Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

We bought a new trailer last year (2 axle with hydraulic brakes on the front). We pull it about 5 miles from storage to the lake and back. Last week we pulled about 20 miles to bring it home and the hubs on the front axel were smoking hot (literally smoking), the rubber gasket on the buddy bearings had come off each side and grease splattered everywhere.

Took it for servicing, had them replace the bearings and repacked. Trailered back to storage (8 miles) and the hubs were too hot to touch. The back axle is completely cool to the touch. Which has me wondering if it is a brake issue?

I am at a loss here. Could it be a break issue between the tow vehcile (2012 Tahoe) and the trailer? Could the brakes be sticking heating up the hubs? Any thoughts? Appreciate the help.

Yep your brakes are dragging let some fluid out an that should fix ur problem.

Is this a drum brake or disk brake? In either case I would investigate what is causing them to drag. Not only are you burning up the brakes, you are burning a lot of extra gas.
Letting some fluid out will release them until the next time they get applied. It is a good trick for getting calipers off of worn rotors but it is not fixing anything.
The first thing is to figure out if it is one side or both.

The trailer service shop checked the brakes and said they didnt see anything, the wheels spun freely. Could the drag be caused when I hook it up to the Tahoe, could something be in the connection there?

I may just have them bleed the system and start over.

If it's the brake axle and you think it's a brake binding issue. You'd have to jack it up and actuate the master cylinder by hand using something with some leverage and see if the brakes are not releasing. Maybe slow to release or not at all. What I'm getting at is, sometimes brake hoses deteriorate inside or swell shut allowing pressurized fluid to pass thru but not return holding the brakes applied.
If you raise the wheel off the ground and spin it and it sounds good, not loose beyond noticeable, and not so tight it won't spin freely, then I'd investigate the brake situation.
Another thing I've tried is to have some one pump the brakes up and let off, then open a bleeder and see if it's holding pressure. Indicating a collapsed or plugged line.

With a fairly new trailer, they are probably disc brakes. I have seen a lot of problems just like you describe from the caliper pistons hanging up and not releasing. Either that or the surge actuator not releasing, keeping pressure on the brakes. When you left the trailer for service, the brakes released and the problem wasn't obvious. Your problem is definately in the brake system.

Appreciate all the help guys, what a great place to for you guys with experience to share with those of us who dont!

How are the tires wearing?

If the axle isn't square, it'll put extra drag on the bearings.

I would say brakes as well, but BoatCop has a point to the axle being off kelter. If the front axle is even a little off square, then it could heat up the bearings / hubs, however you would notice abnormal tire wear when compared to the rear axle though too. My bet is on the braking system.

Is you trailer level when hooked to tow rig?

Just had a similar situation, but only 1 wheel. The brake piston corroded and hung up. Cleaned up that piston while I had a new one on order and it worked fine. Replaced it shortly after with a new one. Check out the brake piston to see if its corroded up and maybe try cleaning them up.

Could be a combo to things adding up if the brakes aren't the issue. If its a torsion axle and the trailer isn't 100% level you could be over loading the front axle. This is why I don't like torsion axles on tandum, especially those run close to capacity. Tweaked axle, even a slight tweak will side load the bearings but if this is the case the tire should be showing funny wear. Marginal axle/bearing size. Most every pontoon trailer I've looked at come with cheap 2000# axles which means if your loaded for fun, your at or over capacity. A local "value" dealer puts single axle under every 20' and shorter pontoon, 2000# isn't enough but that's how they sell them.

If these hubs are getting smoking hot and the bearings are working at all it has to be brakes.
The guys have pretty much summed it up, binding pistons, hanging calipers, bad hoses, or master cylinder problems.