Dodged a bullet!

[JASinIL2006]

Since there's no hockey to watch on TV, and we're trying to limit our contact with other people, I decided it was a good time to service the bearings and brakes on my boat trailer. I popped off the Bearing Buddies and the grease inside the hubs looked pretty good on one side (starboard), and fairly good, although darker and stinkier, on the other (port) side.

After pulling the drums and removing grease seals, though, I found that the inner bearings on the port side wheel had started to disintegrate. Four or five of the roller bearing were missing entirely from their cage, and several others were misshapen and showed signs of excessive wear. Surprisingly, there was no sign when I last pulled the trailer of any problems. The hub never got excessively hot, the trailer wasn't pulling to one side, etc.

I inspected the spindle and it looks to be fine; I don't see any scorching or scoring, and it looks pretty much like the spindle on the other side.

Due to last summer's flooding on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, our only boating involved a 1600 mile round trip jog up to Ontario. I don't know when the bearing came apart, but we're really lucky the whole thing didn't crap out while we were on our trip, or I would have been 'that guy' on side of the road fixing my trailer. (I do carry spare bearings, races and grease seals when we travel, but who wants to do that on the side of a highway?)

Anyway, since I've already got everything apart and I needed to service the brake shoes and magnet anyway, I've decided to put on some nice new Dexter Never-Adjust brakes. Those, plus the rewiring job on the trailer that is already in progress, should put me in good shape for the upcoming season. I just hope we get to use the boat more than last year.

Just a PSA to remind everyone to check your trailer out before the season kicks into gear!

 

[Scott Danforth]

you did dodge the bullet.

 

[GA_Boater]

Any signs of the inner seal failing?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Any signs of the inner seal failing?

Yes, there was some evidence that grease got past it. Not much; it didn't look like it was blown out, but there was seepage behind it. Even worse, that seal was nearly impossible to get out, much worse than the other side. I was wondering if there was some excessive heat from the failed bearing that cooked the seal into the hub. I was wailing on it with a pry bar and hammer, and when it finally broke loose, me and my shop were showered with nasty, black grease. (Smelly, too!). It was almost like the seal was braised in there.

 

[GA_Boater]

I was gonna ask if the seal was dry. From your splattered, nasty grease, the answer was no. :yuck:

 

[JASinIL2006]

Yeah, there was plenty of grease still in there. I think I maybe got a bit carried away with the grease gun when I first installed the Bearing Buddies.

The grease on that side was in worse shape than the other side, but I don't know if it was cooked some from the bad bearing, or because it was older. (The other side lost a Bearing Buddy on a trip and had new grease in it.)

 

[ahicks]

Wowee! Yup, I'd say you dodged a bullet for sure!