Boat trailer wheel bearing maintenance

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.

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



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://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2749/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


The Pintel hook allows for heaps of articulation.

Erich

Erich,

Does your trailer have brakes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slug_burner

Erich,

Does your trailer have brakes?

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

Erich

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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