Bought a used boat on a brand new aluminum bunk trailer from a dealer. Towed it home and to the ramp the next weekend. When I got home from boating (the first time out with it), I got out and smelled brakes. The bearings on the front axle had burned up and were rubbing the brakes hard.

Called the dealer, he said "bring it back, they'll fix it."

How the **** am I supposed to take it back to them?

I purchased new bearings and fixed it all myself. When I took it apart, it had red grease with the consistency of water. I replaced the bearings and seals on both axles and used a marine grease when it went back together.

I use an open trailer for racing. I added new brakes to the rear axle this year (only came with brakes on one axle) and serviced the front brakes/bearings this year.

I do about 5k miles per year, and I think I went about 5 years without touching anything other than replacing tires.

I did replace one axle (7K Dexter EZ-Lube) about 3 years ago due to a bent spindle, and this spring I had a bearing get hot on that axle. Probably another indication of OEM quality. After that I replaced all of the drums/hubs/bearings/brakes/tires. Not a cheap week!

Chris..
Hate to see these company’s cheap out on bearings and other very important items. Mostly just care about getting it out of warranty then it’s your deal..... Wonder how may axles/brakes are imported now?
If you use grease it should be an EP Grease like Molykote or Chevron, Lucas etc.. I would think about synthetic 90/140 lube if oil it’s bath also. Never saw an oil bath 80/90 fail in my 31 years of fire chassis service. If a Fire/engineer can’t break it... Tough on stuff..

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^^^ You need to come with me on some calls where as the duals fly off the trailers and pass the drivers up. As the set rolls on by, "Hey someone lost their tires"

Only part of my adventures. Almost killed him.
I have had several calls from drives coming off along with trailers off. Some ,i never found the wheels at all on the recovery. I have burned into my 3 adult children. Never gate a truck and get around them carefully.

At 3:43. Comes off within seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1qzWboZAFs

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^ Loss of seal and oil is probably the cause of hub assy failure. Those lease trailers get beat up I’m sure.
Picture is scary! Jesus!

I've towed my 3 axle stacker with Dexter axles about 300,000 miles without a bearing problem, knock on wood.
Changed the brakes a couple of times and made sure I did a good job of packing the bearings with a good grade of grease.

That vid reaffirms two thing known to a motorcyclist. Never dwell next to a semi (although I had always thought about tread de-lamination as opposed to a total failure). And two, you go where you look. Several of those people had plenty of room to maneuver and avoid the accident but they didn't. They fixated on the problem and not the solution.

Wow that video is an eye opener.

As long as you guys are discussing this, what is the prefered grease? Dexter easy lube small trailer.

quote:

...what is the prefered grease?

Preferred implies personal preference so you'll get all kinds of different answers. Generally an EP lithium complex grease is preferred. The higher the 4 ball wear and dropping point the better. If it's a boat trailer then Aluminum or calcium soap base if preferred, for resistance to water washout. Hope this helps.

About 300,000 on my triple axle Pace and have only had to replace 1 set of bearings on 1 wheel

Got home last night from the National at Ennis. As I was coming down my street I rolled the windows down and I could hear a wheel bearing squealing.

Tore it down today and sure enough it needs a bearing. Any advice on these Nev-R-Lube bearings?

Like maybe a better price? This stuff ain’t cheap. LOL

bad luck and good luck vern,bad luck home so early and good you didnt find that bearing on the road lol

As I previously posted, I recently replaced my trailer wheel bearings and races with USA marked Timken brand.

One other item that I also check periodically is the battery brake away. When I jack the trailer wheels off the ground to checking bearing play, I’ll also activate the brake away to check that the wheel will lock up. I also activate the brake away when attached to the truck to see if it has the electrical capacity to lock up the brakes with some resistance.

I recently replaced the 8 yr old 5 amp AGM brake away battery that although still works, is at the end of its service life imo. It measured 12.05 v when not attached to the tow vehicle. New Duralast AGM battery is 12.6 v and only a $32 replacement.

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:
As I previously posted, I recently replaced my trailer wheel bearings and races with USA marked Timken brand.

One other item that I also check periodically is the battery brake away. When I jack the trailer wheels off the ground to checking bearing play, I’ll also activate the brake away to check that the wheel will lock up. I also activate the brake away when attached to the truck to see if it has the electrical capacity to lock up the brakes with some resistance.

I recently replaced the 8 yr old 5 amp AGM brake away battery that although still works, is at the end of its service life imo. It measured 12.05 v when not attached to the tow vehicle. New Duralast AGM battery is 12.6 v and only a $32 replacement.

I just wire my brakes to my battery that runs my tongue jack and radio.

Curtis I did the same thing but technically not legal. Supposed to have it’s own dedicated battery if I’m not mistaken.