpacking the bearings, overfilling the bearing/hub with grease (or even oil bath bearings) will cause heat problems all on its own. A good handpacking is all the bearing needs and it ensures the grease is everywhere in the bearing, a grease gun does not always do a bearing justice in filling it from empty. A yearly teardown, clean, regrease and replace the seals is advisable, trailers suffer from sitting around a lot and that itself is bad for a bearing (false brinelling and fretting corrosion), then do the cold water quench of the hubs when launching and you can pull in water from the cooling effect over time. When cleaning the bearing, you ideally need to be thinking 'clean room' for the cleaning solution and how you handle it.
One big no-no is never, ever hold the bearing inner ring on your fingers and use compressed air to spin the bearing to dry/clean. It can explode from the forces, sieze on your fingers and you'll learn it hurts bad very fast, and you can do physical damage to the bearing you cannot see (before it explodes). I used to have some pictures of this I can no longer find, but they make the point very clear.
be safe!
PC BYC, Holland, MI
Great stuff BD, I've always hand packed mine. Just old school I guess. Never tried the high speed rev of a bearing in my hand either..... my imagination is working and there are a few guys I've known who would learn a valuable lesson trying that. To everyone's amusement I'm sure. I'll test my idiot son-in-law with that one after I stash a hidden camera to replace your pics.
"Cold" water quench......sometimes I wish, and you're absolutely right if a hub is running hot (or even warmer than normal). My cold quench is more like very salty pea soup on one of our hot summer days..... Salt being the part that we are very concerned with down here. If it gets sucked past a seal or inside the hollow tube of an axle and lays there for a few months/years it's adios muchacho, usually at the most inopportune time.
DON'T overtighten the nut. Just snug with wrench/channel locks and then back it off an 1/8 of a turn +/- to slide in the cotter pin. Fill the cap/bearing buddy and tap it on tight and straight......spin the hub to check for a smooth rotation w/o ANY binding/slop (in/out/up/down/fwd/rev), remount the wheel, torque wrench the lugs and move to next wheel. Not rocket science at this point. Smear grease on cheek under each eye because you're now a trailering road warrior. B-) .......and know that you're one lucky sob for traveling 600mi with no brakes or idea what was up with your tires and hubs.
One piece axles are pretty typical. It's what I run. The idea of the spare hub is to be aware enough to use it BEFORE the bad one catches on fire and snaps off..... again on the lucky part.
Mike
10-4, what kind of torque? I was always taught as tight as you can but I know **** that will end....
PC BYC, Holland, MI