Trailer wheel bearings

[pcatterall]

Considering buying a trailer sailer from 'up in Scotland'.
The owner says the trailer needs some attention, mainly ( Suprise!!) the wheel bearings.
He will try to get some lined up but doesn't know how to size them. Neither do I !!
What do we have to do? will he need to remove the old ones to get the size?

I am a bit reluctant to say what make of yacht this is but ask.......is the Newbridge Voyager a 'caravan'?
Thanks

 

[Ubergeekian]

Considering buying a trailer sailer from 'up in Scotland'.
The owner says the trailer needs some attention, mainly ( Suprise!!) the wheel bearings.
He will try to get some lined up but doesn't know how to size them. Neither do I !!
What do we have to do? will he need to remove the old ones to get the size?

They are likely to be a standard size. If the trailer suspension units are from a well known manufacturer, like Indespension, identifying the bearings will be easy. In case of doubt, the ID is usually on the outer race, so get a pair of old bearings out and go to any bearing supplier (google or yell) to get an equivalent replacement. Actually measuring them is a last resort and is very unlikely to be needed.

I am a bit reluctant to say what make of yacht this is but ask.......is the Newbridge Voyager a 'caravan'?
Thanks

Bit chubby, but as far as I am aware they sail OK.

 

[pcatterall]

Thanks for that. I am trying to do this remotely ( as I would only want to travel up there once!) and don't think the seller understands how to get at the bearings. I will ask him if he can ID the suspension maker and start from there.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Thanks for that. I am trying to do this remotely ( as I would only want to travel up there once!) and don't think the seller understands how to get at the bearings. I will ask him if he can ID the suspension maker and start from there.

You get at the wheel bearings by removing the hub cab (that's the little metal cover on the end of the hub, not the nave plate, fellow pedants) then removing a split pin, undoing a castellated nut and pulling the hub off. Sometimes you have to remove the brake drum first but on many trailers it's part of the hub.

Once the hubs off the inner and outer races can be removed with a drift through the middle (take the small outer race out first, then the larger inner). That's where the bearing IDs are normally found.

It's not absolutely necessary to replace bearings - if they are in good nick a repack with fresh grease should be enough. My rule is that if there is any visible damage or corrosion to races or rollers, the whole bearing should be replaced - it's simply not worth the risk, bearings are cheap and once you have the hub off you have done 80% of the job anyway.

 

[Keith 66]

Its worth bearing in mind (no pun intended) that the cost of bearings is likely to be as much if not more than the cost of a complete new hub unit complete with new bearings, seals studs & wheel nuts. It realy isnt worth the poncing around trying to get the old ones out & getting covered in rusty grease!

 

[VicS]

Most bearings can be obtained relatively cheaply from a local bearing stockist or from one of the internet suppliers. But that is not always so. My trailer has Indespension suspension units fitted with old Mini rear wheel hubs. The bearings might not have been expensive when the old Minis were in production but now they are priced in gold bars! **

It really is necessary to wash out all the old grease to assess their condition.

Replace the seals at the same time as the bearings

Its probably worth paying more for good quality bearings from Timken or SKF rather than getting cheap oriental substitutes.

Don't over pack the new bearings with grease.

** fortunately I have discovered that I can fit Mini Cooper bearings which are cheaper and better!!

 

[BAtoo]

""Most bearings can be obtained relatively cheaply from a local bearing stockist""

Just paid £14 for a single tapered roller bearing for a pretty small wheel. So that's £112 for a set of 8 for a 4-wheeler.

 

[VicS]

Not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing
Your bearings were only £14 each. You were lucky. Thats peanuts compared to what i had to pay for the angular contact ballraces for my trailer.

luckily the tapered roller bearings for Min Coopers are £18 per wheel kit incl seal

(Thanks to Lakesailor for pointing me at those)

 

[dunedin]

It is a standard job and should be easy to get a motor or marine engineer to do it IF it is easy to jack up the trailer to get the wheels off (ie not in mud with boat on trailer)

I would never consider towing any long distance without renewing the wheel bearings so I know their history. Five miles from garage to water very slowly might take a risk, but not a distance at speed.

(have done circa 40-50,000 miles with somewhat lighter boat trailers)

 

[Ubergeekian]

Its worth bearing in mind (no pun intended) that the cost of bearings is likely to be as much if not more than the cost of a complete new hub unit complete with new bearings, seals studs & wheel nuts. It realy isnt worth the poncing around trying to get the old ones out & getting covered in rusty grease!

That's an excellent point. Braked hubs - with integral drum - are a bit more expensive, but if it saves a nasty job ...

Most bearings can be obtained relatively cheaply from a local bearing stockist or from one of the internet suppliers. But that is not always so. My trailer has Indespension suspension units fitted with old Mini rear wheel hubs. The bearings might not have been expensive when the old Minis were in production but now they are priced in gold bars! **

Duly passed on to a friend grappling with this problem!

Its probably worth paying more for good quality bearings from Timken or SKF rather than getting cheap oriental substitutes.

Very good point.

 

[aquaplane]

If you want to trail sail, you need to know how to change wheel bearings, and tighten them up enough but not too much.

It is an easy job and Ubergeekian gave good instructions.

I took mine out of the trailor and took them to a local bloke who I found in the yellow pages or on google or somat. He got some numbers off them and measured them with a caliper gague to make suer they were right. I suspect that they were cheapos 'coz they were £30 for 4 bearings (one axle). They lasted about 1000 miles and I always carried 2 spare sets and had means to change them at the road/motorway side, because I had to twice.

The most important thing is to make sure the trailer is man enough for the boat, I suspect mine wasn't but it came with it. If the trailer isn't overloaded there is much more chance of the running gear lasting.

 

[Ubergeekian]

The most important thing is to make sure the trailer is man enough for the boat, I suspect mine wasn't but it came with it. If the trailer isn't overloaded there is much more chance of the running gear lasting.

Absolutely. I suspect that some trailer manufacturers are a bit optimistic with their capacity figures. Or perhaps they assume that a "1 ton" trailer will only weigh 1 ton for a small proportion of the time. That's probably the case for quite a lot of general purpose trailers, but not for a boat trailer which, if it's loaded, is fully loaded.

I had the pleasure of seeing a trailer wheel overtake me on the A34 once. The trailer was unrepairable, so I had to make a replacement. Which, after the collapse of the first, is massively over-engineered: a 500kg Hunter 490 sits on an extended trailer originally designed to carry 10 or 12 full size gas bottles for meteorological balloons.

 

[William_H]

Trailer bearings

I suspect you will need to get to the boat and assess the situation. You can usually check trailer bearing by jacking the trailer and rotating the wheel by hand. If they won't turn or give horrible grating sounds you need to fix it. A bit of rumbling might be OK. If you decide then to tow it all to a mechanic or source of spares then do so slowly and check the temp of the hub after a few miles.
My Dad many years ago set off towing a caravan that had been stationary for many years. 100Km down the road the bearing got so hot it melted the axle the wheel few off into the bush and started a small fire.

Bearing used mostly in Oz are from front wheel hubs large rear wheel drive cars. This type use two taper roller bearings and as said you undo the nut and pull the hub. The smaller rollers in a cage come off the outside and the larger comes off the inside of the removed hub. The shell that the rollers run in are pressed into the hub. You need a large hammer and drift to remove them for replacement. However if the shell looks OK you can just replace the rollers and inner bearing surface. This can be very quick and easy. These new bearing s are less than 10squid even at a chandlers. I can dismantle clean and refit in less than 5 mins.

I am aware however that some proprietry trailer bearings in UK are very different.

I only tow my boat a short distance. The bearings are probably pretty rough they rumble a fair bit. I do dismantle and regrease check them before or better after each dunking. It is the long term neglect that lets the rust make a mess of the bearings. On a car this type will last for many years. My car after 12yrs and 150 thousand K have not been looked at. (but dunk em in alt water is a different matter) good luck olewil

 

[Appleyard]

Considering buying a trailer sailer from 'up in Scotland'.
The owner says the trailer needs some attention, mainly ( Suprise!!) the wheel bearings.
He will try to get some lined up but doesn't know how to size them. Neither do I !!
What do we have to do? will he need to remove the old ones to get the size?

I am a bit reluctant to say what make of yacht this is but ask.......is the Newbridge Voyager a 'caravan'?
Thanks

Why not tell us where the boat & trailer are located? Surely somebody up here will live near enough to be able to have a look at it & see what's required.The tyres will need to be in good nick as well if you are planning to trail it any distance so should be checked.

 

[bammylovechops]

Had a similar situation as previous threads suggest either
1/ Get a local mechanic to have a look

2/ Try Bearing Sevices Ltd (BSL) via Yell.com on internet to find local stockist, I have used them and found there service excellent, may be a supplier near your trailer in which case you could source them on the day of collecting your trailer and take the actual bearing with you for them to size up.

3/ Ensure your breakdown package for your vehicle is upto scratch as they may recover your trailer from its broken down location to your home address.

 

[pcatterall]

Many thanks for all the info.
I guess that it is aquestion of going up in my camper van with all tools and being prepared to spend a couple of days there.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Many thanks for all the info.
I guess that it is aquestion of going up in my camper van with all tools and being prepared to spend a couple of days there.

Yes. It may be a pain, but trust me, being stuck roadside with a broken stub axle is a Whole. Lot. Worse.

Before you head off, find out who the nearest trailer and bearing suppliers are, and their opening hours. A pal of mine recently bought a Cornish Crabber in Caernarfon - the trailer turned out to need a new bearing but there was no nearby supplier open over the weekend when he collected it. Which was a nusisance.

That said, the state of the trailer really ought to be the vendor's responsibility.

 

[Ubergeekian]

I am a bit reluctant to say what make of yacht this is but ask.......is the Newbridge Voyager a 'caravan'?

I was browsing through old magazines in the club today and found a Sailing Today (November 1999) with a half page review of the Virgo Voyager. If you want to see it, PM me an email address and I'll send you a scan.

 

[Lakesailor]

Sound advice here. I would be surprised if the bearings were "standard size" though.
It's only more recently that trailer bearings have become more standardised. Even then the difference between 25mm and 1" stub axles needs a good caliper to measure.
As Vic says lots of older trailers with brakes used BMC assemblies and good old BMC fitted all sorts of different bearings to their early fwd cars.
I bought a boat that turned out to have Austin 1100 rear hubs. Very nearly impossible to source these days. Luckily it's pretty easy to drift bearings out of hubs and a good local bearing factor should be able to measure and match your samples.
I've collected loads of old trailers with boats and cars on and I always take a trolley jack, axle stands and the tools I'll need to replace bearings.
Never trust a vendor, he may be a rogue, or just have different standards to you. Always quiz them about tyre condition, especially sidewall cracks and blebs.
Always stop after 5 or 10 miles to check the hubs for heat or wobble before continuing your journey (or before going onto a Motorway).

 

[TheBoatman]

Its probably worth paying more for good quality bearings from Timken or SKF rather than getting cheap oriental substitutes.

This is very true!

Don't buy secondhand subs ~ buy Timkens or SKF's.

Peter.