Boat Trailer Maintenance?

Kelney

Well Known Member
Last month my trailer was sounding a little crusty while rolling. A guy visiting the storage facility heard it and thought it was my bearings as I can't hear squat. It may be my brake drums but I really don't know. Is there anyone that does trailer bearings/brake maintenance in RP? I thought about asking the guys at Safe Marine but I got distracted. I was extraordinary anal with trailer maintenance when I stored it up here but having it down there I have not given it much thought with it traveling only a mile and a half to the harbor.
 

YumaJames

Well Known Member
Kelney, about two months ago I was pulling my boat down from Yuma and my entire hydraulic/surge brake drum assembly/rim/wheel came off one of the wheels on my boat trailer (I assume I blew a bearing which must of then put pressure on the retaining nut/cotter pin), so I had to limp into Rocky Point/Safe Marina on 3 wheels instead of four. I'm anal with maintenance too and regrease my bearings after each use. Even tough I had a spare/jack/tools there was nothing to attach it to, since all that was left was basically a bare axle. While we went fishing the next few days the guys at Safe Marina contacted someone local and he installed a temporary rim (but without a brake) so at least I could put my spare on. Contact Miguel at Safe Marina, he can hook you up with someone local if you'd like, in fact I think the guys at Safe Marina can do it themselves, they're real good and reasonably priced at stuff like that. In the meantime I ordered a new hydraulic/surge assembly for my trailer and installed it myself a couple weeks ago, I keep my boat stored at Whale Hill now. I have to go back shortly and manually repack my other bearings, even though I have Brake Buddies I still want to inspect/repack each wheel manually so if you don't wanna use Safe Harbor I can do yours someday, no charge, we'd just have to figure out a time to meet. It's really no problem and doesn't take long, I have all the jacks/tools. I try to make it down to Rocky Point once a month.

I don't know how old your trailer is but you can buy new pre-packed bearing kits for real cheap, they include inner and outer bearings and seals. Lots of places online like westmarine.com sell em, you just have to know what size your drums are, if you take your tire/rim off there's usually a number stamped on your drum and if you google that number you can determine what size it is (ex 10 inch, 3500 lbs).

James
 
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Landshark

Well Known Member
I prefer trailer axles that are drilled through the center of the spindle with zerk fittings threaded in the end of the spindle. They are cross drilled just inside of the inner bearing creating a passageway for grease. When grease is pumped through the zerk fitting it travels through the spindle and comes out between the inner bearing and inner seal. It is forced through the inner bearing, fills the open space in the hub, is forced through the outer bearing, and spills out past the outer washer and nut. Wipe off the excess and your inner and outer bearings are fully greased and you are ready to go. To replace your wheel bearing grease follow the same procedure. The old grease will be forced out by new grease going in, continue until new grease spills out and you have flushed/replaced your wheel bearing grease. With boat trailers a high quality marine wheel bearing grease should be used.
 

Kelney

Well Known Member
Thanks for the info. I'll get more info on my trailer next time I am down and get the parts up here. I will be down in June for a week and I may the have the parts installed at that time or do it myself if I have nothing better to do if the wind is up. I just hate working on my boat/trailer when I am down there as I view my time as being on vacation. However we all know having a boat involves having maintenance. I see some of the poorest excuses for trailers down there hauling pangas around and I cant believe they could go a mile without a wheel coming loose and going down the road.
 

YumaJames

Well Known Member
Kelney, forgot to mention it on my last post, but freedomaxle.com is a great website because if you can locate the stamped numbers on your brake drums your can cross reference them on this website and find the exact replacement bearings you need. Easternmarine.com and etrailer.com are a couple more websites that stock replacement bearing kits. Keep in touch, if I'm around in June in Rocky Point at the same time can give you a hand. Or if you prefer am sure the guys at Safe Marina will do it while you're out fishing. They've helped me out a couple times with maintenance stuff on my boat and trailer and have always been great.
 
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moore_rb

Stay Thirsty My Friends
The trailer under my Mako came with oil-bath hubs. At the time, I had no experience with them, so I started reading. People either love them or hate them, but after 6 years towing back and forth to RP (at least 50 trips now, including 5 or 6 up and down the hell-road to Lobos) they are still doing great... and I'm not exactly known to be easy on the throttle on the highway, even when there's an 8000lb boat behind me...

The hubs have clear windows, so I can see the oil level at a glance, and I can tell if water gets in them because the oil gets cloudy.

As far as maintenance goes: I change the gear oil, and re-adjust the bearing pre-load once per year ( takes 15 minutes per wheel)... Compared to the disgusting task of cleaning and re-packing greasable bearings, maintenance is a CHARM- I don't even have to take the tires and wheels off to do the hub maintenance.

So yeah, put me down in the "I love oil bath hubs" category.
 
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