Will bearing issue heat entire drum or just the hub area?

Worked on this over the weekend. Towed the trailer to my house 8 miles away, felt each hub and drums and the one that was running hot was only hot on the outer part of the drum so the cause is the brakes and not the bearings (yay!). The rest of the drums were pretty cool.

Jacked up the problem wheel - no power and it rotates freely, no drag. Applied power and the wheel locked up. Repeated for all other wheels - same thing.

Went ahead and adjusted all the brakes all around, the problem wheel didn't adjust any differently. Drove back to ranch, applied the brakes a lot. Got there and the problem wheel was HOT, the rest were less than warm.

Background: - I put in all new brake assemblies and bearings/races a month ago. Turned the drums but not the magnet portion as that surface looked good (and could not find anyone that could turn the magnet surface) HOWEVER one of them once upon a time the grease got loose and was baked onto the magnet riding portion. I cleaned it very very well but I'm guessing the problematic wheel is the one that got this drum and there is still some contamination there causing the magnet to stick better than the others (my braking controller is only set to 3.5A for a 4 wheel setup - pretty low I'd think).

Guess I'll pull that drum and see if I can clean it some more, maybe take a roloc disc to it and if it's still a problem, replace that one drum.

A few years ago on the way home from Florida one of my Nev-R-Lube hubs failed which over-heated the hub that took out everything from the axle spindle out, $2000 sheckles worth of damage and a week waiting for parts, I'd fix it now.

Thanks everyone for your input.

About 4 weeks ago I turned the drums, installed new drum brake assemblies, bearings, races and seals on the front axle (front wheel on both sides). Ran out of day to do the other axle but I did go around and adjust them all. Must have screwed up the left front but I'm hoping it's a dragging brake and not an axle getting screwed up.

Only have time on weekends to work on it so it'll be a bit before I can get back into them.

Hot brakes can ruin the bearing by cooking the grease. You got yourself a project.

A bad bearing can heat the hub/wheel and tire especially on a long all day run at interstate speeds.

Correct, it could be either a bearing or brake problem. Most likely a brake problem. :) You need to pull the drum and inspect.

I had a similar eperience on one of our trailers, At first I was worried it was a bearing, but as soon as we pulled the wheel and drum it was obvious a brake liner had shattered.

Not a hard fix, but went ahead and replaced all shoes and drums

Pull the hub and check the bearings and brakes. Replace with new bearings and races if needed. Put back and grease the bearings with Moly Graph Lithium Grease. Adjust the brakes.

A bad bearing can heat up the brake drum, how ever the hub would be hotter than the drum. A brake that is dragging will heat the drum hotter than the hub.

Just from your description, I would think the brakes are dragging. Back the brakes off and check for the problem. It could also be that drum is doing all the work.