trailer question

[Quarry Man]

finally fixed up my 14'er for electric only lakes. As for the trailer, its a 1973 sea lion, has been sitting in my yard for two years, and before that at least a few. It came with new tires, but it is super rusty. I took it to the lake today, spent  decent amount of time on the road, nothing broke. I am worried that the bearings will give when I drive the boat up to my lake house tomorrow. any idea how to check or repair them. I may not be mechanically inclined, but I am determined to learn so shoot.

[Jig Man]

First thing I would do is jack up a wheel and give it a spin.  If it spins freely and quietly move to the other one.  If both are quite I would not worry.  If there is any noise either replace the bearings or hire someone to do it.  You can find videos on how to do it.  If you have to replace then do both sides with bearings and races.

[MickD]

Watch for looseness or "play" as you rotate the wheels, too.  Pull on one side of the wheel while pushing on the other to see if it moves significantly.  There should be very little play.  When rotating you should feel NO roughness.  It should feel absolutely smooth. If you feel a roughness it means the bearings are spalled, a cratering of the races that is often how bearings fail.  If there are grease fittings give them a shot of grease.  If not you can pry off the covers to see if there is grease in there.  Jig man has it right; I thought a little more description would help.

[DanielG]

Unlike auto bearings of old, the bearings won't freeze and sheer the hub off usually. That is if they are at least in decent shape. Like others said, if they don't have a whole lot of play, and they don't grind when you turn them, and they have plenty of grease, the most they might do is get very noisy over time and let you know they need replacing. Even if one did lock up it would just skid the tire and you'd really notice it. It's not like a car with torque and weight on it.

 

If you're questioning it though, again like someone said, replace the bearings and seals yourself or at the tire shop and be done having to think about it. It's not a horribly expensive item and if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.

 

Good luck with this.....

[Bassin_0502]

Before leaving for your long ride, consider driving around town for 15-20 minutes. Once home, feel each hub and see if they got very hot. If they feel ok, you're probably good to go. If they burn your hand off, replace/repack before you leave for the lake.

[VolFan]

If its been sitting in your yard or around for five years, you're going to want to replace the tires. If you're going to do that and you're not sure about the bearings, I would replace both hubs and wheels. If yoy size it, you can get complete sets from Northern Tool or Napa. Not terribly expensive or hard to do and you'll have much better piece of mind 

[WRB]

Does the old trailer wheels have Bearing Buddy hubs? If it does re lubing the bearing is easy. If it doesn't you should get a set. Small wheel trailers it's better to purchase the tire on the rim as a set. The tire should have a date code embossed into the rubber, 10 years is the max tire life.

Repacking wheel bearings is messy but not difficult, look at tube video. Since boat trailers get the tire submersed in water use marine grade grease. 

I would also check the electrical wiring as rats like to eat the insulation. The metal rust is another issue. Take a hammer and hit the rust areas to make sure the metal is solid.

Tom

[Catt]

All that's fine & dandy but my question is what size tires are on the trailer?

 

8", 10", & 12" trailer tire rotate fast at highway speeds increasing temperatures of the bearings melting grease. It also increases tire pressures which can cause failure.

 

[Quarry Man]

On 5/13/2020 at 7:13 AM, Catt said:

All that's fine & dandy but my question is what size tires are on the trailer?

 

8", 10", & 12" trailer tire rotate fast at highway speeds increasing temperatures of the bearings melting grease. It also increases tire pressures which can cause failure.

 

12" I believe. I took trailer tire size into consideration when buying my last boat due to the rotation factor. I can totally see why this is even more important now. Great point.

 

edit: I took the boat to a new lake about 40 min away all highway. Tested it up to 90 mph and no issues, didn't remember to feel for heat though. dad is pulling it took the lake tomorrow. I will see him when he gets here.