trailer bearings popping out of the hubs

simonfraser

simonfraser

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i have a yard trailer, twin wheels either side. goes all of 200 meters from hard to parking.
two fairly sharp turns during each run, i left the tires quite deflated, brain not engaged and one of the wheels popped off.
there is a chunky circlip at one end of the bearing and obviously a big nut at the other end.

the yard mechanics have had a look and fixed the bearing in place with loctite, see below, which seem to make sense to my non engineering brain.
this is the gist of their comments:

'The hubs have over time become oversize for the bearing due to the excessive forces on them during cornering (due to the overloading of the trailer) and due to the fact the bearings have been removed and fitted multiple times. These should be an interference fit requiring hub to be heated and then having the bearing pressed in. Today the interference fit is not sufficient to guarantee that there will not be a recurrent fault. To help overcome this, we have used a Loctite 648 retaining compound on the bearings in an attempt to retain them in the hub such that they do not force the circlip out.'

so, i could just see how it goes, (this is the first time this has happened with a poorly inflated wheel)
or get new hubs ?

the trailer is never going to be used on the road, so no high speeds, 'just' cornering ...

i dont quite understand how the wheel can pop off if the castellated nut is still fixed on ?

what do you guys recon ?
 
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Nor I. Something is lost in the telling. However thats completely irrelevant. What is, is the potential for you to do serious damage to your boat. As for Locktite, its good, but no way in hell that good. Ask them to stick a plaster on too. Belt and braces. Me, Id replace the hubs
 
Utter nonesense advice from the guys telling you that.
I’ve yet to meet anyone who has ever felt the notion to remove a bearing and then put it back on. Usually if a bearing isn’t jiggered before they are removed...it most likely will be after it. You’d never re use a bearing of that type.
It’s likely the bearing races have disintegrated and it’s gotten that bad there is little of anything left to retain it on the hub. Likely only the inner race outer shell left on the tapered hub.
I’ve also never heard of the notion that the hub shaft has become over sized, haha. Generally the size of the hub shaft remains a constant...haha. It’s jusy that the bearing has mangled itself and separated.
Get the numbers off the thing and just order new ones.

Presuming it’s not the “sealed for life” (that aren’t really) alko type hubs ? They are a little more involved
Good luck.
 
Are the front wheels articulated in some way , or are you dragging the trailer round a corner by main force ?

I'd be inclined to cut the stub axles off and replace with new ones with a thread and nut on the outer part, so that you can be sure of reliability, and standard easily bought replacement bearings.

Do you chock the trailer up ov er winter with the boat on it ? That takes the load off the tyres and bearings. A bearing with rings softer than the balls can form runnels with wind-caused vibration on the boat, and the rings and shoulder can distort.
 
simonfraser said:
'The hubs have over time become oversize for the bearing due to the excessive forces on them during cornering (due to the overloading of the trailer) and due to the fact the bearings have been removed and fitted multiple times.
Click to expand...

this is completely correct, we had exactly the same with our trailer after multiple replacement of the bearings in the hubs,
we nearly loast a wheel on the motorway, and after refitting everything in place (including the metal clips) the hub came nearly off the again when manouvring from the parking lot (strong sideway forces on the wheel)

using loctide is a very unpredictable solution, so imho unreliable solution,
we replaced the hubs with new, including new bearings fitted from the factory..
ours were KNOTT,
the parts are not expensive, and available online
this is in Holland, but you mightb have similar in UK,

https://www.aanhangwagendirect.nl/remtoebehoren/remtrommels/knott-remtrommels/
they have KNOTT, ALKO and BPW,

this advice came after contacting the manufacturer,
Harbeck, a reputated german trailer maker. !
our trailer is a twin axel, 3500kg max weight, bought new in 2008,
we used to use the trailer a lot, travelled all over europe, with our twin diesel 28ft boat !
I still have the trailer and boat, and replace the hubs & bearings every two year,
 
Set of wheels either side, 5cm space between them. So yes, torque on that lot for sure.

So it is just the circlip holding the hub / bearing on ?!
That makes not sense to me, yet.
The studs keep the wheel on the hub.
What does the castellated nut do then ?

How important is the tight fitting of the bearing in the hub for yard work ?
 
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simonfraser said:
So it is just the circlip holding the hub / bearing on ?!

How important is the tight fitting of the bearing in the hub for yard work ?
Click to expand...

this was exactly our question at that time,
it turns out that the clips are there just for security on the road, but they didn't hold the bearing in place during manouvring
the main force for holding the bearing in place is by the tight fitting.

In your case, if you replace the hub& bearings, you can use them in the yard for many ears,
even if there is a lot of corrosion inside,
at least they stick on the shafts

or you could try to "weld " the old bearings in the hub
 
BartW said:
this was exactly our question at that time,
it turns out that the clips are there just for security on the road, but they didn't hold the bearing in place during manouvring
the main force for holding the bearing in place is by the tight fitting.

In your case, if you replace the hub& bearings, you can use them in the yard for many ears,
even if there is a lot of corrosion inside,
at least they stick on the shafts

or you could try to "weld " the old bearings in the hub
Click to expand...

K, so if the bearing is not a tight fit in the hub, it slides out and the wheel comes off. Understand that now.
But, why ??
Why does the castle nut not keep the wheel on ??

And the inner part of the bearing is loose on the shaft anyway, so what difference does a tight outer fit make ??
 
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That is pretty scary about hubs sliding off the bearing. I had noticed on mine that it looked like only bearing to hub friction backed by a circlip holding it on though there has always been a gap between circlip and bearing on mine prior to removal so far.
Had a bearing seize on the stub axle recently. Used a puller to remove it. The bearing broke apart rather than pull past the circlip so that made me feel a bit better about it staying on in normal use!!!!
 
simonfraser said:
K, so if the bearing is not a tight fit in the hub, it slides out and the wheel comes off. Understand that now.
But, why ??
Why does the castle nut not keep the wheel on ??

And the inner part of the bearing is loose on the shaft anyway, so what difference does a tight outer fit make ??
Click to expand...

The nut prevents the inner part from the bearing to schift from the shaft.
the hub is held on the outer part of the bearing by tight fit, and the clips ring is there as a safety
 
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