I have a very small trailer -- 2500 lb, fully loaded. I get my bearings repacked and inspected every year. (Probably could do it myself, but I want some professional eyes on the hardware.)I tow around 10,000 miles a year. We don't go much over 62 mph. We do a lot of very rough road travel -- on rocky forest roads --at very low speeds. I had around 70,000 miles on my bearings. The mechanic did the annual inspection and said that the bearings were shot -- he showed them to me, and they were. So I got them replaced. Not cheap, but gotta do it. (This is the same mechanic who has taken care of my family's vehicles for 28 years -- honest as the day is long. Often tries to talk me out of needless repairs -- "those brakes have plenty of life left in them -- wait till next year on the brake job.")My question is this -- assuming proper maintenance, roughly how many miles does a set of bearings usually last? Is the number lower on a single axle unit? Should I replace them every 50,000 miles? I don't mind spending money for safety, but I don't want to spend money for no good reason.Your advice and experiences will be greatly appreciated!

I recently pulled the original bearings out of a 65 ford with gawd only knows how many miles and they were still serviceable.Bearings will last just about forever if properly maintained and especially, correctly adjusted. Even lousy quality trailer bearings should go a lot further than 70K.If they're shot now it's because the weren't set up right or greatly over loaded.On a side note, modern unit-bearing assemblies don't last forever because they are basically never setup right. Even when new they are by their nature, a assembled loose. And of course, they're never repacked.All just my opinion of course..

Easily 100,000 miles or even more provided you do some preventative maintenance.My 1984 TT, bought it used was built in California and some how managed to find it's way to PA where I bought it..From what I could tell, had the original drums, brakes and most likely bearings and I bought it around 2003.. Have no idea how many miles on those bearings and they were not pitted or rusted.. Only changed them because I was ditching the expensive star rims and that meant replacing the old drums with newer drums with standard 5 bolt pattern..I have a 2003 2wd truck which the I changed the front wheel bearings at well over 150,000 miles due to the rotors being worn out and the hubs are integral to the rotors..One of the biggest issues is lack of care, periodically you do need to disassemble, remove all the old grease, change the seal and refresh with a good grease.. Folks also do not realize that from factory, the bearings often do not have enough grease.. So it is vital to pull, inspect and add a little extra grease when new..Although keeping in mind, OVER GREASING is just as bad as not enough..

If you ever look at a bearing diagnosis chart, you will see pictures of bearings that are on their way to failure... The interesting thing is just how many different causes are listed.Everything from Improper setup, lubrication, overloading, shock loading (rough roads). and others I cannot recall at the moment. At any rate, such a chart and its pics can determine pretty much what went wrong. Not all of the causes are attributable to improper setup or lubrication.I doubt it would be much help though after a failure has occurred.As for the expense, IF you got some american made bearings, it is justified. The chinese ones are really cheap.... I am not going to get into the quality aspect, other than to say it appears to be inconsistent. Many bad reports, and some good ones.

He said he's had them repacked/inspected every year by a trusted mechanic, so I don't think it's his lack of maintenance in question here... 28 years with the same mechanic is hard to beat... So kinda gotta go with him on that part.. At least I would.. You guys are pretty tough, so who knows? ;)To the OP, I don't really know... Still on the same set on my 2003 TT, but I only put maybe 3000 miles a year on it. I do the bearings myself every other year. So far so good on the bearings as far as I can tell.. I'm only a shade tree mechanic at best, but have been doing wheel bearings since I was a kid.My trailer is dual axle, so no idea if a single axle and going on those forest roads can do? My little utility trailer is single axle and over 20 years old and still the same bearings, but of course, it does not have any weight to it and lucky to go over a 100 miles a year!I'd say just keep doing what you are doing and as long as you don't lose a bearing on the road, it's all good!Good luck!Mitch

If quality bearings are cleaned, repacked, and properly installed, they shouldn't need servicing every year.

Approx how many miles do you get on a set of bearings?

furballs
Explorer
Sep 18, 2018
Currently on my fourth relatively large TT And I do my own wheel service. Fortunately there is a store nearby that specalizes in bearings, seals and surrounding stuff.I was told last time I was in there that Timken bearings are now made in China. In any event, after seeing a bearing failure (somebody else) in a rest stop, I don't EVER want be in that situation. The inner bearing was fused to the axle stub. Bearings, races and good grease don't cost that much. I grease every year and just replace the whole shebang every three years. There is a video at Dexter axle's web page that lays out the whole procedure including bearing preload procedures.
All_I_could_aff
Explorer
Sep 17, 2018
I bought my hybrid in 2012 when it was 13 years old. Upon getting it home I jacked up both sides and checked for bearing play. I then removed the grease cap from each side and saw what I believed to be fresh clean red grease.
After joining this forum and hearing all the horror stories of bearing failures and improper installation and maintenance techniques, I ordered a complete set of bearings, seals, and races. I installed them using high-quality grease, and haven’t opened them up ever since. That was six years ago, but I only travel between 2,000 and 3,000 miles per year.
tewitt1949
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2018
I've had my trailer for 23 years and many thousand miles. Same bearings no problems. I have cleaned and repacked them a couple times, but that it.
EnzoColorado
Explorer II
Sep 06, 2018
profdant139 wrote:

I understand why you tow only 3000 miles a year -- you live in Colorado, so there is no need for you to drive a thousand miles (like I do) just to get to Colorado! ;)

True enough. We haven't left Colorado yet on any trips. We're going to Utah in October which will be our longest trip by far.
profdant139
Explorer II
Sep 04, 2018
Enzo, this is my regular mechanic, who also happens to be a trailer guy. If you tow only 3000 miles a year, you may not need an annual bearing inspection and repack and lube and ritual sprinkling of holy water, which is what I always get.

But we tow ten thousand miles a year, in very rough conditions, and we have only a single axle. The one axle means that there is that much more impact on each set of bearings.

I understand why you tow only 3000 miles a year -- you live in Colorado, so there is no need for you to drive a thousand miles (like I do) just to get to Colorado! ;)
EnzoColorado
Explorer II
Sep 04, 2018
We have about 6000 miles on our trailer now in two years we owned it. Have never done anything to the bearing. Where do you take this thing to get it worked on? Regular mechanic? Camping World?
Grit_dog
Navigator
Sep 02, 2018
Lynnmor wrote:
aftermath wrote:
First off, good for you regarding checking and packing the bearings each year. Like you said, it isn't expensive and you can stay on top of things before they go south.

I purchased a 1979 Starcraft tent trailer in 1989 and had it for 17 years. I checked them every year and they were in great shape when it left us in 2005. I repurchased this same trailer in Jan of 2017 for my daughter. It had been neglected and I needed to do quite a bit of refurbishing. When I got to the wheels and bearings, they were just fine and I am very sure that the interim owners did not service them like we had done. As a matter of fact one of the wheels was getting pretty close to being dry. The bearings themselves were good. So, how long do they last? We are going on 39 years with ours.

Of course they were good, 39 years ago we didn't have the junk that is prevalent today. I have had bearings that were defective from new and to answer the question of "how many miles do you get on a set of bearings", my answer would be from zero to God only knows.

Ahhh, the good old days....lol. I remember re packing front wheel bearings every couple of years and replacing a couple as well with my dad.
Sooo much better than these new tangled bearings that are sealed and you don't have to touch them for like 200,000miles!
(Note sarcasm)
Grit_dog
Navigator
Sep 02, 2018
Sheesh, single axle trailer, 70kmiles. New bearings are cheap insurance. If replacing them is expensive, I'd find a new shop. I'd expect 2-3 hours labor charge and the cost of the bearings is insignificant.
Lynnmor
Explorer
Aug 28, 2018
aftermath wrote:
First off, good for you regarding checking and packing the bearings each year. Like you said, it isn't expensive and you can stay on top of things before they go south.

I purchased a 1979 Starcraft tent trailer in 1989 and had it for 17 years. I checked them every year and they were in great shape when it left us in 2005. I repurchased this same trailer in Jan of 2017 for my daughter. It had been neglected and I needed to do quite a bit of refurbishing. When I got to the wheels and bearings, they were just fine and I am very sure that the interim owners did not service them like we had done. As a matter of fact one of the wheels was getting pretty close to being dry. The bearings themselves were good. So, how long do they last? We are going on 39 years with ours.

Of course they were good, 39 years ago we didn't have the junk that is prevalent today. I have had bearings that were defective from new and to answer the question of "how many miles do you get on a set of bearings", my answer would be from zero to God only knows.
aftermath
Explorer III
Aug 28, 2018
First off, good for you regarding checking and packing the bearings each year. Like you said, it isn't expensive and you can stay on top of things before they go south.

I purchased a 1979 Starcraft tent trailer in 1989 and had it for 17 years. I checked them every year and they were in great shape when it left us in 2005. I repurchased this same trailer in Jan of 2017 for my daughter. It had been neglected and I needed to do quite a bit of refurbishing. When I got to the wheels and bearings, they were just fine and I am very sure that the interim owners did not service them like we had done. As a matter of fact one of the wheels was getting pretty close to being dry. The bearings themselves were good. So, how long do they last? We are going on 39 years with ours.

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Approx how many miles do you get on a set of bearings?

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