My bearing failure story

solismaris wrote:
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 didn't see anything unusual. Fortunately there was an exit just ahead so I slowed down and got off, into a parking lot.

When I got out to look I immediately saw the problem. One wheel was smoking, spattered with grease, and the wheel was crooked on the spindle. But it was still there, and not on fire! It took 5 hours but I finally found somebody to come and repair it (2 hours to find somebody and 3 hours for them to repair it). They were able to save the spindle, and they successfully replaced the bearings (took them 3 trips to the parts store to get it right!). They weren't able to save the brake; it was pretty much destroyed on that wheel, but at least I was able to get where I needed to go.










From your description it sounds like the bearing inner race spun on the axle. That could have damaged the bearing fit even though they got the bearing off and saved the axle. At your earliest convenience it would be a good idea to disassemble all that hub and wheel bearings and get several micrometer readings of your axle inner race fit. If that bearing spun on the axle the bearing fit might be somewhat undersize and you could have a repeat performance. While doing this check the axle bearing fit size for the outer wheel bearing too. It might mean replacing the axle. Not fun but better than another bearing failure.

For those who've experienced this before, how close do you think I was to something more catastrophic, such as the wheel falling off or the trailer catching on fire?

And how could I have discovered this earlier? I do make a habit of checking the hubs but had only gone 2 hours, hadn't stopped yet, and there was no excess heat detected on my previous trip a month earlier.

Given the difficulty of finding a mobile repair service, and the troubles they had in finding the right parts, I wondered if I could carry spares and do it myself if it happens again? But seing the troubles they had in getting the badly mangled and heat-welded parts off, I believe it would have been beyond my ability. Even if I carried an extra hub already packed with a seal it wouldn't have helped me, as it took them over an hour just to remove damaged parts off the old spindle.