Trailer wheel bearings - what am I doing wrong?

I have an issue on my 6 x 12 enclosed cargo trailer. This is the 9th trailer that I have owned, I have had open landscape trailers, boat & jet-ski trailers and two other enclosed trailers over the years. I bet that I have close to 100k miles towing under my belt.

About 2 years ago, as I was getting off the highway by my house, I heard a weird noise. Pulled over and found that the wheel bearing had collapsed and the hub was riding on the spindle. I replaced bearings on both sides and called it a day. I thought that it was weird, as I had never had issues before, but it was a used trailer and I hadn't looked at them prior to the failure.   

Then this past weekend, the same thing happened, but the other side. Unfortunately I was not as close to home but there was a Tractor Supply that was open and less than a mile from the exit. I wound up replacing the hub (took 3 hours, but it was only 95 degrees out and the asphalt parking lot didn't have any of that nasty shade to prevent the sun from cooking us).

Why is this happening? What can I do to prevent it? The hubs didn't have a cotter pin, but a washer that bent up to prevent the castle nut from turning. I am sure that the nut wasn't too tight or loose. I packed it with axle grease before putting the cap back on. I maybe have 2,000 miles on the trailer since we did the bearings and seals last time. I bought them from a local trailer store.

How can you tell when a bearing is going to go bad without completely disassembling the hub? I check the tires before every trip, I keep the pressure up, they are not wearing weird. I never come close to max weight in the trailer, just two 400-ish pound motorcycles and maybe another 100 lbs of tools and spare tire. I do drive a little fast, but keep it under 80 mph. I think that I have 3,500 lbd axles and there are no trailer brakes.

I remember my old boat trailer had bearing buddy caps, but that was because it was being submerged when launching the boat. this trailer sits on my concrete driveway.

I am now debating on replacing the whole axle or just have a new spindle welded in. The hub has ground a groove in the spindle after the last bearing failure. 

Pictures because motorcycles...

I know people that repack their bearings every year.  I never have. 

I would find Timken bearings to put in and soldier on.  If the groove in the spindle is bad enough, you may need to replace the axle.   

In reply to Rusnak_322 :

The only other thing I do that you didn’t mention doing, is I check the bearing caps at every stop to see if they’re warm/hot. 

How do you check the bearings?   

Youd need to jack it up and grab top/bottom or left/right to check.  

I bet the bearings were bad, and one let go   After you replaced both sides, they loosened up and the other side let go  

I think I would unlock each side’s nut and re tighten/loosen after driving a little.  Maybe even more often.  

spitfirebill said:

I know people that repack their bearings every year.  I never have. 

I would find Timken bearings to put in and soldier on.  If the groove in the spindle is bad enough, you may need to replace the axle.   

I put Bearing Buddies on my car hauler. Every year I pump some fresh grease into them until it starts coming out the little hole, and I'm good to go for another year. A lot easier than pulling the hub and manually repacking the grease every year.

You sure you're not tighting the bearings too much? It's a fine line.

As far as checking for issues, jack up the trailer and check for play in the wheel.

I have a 6X12 as well and keep my speed under 65mph. Not saying the speed is doing it but I can't imagine those bearings are designed to spin that fast over extended periods of time.

Also don't underestimate the quality of cheap replacement parts. They're cheap for a reason. Maybe it's just crappy quality that got ya.

Just came here to say glad you were at least prepared!  Ran into some nice folks on I-80 at a truck stop the other day that were not prepared.  I had tools, they had no bearing.  I suggest everyone with a trailer keep a set of wheel bearings and if dual axle, a short ratchet strap, in the trailer.  

Agree with the Timken and the preload.  Remember to set them a little loose when cold, they will tighten up as they heat up.  Since you replaced the hub, I am guessing the races are OK.  

I found this:  http://www.dtcomponents.com/files/files/10410manualpresetwheelbearingadjustmentproceduressheet.pdf

jharry3 said:

I found this:  http://www.dtcomponents.com/files/files/10410manualpresetwheelbearingadjustmentproceduressheet.pdf

That's good info, but I'm pretty sure it's for big trucks. 

93gsxturbo said:

Just came here to say glad you were at least prepared!  Ran into some nice folks on I-80 at a truck stop the other day that were not prepared.  I had tools, they had no bearing.  I suggest everyone with a trailer keep a set of wheel bearings and if dual axle, a short ratchet strap, in the trailer.  

 

Agree with the Timken and the preload.  Remember to set them a little loose when cold, they will tighten up as they heat up.  Since you replaced the hub, I am guessing the races are OK.  

Yeah, I was prepared with tools in my motorcycle bag. I had 8 , 10 & 12 mm sockets and wrenches. I lucked out that the store was so close by had parts I needed and I had to buy a big crescent wrench, bearing puller, hammer and some files. I also lucked out that a work truck parked next to me and when the owner came back, I was able to borrow a 1 3/4” socket and wrench. 

Did you clean out the bearings thoroughly before packing them with fresh grease?  There could have been some swarf in them.

Pete nailed it. 

If towing, I make a stop 30 minutes in to check straps for tightness, and tires and hubs for temperature. I make another stop at the 2 hour point if I'm towing a long distance. 

All 5 of my trailers run with the bearings at just above ambient temp, any variation means I'm pulling that hub down to check it. The last bearing I had fail, was due to a enormous pothole. I caught it on the next trip because it was running warmer than the other three. Not much, but just enough to let me know there was a problem. 

My dad was a believer in ‘feeling them’ at every stop.  On the way to my sister’s in Louisiana for Thanksgiving, we stopped at a rest area and he announces that we have a problem.  One of them on our single axle trailer is really hot.  We have a minimum of tools.  We let it cool a bit and then start looking for a truck stop or a place with a garage.  But then a stroke of luck.  We hit rain.  Not just a shower but a serious front.  Weatherman says it’s all over the Gulf for the next several hours.  Dad says to pull over and hops out to check it again.  It’s still very warm but not scalding hot.  He says keep going.  Rain is your friend.  Water cooled baby.  Drove that sucker 430 more miles to my sister’s.  The rain drops were hissing on it when we rolled in.

Most of my trailers use a spare hub with new bearings as the spare tire holder, mounted on a spare axle stub or big bolt.  It's cheap insurance. 

I also touch the hubs at the first stop and every gas stop while I am towing. You can usually tell when something is going wrong by temp far enough in advance to get somewhere to get it fixed. 

This is the first time I've heard of feeling the hubs.  I shall incorporate that into my routine.  

My problem is that we tow it 2 hours away and we usually don’t stop. Plus with the strapless stands, there isn't a need to stop and check on the bikes or tighten tie downs. 

I will jack the thing up and check the wiggle of the tire ever now and then and feel the hubs in the future when we stop.

i think that the cheap bearing kits I bought at the tractor store were probably part of the reason. I don’t think I paid more then $20 a wheel with all bearings, seals, lock washer and nut.