Black Snow Slide
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2007
- Messages
- 276
Last spring I went to my local trailer guy and bought new races, inner and outer bearings, and 4 rear seals to redo my trailer. While I was there the guy was saying how the BB were far superior to the spindle zerk that feeds grease in just before the rear main seal. I asked a few questions and was persuaded and purchased 4 BB. I was told that the zerks will screw out.
I finished cleaning the spindle and replaced the bearings and races. (That still looked brand new.) Put a pair of pliers to the zerk and off the zerks came with a quarter of a turn breaking clean off at the spinal. ( Lesson one: They don't unscrew, they break off.)
Put everything together set the caster nut and such. I took the trailer for a 5 mile drive at 35-40 MPH then pulled into a parking lot. With floor jack I lifted all 4 trailer tires and inspected for wheel tightness (caster nut) and bearing temp. With trailer on the ground I reloaded 3 out of 4 BB so the spring plate as about 1/2 way threw its full range of motion. (Lesson two: When you get you BB and they are still new, mark the side wall with a sharpy so you know when 1/2 loaded.) I also pushed on the edge of the plate confirming the BB is loaded. I traveled another 10 miles at 55-60MPH and checked everything again. All is good. I went back home, checked temp of all bearings, climbed under the trailer with a flash light to give the rear seals a good look and all is clean. I gave each BB between 1-3 squeezes of the grease gun to bring each to the middle mark and placed the caps over the BB.
Went boating and put 100 miles on the trailer checking the BB grease level and the caster nut tension (Yes with the floor jack.. I know, a little over kill) once at the ramp. All is good so in she went. As the season went on I would check the BB for proper grease level at the ramp and back in the drive way each trip. I did not need to add grease as the edges were still floating at the middle mark and I would visually inspect all 4 rear seals after every trip. (Lesson three: Once you think all is good and you are keeping a close eye on things, you can be missing something.)
On a ride home from Lake Winnipesakiee NH to Dartmouth Ma I stopped at a rest area and found one of my BB had fallen off. I found that odd as everything was tight and secure before leaving the gas station 100 miles ago and not hitting any big pot holes.. Oh well. I took out my spare BB cleaned the outside to the tang washer and re greased, new cap over BB and on our way.
Still wondering how the BB fell out I looked at the others. I noticed that two of them had unseated from the lip. I grabbed each with my hand and was able to rock each BB just a tiny bit. Why would there be that much tolerance so it can be rocked? I popped those two off and checked them with a micrometer. I found both to be out of round. I continued to pull the hubs off and thankfully I did. I found that the inside of each hub had strong evidence of water in with the grease? How could that happen with the rear seals still showing no sigh of failure and grease splatter? I took my micrometer and found my hubs to be round within .03 mm. I checked the other two BB and found one of them to be out of round as well. When I pulled the other hubs I had one with mil sighs of water intrusion. I was not happy. (Lesson four: Even though the BB is properly loaded with the spring plate edges able to rock doesn't mean you don't have a problem brewing with intrusion.)
I went to the trailer store and bought new zerks for the end of my spindles and complained to the owner of the shop about the out of round problem. I showed him mine and measured with the micrometer and he looked completely unsurprised. We took a new set off the shelf and found both to be out as well.
He said, " Most guys that use these have them on land trailers and they are not subjected to submersion like boat trailers. They don't have as much of a problem as the boat guys do."
I used a drill and tap to take out the snapped off zerks from the spindle tips. Compressed air to blow out the holes to clear any debris from the inside of the spindle then screwed in new zerks. Cleaned all four hubs and repacked all the bearings. One set of bearings and races needed to be replaced due to light damage.
Moral of the story :
1; It is easier to put a grease gun to a zerk and have it press the old clean grease out the front and cleaning that mess then a sealed system that is hiding issues.
2; How I still had so much water intrusion while the BB were loaded with tension grease is still a mystery.
3; When you have a system that works beautifully and you think there is a way to have one better, don't be so sure.
4; Thousands of guys run these things without issue. I am just one guy with one trailer that spent $300.00 and two days of labor to be very disappointed in the end.
I finished cleaning the spindle and replaced the bearings and races. (That still looked brand new.) Put a pair of pliers to the zerk and off the zerks came with a quarter of a turn breaking clean off at the spinal. ( Lesson one: They don't unscrew, they break off.)
Put everything together set the caster nut and such. I took the trailer for a 5 mile drive at 35-40 MPH then pulled into a parking lot. With floor jack I lifted all 4 trailer tires and inspected for wheel tightness (caster nut) and bearing temp. With trailer on the ground I reloaded 3 out of 4 BB so the spring plate as about 1/2 way threw its full range of motion. (Lesson two: When you get you BB and they are still new, mark the side wall with a sharpy so you know when 1/2 loaded.) I also pushed on the edge of the plate confirming the BB is loaded. I traveled another 10 miles at 55-60MPH and checked everything again. All is good. I went back home, checked temp of all bearings, climbed under the trailer with a flash light to give the rear seals a good look and all is clean. I gave each BB between 1-3 squeezes of the grease gun to bring each to the middle mark and placed the caps over the BB.
Went boating and put 100 miles on the trailer checking the BB grease level and the caster nut tension (Yes with the floor jack.. I know, a little over kill) once at the ramp. All is good so in she went. As the season went on I would check the BB for proper grease level at the ramp and back in the drive way each trip. I did not need to add grease as the edges were still floating at the middle mark and I would visually inspect all 4 rear seals after every trip. (Lesson three: Once you think all is good and you are keeping a close eye on things, you can be missing something.)
On a ride home from Lake Winnipesakiee NH to Dartmouth Ma I stopped at a rest area and found one of my BB had fallen off. I found that odd as everything was tight and secure before leaving the gas station 100 miles ago and not hitting any big pot holes.. Oh well. I took out my spare BB cleaned the outside to the tang washer and re greased, new cap over BB and on our way.
Still wondering how the BB fell out I looked at the others. I noticed that two of them had unseated from the lip. I grabbed each with my hand and was able to rock each BB just a tiny bit. Why would there be that much tolerance so it can be rocked? I popped those two off and checked them with a micrometer. I found both to be out of round. I continued to pull the hubs off and thankfully I did. I found that the inside of each hub had strong evidence of water in with the grease? How could that happen with the rear seals still showing no sigh of failure and grease splatter? I took my micrometer and found my hubs to be round within .03 mm. I checked the other two BB and found one of them to be out of round as well. When I pulled the other hubs I had one with mil sighs of water intrusion. I was not happy. (Lesson four: Even though the BB is properly loaded with the spring plate edges able to rock doesn't mean you don't have a problem brewing with intrusion.)
I went to the trailer store and bought new zerks for the end of my spindles and complained to the owner of the shop about the out of round problem. I showed him mine and measured with the micrometer and he looked completely unsurprised. We took a new set off the shelf and found both to be out as well.
He said, " Most guys that use these have them on land trailers and they are not subjected to submersion like boat trailers. They don't have as much of a problem as the boat guys do."
I used a drill and tap to take out the snapped off zerks from the spindle tips. Compressed air to blow out the holes to clear any debris from the inside of the spindle then screwed in new zerks. Cleaned all four hubs and repacked all the bearings. One set of bearings and races needed to be replaced due to light damage.
Moral of the story :
1; It is easier to put a grease gun to a zerk and have it press the old clean grease out the front and cleaning that mess then a sealed system that is hiding issues.
2; How I still had so much water intrusion while the BB were loaded with tension grease is still a mystery.
3; When you have a system that works beautifully and you think there is a way to have one better, don't be so sure.
4; Thousands of guys run these things without issue. I am just one guy with one trailer that spent $300.00 and two days of labor to be very disappointed in the end.
