Advice re shorn axle (pics)

[stu]

Hello teamtalk,

You guys have been so helpful before I thought I'd try your help to work myself out of another one of my debacled fiascos of my own making. No, I haven't greased the axles in quite some time. I got very lucky in that it came off at ultra low speed turning into Walgreens. Loud noise. Immediate stop, get out of truck in time to catch the trailer tire slowly rolling past truck on passenger side.

My tandem axle trailer my is in back yard now. What do I do now? Don't tell me I've got to replace the whole axle. Well.. tell me I guess. Any info on what I need and where to get it are appreciated. Thank you.

Trailer: TA 06 PS205V

I'll delete pics later

[psychobilly]

dammit man! you ain't greased in a LONG time is right! There ain't no grease there ay all. It looks like you're OK from the pics. That appears to be the old bearings, or what's left of them. Get you a piece of brass and go to work getting the two pieces of old bearings off. Clean the axle up with fine emery cloth and you should be OK. You will also need to remove the races from the ID of the hub.

From the looks of this one, I would replace all of them. If you decide to pull all the others off, repack and replace, make sure you don't mix up the bearings. They are now matched to the race that they are in. If you mix them up you are axe'n for problems.

Now me, I like Timken bearings, IMHO they are #1, but others may disagree. If you're unsure what to do, take the hub up to your local auto parts and there will be someone there that will show you what's up.

You will also need seals and make sure on the axle where the seal rides that you smooth that surface out with the emery cloth real good so that there's no sharp edges.

Now these are hubs with alimites (proper name for grease fitting) and take grease right? I know some MC trailers have oil bath hubs...

I'm sure there's more people who will chime in here. Oh and do a search on your questions and I'm sure you will find that someone has already been where you are and may have even documented it with good pics. Here is what I found on a quick search http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=38343&highlight=trailer+hubs

[CantRepeat]

I would take a die grinder and cut the races off. Then emory cloth and oil all the rust and burs down. Then install new bearings and grease/oil.

[psychobilly]

I did an advanced search in the "trailer" section (another good reason things are posted in the propper section where they belong lol) and found this :

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=16608&highlight=replace+wheel+bearings

This refers to the "oil bath" type hubs.


Please take teh time to take pics, post here, with documentation in the "Trailer" section. It will help the next guy that this happens to. It's not that hard to do man...

This winter I'm going to gas axe my spare tire mount off and weld on a new hub so that I have these spares with me at all times. Not fun to do on the side of teh road but a dang good idear....

[stu]

Thank you very much guys for the input and good news hopefully that I won't have to replace the axle. I'm gonna check out these other posts and go from there. I will post pics. Cheers.

[psychobilly]

I'm not a MC trailer guro but it aprears as if you have the oil bath type??? I can't imagine that axle ever having grease on it, oil yes but grease no.....

again, please post pics of your DIY and if you do use a die grinder to remove the races, be careful not so score the axle.

[BallBushing]

Would it be easier to just get a new hub that already includes the bearings & seals already mounted in it? Agree the shaft still needs to be cleaned up and from the looks of that one I'd check all the others too. If you're going to get parts (bearings & seals) you will need the shaft & housing dimensions at both locations.
Tapered roller bearings have two parts, a cup & cone. The shaft dimension will relate to the bore of the "cup" (the bearings inner ring with rollers), the housing will relate to the outer diameter of the "cone" (the bearings outer ring). If your housing got messed up (out of round) you'll need a new hub.

[gatorguy]

Looks like oil bath to me. You probably lost the cap a few hundred miles back, and all the oil poured out leaving the bearing dry. The biggest problem you may be facing will be how bad did the bearing scar the spindle before it came all to pieces. If the mating surface is real bad (you will know after you cut off the old bearing) you could need a new axle. That will probably cost you about $700. New hubs run about $40 a piece and a set of bearings with a seal is around $25. A set of off brand bearing buddies cost $20 for a pair, and grease is about $7 a tube. Also I like the seals that have the little compression spring. Not really any more money, you may just have to look a little harder to find them.

My guess is the hub took a beating coming off and may just be worth replacing. Besides they come with bearings and seals already so it makes it easy.

As far as oil vs grease these are my thoughts. Oil is less messy, disipates heat faster and as a result runs cooler, especially nice if you have disc brakes which generate more heat. They are also less maintenance because you fill the oil less often. the bad part is if you lose the oil cap by say hitting a curb, you lose all the oil at once and you are very quickly toast as you found out.

Grease on the other hand is a bit more mess, and you are always adding more. The good part is if you lose the bearing buddy you don't lose all you lube in one fail swoop. Hopefully you will check it every once in a while, and fix it before you lose a wheel.

Good luck with your fix. Glad nothing else was damaged.

[mgorczak1]

wow.... it has to get that bad to fail? outstanding... good maintenance..and no worries...

phew...puts many worries in the back of my mind to bed... I agree with BallBushing...get a new spindle, new bearings, and drum or rotor.

[79 S@S rda]

From a back yard mechanics perspective (though I am a mechanic bye trade just in the inndustrial field) if the spindle is damaged bye the races spinning it can be repaired. You can have it chromed and turned to repair the surface or just do it the old fashioned way and JB weld that bugger and sand with emery cloth to fill the damaged part. The races do not spin there for the jB weld is just a filler and will hold up. Did this to a Nissan truck that had the bearings come apart before I purchased it and I got another 100k out of that spindle before I sold the truck. Never had a problem with it.

[stu]

Thanks everybody. I haven't done anything yet.