My bearing failure story
This weekend I had a bearing failure on my trailer. I had no idea until somebody flagged me down with frantic hand gestures. I knew something was wrong but didn't know what. I looked in my mirrors but...
Forum Discussion
2oldman wrote:midnightsadie wrote:x2.
, every stop you make, touch the hub, if its HOT ,you got a problem, they should run just a little warm
They don't fail catastrophically.. they'll start to warm up a bit at a time. That's how I avoided total failure.
So, you do this with your VEHICLE bearings also?
I HAVE had vehicle wheel bearings fail and more than once on the same vehicle.. If I went to your extreme example I should be checking mine daily after every commute..
Technically speaking bearings DO fail "catastrophically", they do not fail a little at a time unless they have been dunked in water or exposed to long term moisture in the hub/bearing and even that would be a stretch to say the least.
Pretty much what I have found is the LACK of grease is the major cause of bearing failures but moisture is another reason..
One of my vehicles which had wheel bearing failures had the original set start growling at 30K miles.. Dealer showed me the bearings, they were extremely pitted from moisture. The seal was defective and allowed water to get into the hubs.
Dealer put in new bearings and seals and repacked the bearings under warranty. At 50K one of the bearings that the dealer put in blew out.
Had towed to dealer and they fixed on my dime.
Out of curiosity I pulled the side they repaired and much to my surprise there was VERY LITTLE GREASE in the bearings
Pulled the other side, and it was bone dry
Repacked both well with grease and 50K+ miles and no more bearing failures on that vehicle.
You should not have to be so scared that you HAVE to check the bearing temperatures and since the drum/hub shares braking duty the drum temps can vary.. A LOT depending on how much braking you have been doing and ambient temperatures.
Best bet is to PROPERLY inspect and repack the bearings every 12K miles or every TWO YEARS which ever comes first for trailers.
Packing the bearings is not hard but it is more than slathering a fingers worth of grease on the surface.
You MUST push the grease INTO the bearing cage until the cage is full. Once cage is full run some around the outside of the cage and run some around the race.. I place some additional grease behind the race and when hub is assembled some grease gets pushed around the outside cage.
