Trailer axle help

stryped fired this volley in news:39c20020-c271-4354- snipped-for-privacy@35g2000prp.googlegroups.com:

whaa...??

Damn, guy... it's a five minute job to replace a wheel bearing.

F'criminey sake!

LLoyd

What he said unless your spindles are shot. Son just did that on his barbeque pit. Of course, you won't know unless you pull the bearings.

Pete Keillor

I replaced the bearings in a friend's boat trailer a couple of years ago. They had seized, spun their races on the spindles, and galled both spindle ends. (The boat was used in salt water.) But a few minutes spent *carefully* cutting the burrs down with a file fixed them right up. They were soft as wire nails.

I've heard that trailer-axle bearings have a tendency to seize and spin their races. But if that hasn't happened, as Lloyd said, replacing the bearings only takes minutes.

54-

It is not replacing the bearings I am worried about it is the cost of replacing all 4 wheel bearings. (Or is it 8 if there is an inner or outter bearing?) Not knowing what year it is, I went online to autozone and got the price of a front wheel bearing for a 1954 1/2 ton truck. One price on there was 96 bucks. That times 4 (or 8) is more than a new axle.

Do you think these axles are good axles for a trailer by the way? (automotive straight axles.)

Also, I forgot to mention one of the axles has screw in hub dust covers. (The end of the hub axtually has thread on it. One is missing and I cant find a replacement anywhere.

I aprreciate it.

LLoyd, why won't you guys just plonk this troll so we don't all have to go through this every time he trolls?

F'criminey sake!

-- The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer

Oops. Had him plonked forever. Didn't look at the original poster.

Take out one set of bearings (or one from each axle if you suspect that they're different). Then take them to your local auto parts store. If you live close to a bearing place take them there. Or if you have a way to mike the outside diameters of the spindle and the outside diameters of the outer races, do so.

Then get bearings that'll fit.

It may help to identify the axles if you bring the brake drum, and maybe take a picture of the backing plate when you get it open and bring that, too.

$96 for a set of bearings is out of line, unless it's some vintage thing for which parts can't be found any more.

71-4354-

WHat is a rough guess of the cost of a set of wheel bearings for something this old? (I would guess they are ball bearing not taper but do not know yet.)

71-4354-

Do you know where I could get a replacement screw on center for the hub? I tried auto parts store and a trailer store.

It is not replacing the bearings I am worried about it is the cost of replacing all 4 wheel bearings. (Or is it 8 if there is an inner or outter bearing?) Not knowing what year it is, I went online to autozone and got the price of a front wheel bearing for a 1954 1/2 ton truck. One price on there was 96 bucks. That times 4 (or 8) is more than a new axle.

Do you think these axles are good axles for a trailer by the way? (automotive straight axles.)

Also, I forgot to mention one of the axles has screw in hub dust covers. (The end of the hub axtually has thread on it. One is missing and I cant find a replacement anywhere.

I aprreciate it.

================================================

As Time said, those prices sound out of line. Typical, older car and light-truck wheel bearings are fairly cheap.

As for the automotive axles, my dad had a utility trailer built around a

1936 Plymouth rear axle, and we were still using it in the '60s. I don't know about front axles. Are the spindles welded so they won't turn on the kingpins? I've seen a couple of them built like that.

I was gonna say this, but the only bearings I've ever done were on the car, but IIRC new bearings were about four bucks.

Cheers! Rich

I just remember them as being "really affordable", and $96 for a set is definitely well outside of that.

[ ... ]

Do you have a lathe? Posting here, you *should* have one. If so, use it and make a duplicate of one of the other dust covers.

Enjoy, DoN.

On my barbecue pit, the plastic wheels usually fracture before I have any problems with the bearings. errrrr .... bushings ........

Steve

Sorry, couldn't resist.

"DoN. Nichols" fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@Katana.d-and-d.com:

Don, this is the guy who asks US to look up the prices of $6.00 bearings for him, because he cannot figure out how to do it.

Do you 1) expect him to have ANY metalworking tools except a "global tool company, LLC" drill and a hacksaw, and 2) do you honestly expect this mook to be able to single-point a thread?

Naahhh... he's a troll, a jerk, and a lazy son-of-a-bitch with no socially redeeming qualities, no intelligence, no self-motivation, no skills, and no exemplary merits beyond those other seven.

LLoyd

It is not replacing the bearings I am worried about it is the cost of replacing all 4 wheel bearings. (Or is it 8 if there is an inner or outter bearing?) Not knowing what year it is, I went online to autozone and got the price of a front wheel bearing for a 1954 1/2 ton truck. One price on there was 96 bucks. That times 4 (or 8) is more than a new axle.

Do you think these axles are good axles for a trailer by the way? (automotive straight axles.)

Also, I forgot to mention one of the axles has screw in hub dust covers. (The end of the hub axtually has thread on it. One is missing and I cant find a replacement anywhere.

I aprreciate it.

Reply: A 1954 truck had ball bearings most likely. They are way more expensive than roller bearings. Championtrailerparts.com as well as Century rim and wheel will have axles. Last axle I bought from Century with now disk brakes was about $300 and they welded on the spring pads to match the old axle.

What I'd do ......... definitely not the norm, but WTF?

Identify the bearings by taking them to a bearing place. Ascertain whether replacing them, or just chucking them and getting a whole new assembly is the best choice.

If they're antiquated, and spendy, just change it over. If it's something that ends up to be common, then just replace bearings.

And YES, bearings can be changed quickly.

Or not.

It all depends on a hundred different things.

One size does not fit all, and just because they have some POS that has quickly interchangeable cheaply made parts does not make that rule apply throughout the universe. Or, at least the known portion.

HTH

Steve

I count six, unless you're counting "lazy" and "son-of-a-bitch" as two things.

And I disagree, somewhat. He's coming across as insecure and needy, but hey -- he's working on his own stuff, and if he burns a wheel bearing on the freeway it won't be from lack of initiative.

Now, sitting around an whining because the trailer won't take itself to a mechanic who'll work for free -- _that_ would make him all the things you said.

I can hardly wait for the annual "drywall inside a pole barn" thread....