Hub and Wheel Failure on Trip

My first guess would be the lack of lubrication. If they failed after being serviced, then I would say the bearings may have been too tight. It is possible that the brakes could have helped to overheat the bearings. I have had a foreign made hub break before. It can happen.

WDP wrote:

Finder9 wrote:
Was inspected by State inspection station prior to trip and passed, has been used for many long distance trips but this trip is a new tow vehicle with new brake controller.

Maybe here, if the wheels and hubs were pulled the inspector may have tightened the bearings too much. Tight bearings make a lot of heat.

WDP

My guess also. All 4 hubs/brakes should be re-done by someone that knows what they are doing. Good luck to your friend.

If the same person worked on the hub each time, It's possible the bearings were incorrectly set too tight both times..

B.O.

Finder9 wrote:
Was inspected by State inspection station prior to trip and passed, has been used for many long distance trips but this trip is a new tow vehicle with new brake controller.

Maybe here, if the wheels and hubs were pulled the inspector may have tightened the bearings too much. Tight bearings make a lot of heat.

WDP

Thanks Westend.
Only an exam by a qualified mechanic will determine.

I did not catch it was the same bearing that failed after replacement. Maybe it was a poor repair job. If the original failed maybe the races were also shot but not replaced and contributed to the second failure. Or perhaps just a poor original repair. Not enough or too much preload, improper packing of the bearing, etc.

Some of the problem may be caused from lack of use, especially if they had not been serviced since 2009. A lot of trailers are used infrequently for weekend trips. As they sit, the grease will separate and no longer lubricate. Was the second failure on the same wheel? This happened on my 24' years ago and the heat from failure warped the spindle. Had two more failures before I changed the axle, which cured the problem. Check the axle brand and model, some of the spindles can be replaced without changing the entire axle. Replacement wasn't even all that expensive.

Towing too fast maybe?

True story: Earlier this year we were passed by a newer Dodge 3500 DRW truck towing what looked like about a 17' R-POD TT. Plenty of towing overkill. We were towing our 5'er and our speed was about 60 MPH. The Dodge/R-POD rig passed us easilly doing 80+ MPH...buddy I mean this rig was slap flat movin-on-down the road!!! There were about 6 cars following the rig in line using the rig as a blocker if there were cops ahead with a speed trap. I commented to my wife at the time, "That won't last long". Sure enough, about 3 hours later we passed the Dodge/R-POD rig sitting at an off ramp on the road shoulder sporting two shreaded trailer tires with skid marks leading off the interstate highway indicating two locked trailer wheels. I'm guessing those little tires and wheels and bearings just couldn't take the heat and the speed any longer and finally siezed. JMHO.

Happy camping!!! See y'all down the road!!!:)

Finder9 wrote:
Regular grease. Was inspected by State inspection station prior to trip and passed, has been used for many long distance trips but this trip is a new tow vehicle with new brake controller.

this trip is a new tow vehicle with new brake controller.

This caught my eye. If you have a powerful new tow vehicle towing a single axle trailer (which I am assuming the A-liner is?), the driver may not even realize if the trailer brakes are locking up or at least being applied too much (heat build up). Add to this a new brake controller that a person is not experienced with, and you might have the recipe for what you described happened.

Finder9 wrote:
Mook, you didn't read the first post. This was the second time it's happened on the SAME trip - - after BOTH hubs were replaced and serviced. Assuming the lube was satisfactory after the first repair, what is the cause for the second event? Bearings were checked/serviced annually.

You yourself said it was hard to make out the exact conversation because of abbreviations and such...most likely texting?

Be willing to bet that your friend had never serviced those hubs, most manufacturers recommend repacking the hubs once a year, and the damage was already done before the first failure.

As per the conversation, it may be that the failed hub was replaced and the other(s) repacked but the damage was already there. That would have been a bad call by the garage unless they did inform your friend and your friend didn't want to pay for it. Or as mentioned in the previous post, brake problems which led to excessive heat and subsequently failure.