Axle bearing failures

[fiddlebick]

Quick reminder to do a regular visual inspection of your axles on the trailer, including brake lines as well. I had a bearing failure two years ago that was unnoticed until my friend heard the bearings crunching on the axle as I pulled the boat up the ramp. Yesterday I went to the shop to change lower unit gear oil on the outboard and noticed one axle nut was about 50% loose, I guess the cotter pin broke at some point late in the season. I now do a walk around each time I pull the boat out of the shop. I'm also going to jack it up a couple times a year and check for play or roughness in the bearings. Easy fixes at home, and losing a wheel on the highway could be a nightmare. I also bump the motor over each time I hook up the boat, just to make sure there is plenty of juice to start it. Have fun and be safe this season!

[Steiner]

Great post. Trailer gets neglected sometimes. I trailer 75 miles each way so it's important. Also good to check torque on the lug nuts and tire pressures regularly with the temp changes.
My new trailer is only a year old Yacht Club with Dexter EZ-Lube axles, as was my last one. I keep it on jack stands over the winter to keep the tires from flat spotting. Before the first outing this year, I spun the tires to check for play or noise, popped off the caps, and shot in some Lucas marine grease while spinning them. It's calcium complex which is supposed to be compatible with lithium complex. Very odd that one of the rubber plugs cracked open on the first trip and I got runny grease on the outside of the wheel. Checked after dunking the boat and it was dry and not runny inside, also took my temperature gun with me to check all the hubs partway through the trip and they were all the same temp. Got new caps and another half dozen plugs in the mail yesterday.

[Steiner]

double post

[Coldbrew]

Last year I was walking up to my truck and trailer from the dock to pull the boat out and I noticed one of my bunks was almost completely disconnected. It turns out I was missing 3 out of the 4 screws that hold the bunk on. I never thought to check them. I checked the rest and they were all loose. Another maintenance item.

[Steiner]

Last year I was walking up to my truck and trailer from the dock to pull the boat out and I noticed one of my bunks was almost completely disconnected. It turns out I was missing 3 out of the 4 screws that hold the bunk on. I never thought to check them. I checked the rest and they were all loose. Another maintenance item.

That reminds me, I went through and tightened all mine as well after I got it while the boat was on it. Gotta figure they run them in with a screw gun with that brand new carpet on the bunks (in my case) and no load so the gun torques out.....but then when you drop 3000lbs of boat on them it's got to compress the bunks down so the screws are then loose. Then you unload/load/unload a few times.....

[steve1313]

Good reminder(s) for everyone! Along the same lines, for those of you with boats on lifts, don't forget to check lift cables, belts, etc. regularly, and also grease all the fittings, etc. It seems like every spring I see one of two boathouses on our lake that have boats hanging awkwardly because the lift has issues!

[Steiner]

Damn these ****ers are too much work.
Heading to the for sale section.....

[fiddlebick]

Heres the update. Spindle is destroyed. Hub is destroyed as well. I will be welding a new spindle in when it arrives. On the advice of a trusted big trailer and truck axle service shop, I will be replacing the bearings with ONLY AMERICAN made products. (timken bearings). He says that all chinese bearings are scrap metal in his view, as he has seen numerous failures from newer equiptment, and this dude does it for a living. He also said that my Dexter EZ lube axles come from the factory with foreign bearings now, since about '95.... Now it is a significant increase in cost, but with a 26 foot pontoon on 10" wheels and a tandem trailer, I'll gladly pay the price up front for good bearings, versus the bigger expense of replacing axle parts and risking a roadside breakdown. I'll be a little under 400 bucks on this repair with me doing all the labor.

spindle damage.jpg (257.57 KiB) Viewed 3941 times

[lakerunner]

Sorry but timkins are now made in China. Just finished having my toon axles done and requested Timkins and found the were also china

[Steiner]

You have to be careful with Timken because they are counterfeited a lot. It can be very difficult to tell a counterfeit Chinese Timken bearing from a legitimate Chinese Timken bearing hahaha.

[Reiner]

Heres the update. Spindle is destroyed. Hub is destroyed as well. I will be welding a new spindle in when it arrives. On the advice of a trusted big trailer and truck axle service shop, I will be replacing the bearings with ONLY AMERICAN made products. (timken bearings). He says that all chinese bearings are scrap metal in his view, as he has seen numerous failures from newer equiptment, and this dude does it for a living. He also said that my Dexter EZ lube axles come from the factory with foreign bearings now, since about '95.... Now it is a significant increase in cost, but with a 26 foot pontoon on 10" wheels and a tandem trailer, I'll gladly pay the price up front for good bearings, versus the bigger expense of replacing axle parts and risking a roadside breakdown. I'll be a little under 400 bucks on this repair with me doing all the labor. spindle damage.jpg

That is a good job bearing failure, looks like mine from about 3 years ago coming back from the river Yuma AZ. Had the pontoon/trailer on a flatbed tow truck and the whole thing fit on by 3/4 inches. Now I check those more frequently and replace, particular running the boat in salt water.

[fiddlebick]

I'll refuse them if they are chinese, but I'll see about that tomorrow. I ordered them from a local bearing supply business. Another thing I learned is that my rear axle on this tandem trailer has more wear on the tires than the front, so I'll be rotating them. My Brothers pontoon trailer shows more wear on the rear axle tires as well, he's the one that noticed it, then we checked mine.

[lakerunner]

Is your trailer running level when hooked up? That will cause uneven wear.

[ROLAND]

Last year I was walking up to my truck and trailer from the dock to pull the boat out and I noticed one of my bunks was almost completely disconnected. It turns out I was missing 3 out of the 4 screws that hold the bunk on. I never thought to check them. I checked the rest and they were all loose. Another maintenance item.

yep,, took my boat out mothers day weekend.. it was the first time I had put it in the water in about 18 months.. when I had it parked in the driveway I walked by and could see that a bunch of the nuts were loose on the trailer bunks... not a big deal, but something we should check every so often.

[Steiner]

Yacht Club says to service the bearings at the end of the season. That way any moisture in the hub is hopefully removed rather than sitting in there to cause rust over the offseason. Never thought about that, but will going forward.

What's aggravating about the China thing is that if you can get a name brand item out of the Chinese factory that was originally contracted to build it and is subject to actual regulation, you can get a quality item. The problem is, once a company moves production to China they've given them the blueprint to go set up a counterfeit company right down the road and in some cases supply the counterfeits right in there with the real product. That's what happened with that surgical gown recall and shortage several months ago. They found out the legit factory had opened another factory and were supplying from it as well and not following all the sterilization guidelines.