Repairs continue

 Spring is getting closer and Mother Nature is teasing us with occasional warm days. I say warm, lets just call them warmer as it is still farm from normal. I was able to get the boat moved to a more level parking spot and last Friday when I got home it was pretty nice out so I decided to go ahead and deal with the trailer axle bearing issue.
 We got so lucky pulling her home to not loose a wheel and hub as the left wheel bearings were shot. Even with a bearing buddy on them the inner bearing had been dry for so long it did not matter as the damage had already been done. I got her jacked up and sitting on concrete blocks, really gave our home the red neck look! I pulled the left hub and of course the inner bearing was frozen to the axle. I worked a good thirty minutes to get the bearing off the axle. I was really hoping to avoid having to cut it off and was finally able to get it start moving. Not only was the bearing bad but the hub had been dry for so long that water got into it each time it was backed down into the water and the water caused the axle to start to rust. Once the bearing was off I got to spend another 30 mins with a file and sandpaper smoothing up the ruff spots on the axle so a new bearing would slip over it. Finally got it cleaned up the best I could.

 Off to town to get parts. Why did I even try to cross town on a Friday night??? Some genius picked a Friday to close one lane each direction on Tipton street at rush hour. ARGH!!! None of the box type parts store had the bearings I needed. I finally got to Orschlens and they amazingly had two sets with races, dust seals, and cotter pins. Finally something goes my way!  As I walked to the check out I noticed one set was a bit heavier than the other. A closer inspection revealed that someone had swiped the races and dust seal out of one set. ARGHH!!! There was no way I was getting to TSC so I returned to the lodge with just one set of bearings.
 Up early the next morning and driving back to town to go to TSC. Luckily they had one set left, all be it 5 bucks more than I had just given the night before just a few blocks down the street. Who cares at this point, get the parts and run! While there I picked up a package of grease zerks so I could modify  the axle hubs.
 Having never been a fan of Bearing Buddies and after buying 3 trailers with them installed on it and having an inner bearing failure on all three trailers I refuse to use them. They probably work fine if used correctly but I think in my case they were installed too late and the bearings were not properly serviced prior to installation. What ever reason these were going in the trash. The small trailer kit I bought from Harbor freight that I used to build our 16 foot long kayak trailer had grease zerks on the hubs themselves. I really thought that was slick as all I had to do was pop off the dust cap, put grease in the hub till the old grease was pushed out of the outer bearing. IT completely filled the hub and flushed the old grease out of the bearings. So I was going to modify our boat trailer hubs the same way.
 Once home I drilled and tapped a 1/4x28 hole and inserted a new grease zerk.

 



 

I installed the new races, packed the new bearing with marine grease, then installed the hubs back on the axle.

 Now all I had to do was hook up the grease gun to the new zerk and fill the hub full of grease till the grease just started to come out of the outer bearing.

 Just a FYI, if you decided to do this. Make sure your grease gun is warmer than 34 degrees as it will be much easier to pump. Needless to say I was unable to preheat my grease gun and it was a real PIA to pump by myself but I got it. Just had to wipe off the extra grease and install a new dust cap.

Now the next time I need to service the bearings all I will have to do is pop the cap and pump the grease gun till the old grease comes out of the outer bearings. No more guessing and hoping that the Bearing Buddies are doing their job. One should really pull the hubs on a  boat trailer once a year anyway just to make sure all is still well no matter how you grease the bearings. It is just cheap insurance to make sure that you do not wind up with a bigger problem down the road, or should I say on the side of the road.

Before I reinstalled the wheels I cleaned them up and gave them a fresh coat of white paint as the old blue paint was not very appealing. It was then that I discovered that the tires were starting to crack on the sidewalls and that they were the wrong weight rating for the weight of the boat and trailer. Ugh, more repairs needed now. Maybe someday we will actually get to stop working on the boat and see if it actually floats!!!