Boat trailer wheel bearing maintenance

[LandyAndy]

Hi Guys
I will FINALY be putting my new toy in the ocean in a few weeks:cool::cool::cool::cool:
Today I decided to remove the hubs to check the wheel bearings.
Once jacked it was evident they needed adjusting.
I removed the bearing buddies to get at the nut.NOT GOOD.

Outside of bearing buddie,all looks well,note the nice colour of the grease.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/08/207.jpg

What I found inside.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/08/208.jpg

Bearings are shot.They are worn,falling apart and rusty.The inner seals on both hubs had failed.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/08/209.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/08/210.jpg

I doubt they would have made the upcoming trip to Albany.Make sure you guys spend a day doing maintence of your trailers before summer is here.
Andrew

[Chenz]

Could not agree more. After being stuck on a ramp at Jervis bay with a collapsed bearing on my boat trailer I now religiously change the bearings and seals every year before going away and top up and check the grease in between this.

I have tried many differnet seals and they all leak after some time so the way to go is change them regularly and have no problems

[Barra1]

Totally agree with changing the bearings on a regular basis. A mate used to use Durahubs and he is always "at me" to put them on the boat-trailer.

However, after seeing the consequences of the Durahub oil-reservoir falling off I am not brave enough to give them a go.:eek:

It just seems simpler, but more labour intensive, to replace the bearings each year.;)

I'd like to hear what you blokes have to say about the Durahubs though.

[isuzurover]

When I get my boat over here I will be building an offroad boat trailer. I plan to use landy hubs for the rear axle, and have the axle partially filled with oil - as per oiled landie hubs.

[Barra1]

When I get my boat over here I will be building an offroad boat trailer. I plan to use landy hubs for the rear axle, and have the axle partially filled with oil - as per oiled landie hubs.

Do it once and do it properly. Landy hubs and axle certainly sounds the go.:)

[isuzurover]

Do it once and do it properly....

That is the plan!

[weeds]

When I get my boat over here I will be building an offroad boat trailer. I plan to use landy hubs for the rear axle, and have the axle partially filled with oil - as per oiled landie hubs.

are you using a landie housing?

good idea and cheap if you have a housing laying around, i thought about this option for my trailer but went with 50mm x 50mm solid square axle with a pair of flanges welded on the end to suit defender stubs.....

[isuzurover]

are you using a landie housing?

good idea and cheap if you have a housing laying around, i thought about this option for my trailer but went with 50mm x 50mm solid square axle with a pair of flanges welded on the end to suit defender stubs.....

I will probably use hollow bar, about the same diameter as a landy axle (~80mm). Some states don't allow car axles to be used as trailer axles (strange, but them's the rules...).

Weight for weight (and the same material), hollow bar is stronger than solid (As you need a bigger outer diameter to get the same weight).

[roverrescue]

Ben,
your ideas are perfect! Hollow sections make great axles.

& when it comes time to set up the semi oiled hubs.

-Grab an old pair of landie drive flanges - dead ones are fine.
-Chuck then up on the lathe and broach the splines out with a boring bar.
-Then buy a pair of NB32 (from memory-may be NB40) pipe caps and weld them over the lip for the plastic/rubber cap.
-You can then drill and tap the pipe cap for a fill hole. Offset it so you can half fill the hub and stub. I fully grease the bearing and then fill the hub with heavy weight oil (LSD 140 - double lip hub seals of course).

So you now have bearings that will last for ever even when immersed

& importantly

If you ever blow a diff or CV on the County. Pull the appropriate drive shaft and swap driven flanges for trailer flanges. The broached out trailer flanges wont drive the broken bits. Heaps quicker and cleaner to swap flanges and get moving again than pull out broken bits when your in the scrub... fix the broken bits at camp around a beer once you have parts available.

But I guess more importantly Murphy would say that by carrying a set of broached drive flanges will mean you will never need them ;) Its worked for me for 8 years or so!!!!

Steve

[LandyAndy]

I finished the job today.
New Japanese bearings and upgraded inner seals.
I also had to overhaul the overide disc brakes,the slides and pivots were siezed and the cable was rusty and rotten.
All is good now,ready for the first fishing trip in Albany in a couple of weeks:cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:
Andrew

[UNDEROVER]

On my last boat trailer, I went to the expense of buying solid stainless bar, cut it to length and had the ends machined and threaded to the match the old one. (I had a friend in the business!)

Never had a failed bearing after that.

Pitting on the axle due to rust is a sure fire way to allow water in and the hubs I had at the time had the seal running on the axle, rather than fixed on the axle and running inside a stainless sleeve like I have now.

At the end of the day though, there is no substitute for regular maintenance. Once a year, I go from one end of the whole rig to the other.

[Bundalene]

We modified our Dunbier Boat trailer and installed the rear end of a Series 1 Disco under it. Also standard Defender / Series1 Disco wheel bearings. (a smallish boat – 4m Hornet )



http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/2707/dscn0325a.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/832/dscn0325a.jpg/)



The boat gets a way smoother ride than the Defender or the D2 we towed it behind previously.



http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6118/dscn0327iq.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/dscn0327iq.jpg/)





http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2749/dscn9619w.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/dscn9619w.jpg/)








We have towed this well over 100,000kms and in that time damaged the guards (on trees mainly) and broke a shocky (extremely rough road)


http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/4797/dscn9620.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/dscn9620.jpg/)


The Pintel hook allows for heaps of articulation.

Erich

[slug_burner]

Erich,

Does your trailer have brakes?

[Bundalene]

Erich,

Does your trailer have brakes?

No, I didn't install brakes, the mechanic who did my blue slip said there was no need.

Erich

[LandyAndy]

Thats a neat setup Erich.
I bet Ben is quite interested in it.
Mine needs brakes,substantially heavier boat.
2 more sleeps till I head to Albany for the maiden voyage.Taking Bblaze out for a fish and some boating lessons:cool::cool::cool:.Weather forecast isnt the best so wont be straying too far off shore.
Andrew

[UNDEROVER]

Great mod Erich.

The cogs have been turning in my head for a while trying to figure out the best way to convert a boat trailer to coils.

My current trailer sports XC Falcon rear leaf springs and shocks which is a whole lot better than the standard fare you get, but not quite as good as the coil set up in my opinion. (rust between the leaves is a major maintenance issue for me)

I have seen advertised in caravan/camper mags a company that has trailer components for sale, and they have a coil/trailing arm set up designed for campers which I think could be easily adapted to a boat trailer.
Cost wise though, maybe not so cheap.

Will be looking into it in more depth hopefully next year if I get to upgrade my existing tinny.

[BigJon]

You could get the rear suspension from a Subaru Brumby or 1800 wagon. They run torsion bars on trailing arms and it would be pretty easy to adapt to a trailer. The main consideration would be track width as they are quite narrow. It is easy to convert them to Toyota 6 stud wheels as the PCD is the same, just the number of studs is different.

[roverrescue]

Underover,
Have a look in the trailers section, i have posted up a few pics of the coil sprung 4 link i put under a trailer for a 435 hornet with 60 yam 4st.
TRAILER has performed admirably over several cape trips.

Have recently rebuilt a factory trailer using 78 series rear leafs withthe lower two leaves removed. A pair of cruiser dampers and to honest the long long leaves ride as smooth as the coils? But if I was building from scratch coils all the way.

Steve

[UNDEROVER]

Apologies for going a little bit astray from the subject - but how are you guys bracing your outboards that stay mounted on the transom whilst towing?

I ended up welding up a frame that has two legs, one coming from either corner at the back of the trailer that are bolted in place with nylocs, and they meet at the leg of the outboard where a 50mm x 4mm flat bar has been folded to suit the shape of the leg and is in two pieces.

These two bits form a collar that gets bolted around the leg (conveyor belt rubber sandwiched in between) and the motor is held fairly solid with little to no sideways movement, or up and down for that matter. Overall a good result, but time consuming when going for a fish.

I do throw in the standard motor support for when camped up for a bit and are doing multiple trips over a period of time.

Cheers, Matt.

[LandyAndy]

Mine came with a peice of marine ply,you simply use the down force of the tilt to make the outboard "bite" it between the outboard and mount.Previous owner swears by it.
Im new to this boat game,just because I was told its good doesnt mean its good.
Several people have noticed it and said its a good idea.
Andrew

[roverrescue]

Similar to andy.
You want the leg as close to the transom as possible within limits of departure angle. if a heavy leg is trimmed out on rough roads the transom will get hammered.
A block of 4x2 between transom mount and motor bracket compressed by hydraulics and also strapped in place is a good start. Secure leg to one side and remove prop off.use a roll of industrial cling wrap to seal up intakes from dust ingress and call it done.

If you attach leg to trailer ensure there is never any movement between boat and trailer or you risk flogging the motor pivot tilt tube to death. Probably okay on smaller 30ish hp / sub 50kg donks.

[UNDEROVER]

Similar to andy.
You want the leg as close to the transom as possible within limits of departure angle. if a heavy leg is trimmed out on rough roads the transom will get hammered.
A block of 4x2 between transom mount and motor bracket compressed by hydraulics and also strapped in place is a good start. Secure leg to one side and remove prop off.use a roll of industrial cling wrap to seal up intakes from dust ingress and call it done.

If you attach leg to trailer ensure there is never any movement between boat and trailer or you risk flogging the motor pivot tilt tube to death. Probably okay on smaller 30ish hp / sub 50kg donks.


Thanks Steve.

I like the idea of the cling wrap around the intake areas. I tried (in vain) to make a canvas engine bag that would keep out the dust and all I succeeded in doing was wasting some good canvas I could have used for other things.
I have a 50 tiller steer on my tinny, and the bracket I mentioned previously has it sitting at about 3/4 of it's tilt range to keep the leg clear of the ground. All I have is a gas assisted tilt system, so I can't rely on the hydraulics to hold it steady.
The boat itself is held tight to the trailer by way of some aircraft cargo straps front and rear, which once tightened correctly, don't allow any movement at all.
My idea was to have the boat, motor and trailer that well tied down it became one unit.
It is starting to get a bit sloppy now on the pivot tube, but after 10 years, and god knows how many km's of highway, dirt and offroad (I wore out a new set of tyres on this trailer a couple of years ago) I guess I have no complaints.

Have you got a picture of that ply support you were talking about Andy?

Matt.