2006 10 31 Wheel Bearings and Races

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We have put many miles on this trailer since the last brake job.

On our way home from Bowling Green, after driving for 15 hours (we made it almost all the way home), we had a flat tire.

When I changed the tire, I found the lug nuts were not as tight as they should be and I could wobble the drum.  The wheel bearings were loose.

Time to take a look.

All four wheels and drums were pulled, one at a time. Every bearing was loose.  So, being the way I am, I replaced all the bearings, seals and races in each drum.

I found one seal that had failed, but it was caught in time to save the shoes. Although the grease had migrated to the outer surface, the shoes themselves were not bad. I was able to clean them up with some brake clean

As you can see the inside of the backing plate was clean. There was some grease on top of the magnet, which I also cleaned up with brake clean

This was the assembly area. All the bearings were packed with a bearing packer. I will put a couple (50) miles on the new bearings and recheck the preload. I also replaced all the lug nuts with solid lug nuts as the original caped nuts had started to swell up.

A good day’s work