Lucky Bearing

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Over the weekend me, the wife and kids went to a suprise party 140 miles away. The next day on our return we were stopping (since I planned this early, we took the boat) at a lake to spend the day. Day out was great, nice weather and water. We left the lake at 7 pm and headed home (about 70 miles). About 1 mile from home I noticed a tire on the trailer did not look right, it was flexing side to side kinda funny, and as we pulled onto my street the hub started to smoke, I stopped to look at the problem and I walked back you could smell the burnt grease. I then proceeded down my street very slow as the bearing were now makeing a nice grinding noise and the wheel was wobling side to side. I did manage to get the boat into the garage.

WHAT LUCK! 300 miles of towing at 70-75 mph and I blow the bearing less than a mile from home! I am actually very happy this happened, I usually repack the bearings every two years and since I just bought this boat I was going to wait untill the end of the year to do it. We are going on a family vacation next month that is a seven hour drive each way and I am glad it happened now and not then.

Let this be a lesson to those of you who think bearing buddies are a replacement for repacking the bearings. I filled the buddies last week and see what can still happen. The buddies are good for inbetween times, but hubs should be repacked every few years IMHO.

Sorry to be long winded, but I had to share my "lucky blown bearing" with you all. I will be pulling both sides apart later today, I hope the race on the side that blew will come off!

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Update: I got everything apart, bearings and races came out pretty easy. The brakes are covered with grease and I will probably replace the shoes rather than clean them. The bearing were distroyed, just pieces of the inner and outer bearing fellout. The spindle is marked up under the outer bearing, should I replace the spindle?

Can you buy the hub, bearings and seal as an assembly? It would be nice to do it this way so I would get the drums also.

Anyone replace all these parts before? wher did you get the parts...dealer, aftermarket.....cost of hub and seals.....drum?????

Thanks for your help as I am not having a very good day now.

[Tom023]

If you are going to do a complete redo, have you thought about going with the sealed oil hubs? I don't know how well they work, but perhaps some of the guys with newer boats can comment.

http://www.tiedown.com/aturbo.html

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I never thought about it, but if I could use the oil bath's for a little more cost I would do it.

Pro and cons on this......anyone.

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How do the spindles come out of the axle or don't they?

Mine got chewed up a little under the outside bearing, can I use emory cloth to clean it up or it the spindle junk?

I starting to think I might need a new axle.

[Cloaked]

I'd like to further the discussion on the Bearing Buddy (Buddies) based on your experience described here. Being that the BB is an open channel and source of grease to the entire hub, bearings being included (and please school me here if I am misunderstanding), was it really the fault of the BB or did the bearing itself fail from life-cycle fatigue? Or possibly the grease was lacking further viscosity and performance characteristics? Just a thought and curiosity on my part. I really can't see where a BB would be the cause of not getting grease into one's bearing / hub assembly correctly unless the BB itself failed, but that shouldn't warrant conviction that all BBs are bad.... I'm looking to learn here from experience and testimony.... :)

Discuss:

[MarkP]

Well glad you made it home. This sure makes me feel better about “wasting my time” replacing my bearings this week after inspecting them in preparation for two trips this summer..

[Cloaked]

I'm going to waste a little time too with bearing replacement. Thanks for the reminder of lessons learned Footin.

Glad you made it home OK. It's never fun to be stranded or broken out on the road....

[X2M]

I filled the buddies last week and see what can still happen.

Maybe when you filled them you over did it? That too can cause some of the problems you had. :twocents: We made that mistake once.


Glad you made it home ok, and it did not happen more than the mile from your house. I know how scary that can be.

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I'm glad where it happened. The only thing left of the inner and outer bearing are the races and the inside cage, the rest is metal shavings.

As I said the sindle in scared alittle, I'm hoping this is ok or I will have to buy a new axle. Anyone every have to buy one?

As for the warrenty, it's a 94 205 so I think the warrenty has expired.

I filled the Buddies before my last trip to the local lake (a few weeks ago) and stopped pumping grease when the blue part of the buddy stopped moving.

[Farmer Ted]

were your bad bearings made in China or USA?

What condition is your spindle in? If you clean it up with some emory cloth are there any gouges or scores? A good check would be to see if the head of a pin will catch in the score, if it does I'm sure it could be dressed up but you'd need to get the allowable tolerance from the hub manufacturer and a good micrometer and find out what the outerdiameter of your spindle is before and after you dress it up.

There has been alot of talk about bearing maintenance this past week and it's probably one of those fire and forget things. You always assume that all is good until it's not.

[John B]

The spindle will not come off . If you need a new spindle you new to get a hole new axial.
I eat a wheel bearing last year and I had to get a new axial.
It cost me $135, but that was the axial without brakes.
It was with two new hubs.
With bearing packed, and new bearing buddies.
I though that was a great price. :D

[John B]

The thing about Bearing Buddies is that they don't get the grease to the rear bearing properly.It is a good idea before you tow a long distance and have not had your bearing packed for a wail or have put a lot of miles since the last time they were packed to get them packed.

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I would be happy to get the axle for 135, and it may be cheaper without your hubs.

I have priced drums, bearings and seals and the about 50 buck a piece so I should add about another 100 for and axle. I could transfer the brake backing plates and brake assembilies over to the new axle.

Where did you get the axle for 135?

[John B]

I got it at Pacific Trailers in Chino Ca.
I took my old axial to them and they used it to make sure the new one would fit.It took less then 1 hour for them to make it.

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Here are some pictures of the damage to the spindle and whats left of the bearing.

[John B]

That spindle don't look that bad from the picture.
Does it really need to be replaced?

[Footin]

I don't know, you can tell from the spindle and the inside of the bearing that it spun. The major marks are in between the 2 bearing surfaces and the wont hurt anything.
Maybe I will try to clean it up with emory cloth.
I will still call my MC deal and antoher local trailer dealer tomorrow to see how much a new axle is.

The inside of the hub is worse.

[MarkP]

Hard to tell from the photo of the spindle if its useable. It actually doesn’t look that bad. BUT I am going to go out on a limb and say that bearing is shot..

[Cloaked]

Footin, from what you say and looking at the pic, I'm in agreement with you. I'd sand down the burrs and use the current spindle. That doesn't look bad at all (while you emphasize that the wear is not at a bearing placement area on the spindle).

Mark also has a good point: the bearing is shot.... :uglyhamme

I looked at the site for the oil filled hubs and those rascals don't sell retail nor price the hubs (that I saw on a glance). I'm going to look into the oilers though.

[Cloaked]

The thing about Bearing Buddies is that they don't get the grease to the rear bearing properly.It is a good idea before you tow a long distance and have not had your bearing packed for a wail or have put a lot of miles since the last time they were packed to get them packed.All said and done, I'll be repacking or replacing..... An oversight on my part but my ignorance is based on the fact that I rarely travel more than 300 ft to the ramp. However I'd like to think I'm not such a hermit that I won't visit another nearby lake this summer.....

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Another picture of the bottom/back of the spindle, it looks worse than the other shot. Looking more and more like I will need a new axle.

I will call around tomorrow.

I must remember, I tow on 300 mile trips a few times a year.

[Cloaked]

Yes Sir, I agree with you again. It does look a bit more unattractive.


Here's a link to the Turbo Lube hub that has complete information on the hub. http://www.championtrailers.com/TURBOLUBEOILFILLEDHUBS.htm

[Cloaked]

http://shop.easternmarine.com/index.cfm

Axle info.

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Jim@BAWS, Has your shop ever changed a mid 90's trailer over to oil bath bearings? appox cost? I figure since I will be getting a new axle and hubs, this may be the best route.

Thanks.

[bucky]

You mentioned that the bearing had spun, and you can see in the picture that the rear bearing did. If the race spun, the spindle is trash. The tolerances are very tight (thousandths or ten thousandths of an inch), and the spinning race wrecked those tight tolerances.
While the risk of reuse is moderate, the consequences of failure are dire.:twocents:

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I agree that is probably junk. I will be calling around tomarrow for a new axle. I hope an axle from the MC dealer is not outragous compaired to aftermarket (assumeing they can still get then for a 94). At least I know the MC axle will fit properly when I get it home.

[JDK]

[QUOTE=John B]The thing about Bearing Buddies is that they don't get the grease to the rear bearing properly.QUOTE]

This needs to be posted again, as a reminder for the people who think that all you need to do is grease the Bearing Buddies and go!!!
In my opinion, they're not much more than a gimmick.

[MarkP]

[QUOTE=John B]The thing about Bearing Buddies is that they don't get the grease to the rear bearing properly.QUOTE]

This needs to be posted again, as a reminder for the people who think that all you need to do is grease the Bearing Buddies and go!!!
In my opinion, they're not much more than a gimmick.
BUT

I think without them you would see more bearing failure due to NO maintenance..

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Good news, I spoke with my dealer, Mid Ohio Watersports, and he said I should be able to clean up the spindle with emory cloth. I had emailed him a few more pictures and he gave me this advice after we spoke about the pictures. This conversation happened after I had him price out a new axle and he asked how bad mine was damaged. He said he had salvadged many axles that looked worse than mine.(Thanks Chirs @ Mid Ohio)
I took some emory cloth, starting with 120 moveing up to 400 grit, and was able to clean up the spindle very nicely. The inner and out bearings would slide on snugly without much play when I was done.
I then pulled the other side apart and it was in pretty loose. Greese in both sides was about the consistance of a milkshake.
As of 10 last night, everything is back together, I will take a test tow tonight then jack up the trailer and try to wiggle the wheel back and forth to check for bearing play, but it looks like this project is done.

Moral of this thread: Take your bearing apart every year or two, regrease and replace the seals. I know I will.

[Footin]

BTW, I got a few emails about how to repack bearings, I guess my problem got a few people thinking about their own, there is a good article about this at Champion Trailers web site.

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Took my boat for a test tow and everything seems good, I towed about 20 miles, highway and city. The hubs got hotter than I expected, I could keep my hand on them so I assume they are ok, I guess they heat up from the brakes.
After the test I jacked up the trailer again and reajusted the spindle nuts by snugging them down with a wrench then backing the nut off 1/8 to 1/4 turn. The wheels spin freely but when I grab tire tire an wiggle it back and forth there is no slop (it feels firm).

Now instead of reading this......GO CHECK YOUR BEARINGS!!!!

[erkoehler]

mine are greasy and look GOOD!!!!!

Towing 360 miles this weekend, hopefully trouble free. Knock on wood :D