*rant* off road camper trailers....

[Sprint]

Had a customer come into work today chasing a new brake drum and hub for his camper trailer, usually not a problem, not too many options (usually), except that the genius behind this camper trailers construction (a melbourne based company who will remain unnamed) seems to have an agenda that revolves around revoloutionising the trailer world....

It started off with 10" drum hubs with Ford bearings and 6 stud Landcruiser PCD

except.... where Toyota run a M12x1.5 stud, these hubs originally had 1/2" studs (which I've discovered isnt uncommon, but ffs, if you're going to use a common 6 stud setup, use the same thread studs in the interest of parts commonality.....

Well..... the customer had the had changed the studs changed when he bought it to allow him to run the same wheels as the tow vehicle, not a problem untill one side worked its way loose, flogging out the stud holes in the hub.....

So enter the local friendly parts guy who discovers not only the stupidity of using a off stud pattern/stud combination, but also for some reason known only to the idiot who designed the trailer, that despite using commonly available Falcon wheel bearings, the seals are a size that seems to have no common automotive application....

This became an even bigger problem when it was realised that the hub seals fitted to the trailer had an incorrect ID for the size of the stub axle....

*sigh* is it really too much to expect that if you're going to build a trailer thats intended to go to some out of the way places, that you build the thing with commonly available parts?

[Mick_Marsh]

Yes, there you have a key point.
Thanks for sharing. It is an important consideration when buying a camper trailer.

[MR LR]

Not sure if you've ever looked into it, I have.

Hubs are manufactured with standard 1/2" studs in LC and LR patterns, as well as parallel stub axle applications, try and order anything else from Alko or the like, good luck, even had a mate with a trailer place try and get them, it's all standardized for them.

The other option is drilling blank hubs, done this too, but if running alloy wheels on such things as a land rover you need to run the studs that match the nuts, impossible with off the shelf parts.

As to the seals, that's a common thing too it seems, quite often on wheel bearing jobs I do I find the seal stuck to the stub, it spins in the hub, I assume that's the same on the case you're talking about, I assume there's been a change in the size of the seal surface on stub axles, without the standard Ford/Holden seals being changed.

None of that is to do with the trailer manufacturer, and he has to work with what the supplier gives him.

All well and good to point fingers until you give it a try.

May I ask, where do you work?

Cheers
Will

[Sprint]

whats got me stuffed is that the seal surface on the axle was ~44mm, yet the seal ID was 40mm.... yet they'd simply jammed it on and hoped for the best

not only was the ID of the seal a non standard size, but where the seal was meant to be pressed into the hub, it was 62mm, instead of the ~59mm that a normal Ford or Holden trailer hub seal is...

whatever you do, dont get me started on Al-Ko....

[MR LR]

You'd be amazed at some of the butchered up **** I've found on trailers!

Hub seals is nothing compared to some bearing set ups!

Won't go into alko on the public forum...

[Hoges]

I've got 10" Alko hubs/electric brakes on my home made camper. Got the bloke who supplied the parts to drill the hubs to RR P38 pcd (= Holden VE) and I supplied the Holden studs which he pressed in for me. I had no trouble with the Alko stuff. I've also got Alko 4 leaf springs which I converted to three leaf for a softer rate and added small shock absorbers. Been ideal incl trip up the Cape York. What's the issue with Alko?

[Sprint]

no problem at all with the quality of thier products.....

[mick88]

I recently built a trailer to tow behind my series three and got my hubs/stubs from a local hub and wheel manufacturer. I had them drilled to take 16 mm studs on a LR PCD. I installed some 16mm studs out of an old series three wreck. All good.

Cheers, Mick

[Redback]

whats got me stuffed is that the seal surface on the axle was ~44mm, yet the seal ID was 40mm.... yet they'd simply jammed it on and hoped for the best

not only was the ID of the seal a non standard size, but where the seal was meant to be pressed into the hub, it was 62mm, instead of the ~59mm that a normal Ford or Holden trailer hub seal is...

whatever you do, dont get me started on Al-Ko...

Hahahaha, sounds like you have had a similar talk to AL-KO too me

Apparently according to AL-KO I stumbled onto a niche market when I was explaining that Land Cruisers don't have 9/16 studs(5 stud) but in fact they have 14 x 1.5mm studs, as the vehicles are made in Japan and Japanese vehicles are Metric not imperial.

I wanted LR 5 X 120 PCD but with 14mm studs, nope don't do that, but can fit 9/16 Land Cruiser studs, WTF

Melbourne Trailers are another story

Baz

[ATH]

Sounds like someone else with a tale to tell about Melbourne Trailers. We had an issue with a broken Dexter brake part which the US parent said they'd replace immediately.
Pity it had to come from their Melbourne outlet who we suspect took great delight in making us wait a month for it despite constantly assuring us it'd been posted.
On our Goldstream van suspension made in Brisbane with peculiar shockies you can only get from them apparently and brake bits only from Melbourne!!!!!
And don't bother trying to get warranty claims out of the retailer in WA without having to get consumer affairs and courts involved.
RVMAA and so called "industry standards" are a protection group for the makers only.
AlanH.