what signs for bearing failure

What would be a good temp, for the hubs in hot summer time weather, like 80*~95*.
I know in my mind, but what would you tell folks.
Thanks, Neil

On a trailer I've never noticed imminent bearing failure from the tow vehicle (noise etc.).

I've found imminent failure can be detected by jacking wheel and rocking tire back and forth. A tiny bit of play is normal adjustment. But if the tire rocks a lot- like a quarter or half inch bearings are severely out of whack.

My previous trailer was easy to lift on a bottle jack. I could get a feel for wheel bearing play in just a few minutes. I used to check it before trips. This in addition to regular bearing service.

On a car or truck you can usually hear the sound of bad wheel bearings.

This is one of the bearings on my 48' tri-axle. I found three bearings (Out of twelve)like this when I was repacking them. I ended up replacing all twelve bearings and races. When the wheel was jacked up it did not feel like anything was wrong with the bearing.

smkettner wrote:
wheel passing you on the highway.

Otherwise disassemble and inspect.

This is a good sign you have bearing failure.
Paul

Smoke, grease on the wheel, grinding noise, wheel passing you on the highway.

Otherwise disassemble and inspect.

Hot hubs, smell, leaks on ground. When our left front seal failed we thought it much worse as it got on the brakes and stunk very bad when you got the brakes warm. Ans some oil mad its way onto inner flap behind wheel and back on to toad.
I've had them fail on boat trailer and the rubber seal would push out from the hot grease and you can hear the grinding.
I carry a remote temp gun with a laser pointer. They are available everywhere.
When we stop for fuel or whatever I shoot the tires and hubs to see if anything is too warm, maybe a tire about to let go or a bearing.

Removal, washing, drying an exam with a strong pair of reading glasses under sunlight will reveal pitting brinneling, and discoloration long before noise or looseness shows up. Bearing failure replacement is "Breakdown Maintenance".

Regular bearings will heat the hub as they fail and will be rough if spun while the wheel is lifted off the ground.

NevR Lube bearings are another breed of cat. If disc brakes then the heat will be generated in the rotor by pad friction. As the bearing begins to fail the rotor goes out of vertical and runs diagonal in the caliper. When the failure is advanced the rotor will begin to make metal to metal contact with the caliper flange and the rotor will become very hot. Eventually the heat will propagate to the hub but the rotor will be first to show unusual temps.

I am not as familiar with NevR Lube & drum brakes but suspect the perimeter of the drum will be the first to see high heat.

We experienced 9 failures thus far till the wheel offset (-10mm) was ID'd as the cause and new wheels (0 offset) installed.

kirbybear wrote:
I had grease on 3 of my 4 drums. The HOT hub was the only one braking. But the other three where cooler. Do not jump to conclusions. Investigate.

There you go.... temperature RELATIVE to the others. One was different than the others, and sure enough, something was wrong.

I had grease on 3 of my 4 drums. The HOT hub was the only one braking. But the other three where cooler. Do not jump to conclusions. Investigate.