Trailer brakes & bearings.

[bogydave]

Pulled the hubs on the trailer today.
Brakes looked & worked fine.
Bearing lots of grease & clean & shiny .

This is the first axle I've had with a grease zerk on the end.
Finally figured out how to use it I think.
Grease port comes out on the inboard bearing & the seal forces the grease thru the hub out around thru the front bearing.
I pumped grease in until I saw some coming out around the front bearing. Then
pulled the hub, no grease inside the hub

Got about an 1 to 2 notches turn on each axle nut.
All in all axles & hubs looks to be in good shape.
Tires may need replaced but I think I can get a few seasons yet out of them.

 

[MasterMech]

How did the old grease look? Clean? No evidence of water infiltration?

Both the friction and magnet surfaces in the drums look good. Since you have it apart, I'd toss new double-lip seals in each hub, quick, easy, and cheap. EZLube axles -- nice. No need to pull the hub to repack bearings. Just hit it with the gun to flush out old grease and fill with new. Just make sure the zerk stays covered/clean.

My current favorite grease for trailer hubs - and a lot of other things.

Are those backing assemblies self-adjusting? If they are, great, best upgrade ever for electric trailer brakes. (short of going elec over hyd that is. ) I'd hose the whole she-bang down with Brakleen before putting it back together too.

Trailer tires have a finite lifespan, even if they have good tread on them. More than 5-6 years old and I'd seriously think about replacing them before loading it up heavy.

Don't forget to inspect the shackle bushings & pins for the springs while you have your head under there.

 

[bogydave]

How did the old grease look? Clean? No evidence of water infiltration?
Grease was black. No evidence of water.
Need to buy some axle bearing grease for the grease gun. Just have it in cans.

Both the friction and magnet surfaces in the drums look good. Since you have it apart, I'd toss new double-lip seals in each hub, quick, easy, and cheap. EZLube axles -- nice. No need to pull the hub to repack bearings. Just hit it with the gun to flush out old grease and fill with new. Just make sure the zerk stays covered/clean.
Double lip seal ?
Zerks are covered with a friction fit soft metal hub cover with a rubber center.

My current favorite grease for trailer hubs - and a lot of other things.
Thanks

Are those backing assemblies self-adjusting? If they are, great, best upgrade ever for electric trailer brakes. (short of going elec over hyd that is. ) I'd hose the whole she-bang down with Brakleen before putting it back together too.
Are back together but easy to take off. Was more an inspection for peace of mind & see if I needed to get new bearings & pads.

Trailer tires have a finite lifespan, even if they have good tread on them. More than 5-6 years old and I'd seriously think about replacing them before loading it up heavy.
3 tires look like originals, rubber is hard , weather checked. 6 ply load range "C". One is new, might be a radial .
Need to replace the spare & wheel. was flat with the bead broke, tire is shot & wheel rusty & pitted . was full of water.

Don't forget to inspect the shackle bushings & pins for the springs while you have your head under there.
Looked OK. Just rusty.

Thanks for the tips

 

[greg13]

Just be cautious not to OVER grease, It's an easy way to grease the brake shoes also. They look to me like a standard manual brake adjuster,Self adjusting brakes for trailers are few & far between. I personally like the idea of a disc brake conversion for the serge brake systems.

 

[bogydave]

Had one where the rear seal failed & inside the brake housing is full of gunk/grease but not much rust.
Got new seals, side lights to replace them (broken) new spare tire & wheel, new trailer plug
Some brakeclean & grease.
In the process of cleaning the gunky one.

 

[Flamestead]

A timely thread - tomorrow morning I'm hauling a few head of cattle. Haven't had my hubs apart in a little while, but have new seals on the shelf waiting for me to do the job. No heated shop and I don't use the trailer often, but three head isn't a big load for this trailer, and I'll be stopping along the way to check on both them and the trailer. I'm more scared about the old truck than I am the trailer.

 

[Locust Post]

You should be ready to get back to that powerline work and load that wagon full now.

 

[MasterMech]

Just be cautious not to OVER grease, It's an easy way to grease the brake shoes also. They look to me like a standard manual brake adjuster,Self adjusting brakes for trailers are few & far between. I personally like the idea of a disc brake conversion for the serge brake systems.

EZ-Lube hubs like Dave's won't grease the brakes unless the rear seal is bad. They have a rubber cap on the front grease cap that will blow out long before an over-greased hub will push grease thru a good rear seal.

Self-Adjusting electric brake assemblies are indeed rare on most utility trailers but if you happen to be replacing the backing assemblies anyways, the cost difference for the upgrade is negligible.

If I had a surge brake setup on a utility trailer, especially a tandem, that'd be the first thing I'd throw out. Convert it to Electric over Hydraulic since you only need the actuator and controller, the rest of the system carries over. You can do a disc conversion if you wanted but the surge actuator is definitely the first thing to go in the chit can. You guys that tow heavy boats know why.

 

[MasterMech]

Double lip seal ? ​

Double lip seals are much better at keeping water out and much better at keeping grease in. Sometimes referred to as a marine seal.

http://www.etrailer.com/question-34992.html
http://www.etrailer.com/question-21505.html

 

[bogydave]

Got the Right side done.
The seals were double lip
Left side tomorrow. Think I'll just put new seals on them too. Not leadking by
but since I'm in there cleaning out the old grease & bearings, easy now .
Spraying it all down with brake clean & pumping in new grease.

Liking the grease zerk axles
Called "EZ-Lube" I think

Replaced front side lights. Working on new connector.
Pin number & colors on the one I got are different but pretty sure the wiring is:

Only have 5 wires, brake controller , turn & tail lights & ground to worry about.

 

[MasterMech]

I like this one too, shows the std wire colors too. Less readin' to do.

What do you have for a connection to the truck Dave? 7 way (blade or RV style is the most common/versatile) is the way to go. I have a combo 4-flat and 7 way RV connector on the truck. Got tired of carrying/losing adapters. Now I only carry a 7way RV -> 6-way round adapter in each truck. And that rarely gets used.

Here's what mine look like.

Also a good idea to run 12V Aux to the trailer to re-charge the breakaway battery when the trailer is connected to the truck. You do have a breakaway system on that trailer right?

 

[bogydave]

I have the one your picture shows
6 blades & a round center pin

A 4 pin adapter for the boat & single axle.
You're right, finding & using the adapter is a PIA

 

[jeff_t]

Why the flat blade terminals, instead of the round pins like a big truck uses? Been a PITA for me more than once, and doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[bogydave]

Why the flat blade terminals, instead of the round pins like a big truck uses? Been a PITA for me more than once, and doesn't make any sense to me.

That's what came on the PU

 

[jeff_t]

That's what came on the PU

Not directed to you, just the industry in general. I have borrowed a couple of heavier duty equipment trailers that are usually pulled by smaller dump trucks, and had to adapt from the 7 round to the 7 blade on my truck.

Another time, I spun a big truck around in a tight parking lot, and the brake hoses and cord caught on something on the back of the cab. Popped the hoses off and pulled the wires out of the plug. Some terminals were kinda smoked, so I figured it would be easier to walk over to TSC and pick up a new male end and rewire it, instead of waiting a couple of hours for road service. They had all kinds of RV plugs, but nothing for a truck (that's just something else that pisses me off about TSC, but that's another story).

Just sayin', I don't know why they have to be different. I guess they are wired differently, and it prevents me from having lights when I back a pickup under a 53 footer

 

[greg13]

Be careful going by strictly color code, RVs use a different code. Use a test light to make sure.
Standard wiring function RV code
White Ground White
Blue Elec.brakes Blue
Brown Tail lts. Green
Yellow Left turn Red
Green Right turn Brown

It's very easy to get confused!! ( Sorry, the forum set up won't let me make a list with spaces)

I like this one too, shows the std wire colors too. Less readin' to do.

What do you have for a connection to the truck Dave? 7 way (blade or RV style is the most common/versatile) is the way to go. I have a combo 4-flat and 7 way RV connector on the truck. Got tired of carrying/losing adapters. Now I only carry a 7way RV -> 6-way round adapter in each truck. And that rarely gets used.

Here's what mine look like.

Also a good idea to run 12V Aux to the trailer to re-charge the breakaway battery when the trailer is connected to the truck. You do have a breakaway


system on that trailer right?

 

[bogydave]

Wired it in. Got a battery & tested. One wire from + to touch the pins.
Grounded the battery then forgot which one on the connector was ground.
A little arc welding & now it has a nice black mark, easy to ID now

Connected to the truck, everything worked.
Had one side wheels off the ground, got them spinning & hit the brakes, even they worked

New plates. That's a story.
Gut I got it from never registered it, He never had the guy he bought it from sign the title.
Wife at DMV,
lady says no go, if can't get it signed, a title with some kind of insurance incase original owner claims it.

Wife looks up original owner in the phone book. Finds him, calls, he exists, drives to his place in Sutton, (MP 60) he signs the title.
Back to DMV, she is allowed to "Line jump".
Got it registered.
I owe her big time !

Almost usable.
Wood deck will need replaced, when under the trailer, I can see the bottoms of several 2X6s are rotten.
Deck usable, but not for real heavy loads.

 

[MasterMech]

Why the flat blade terminals, instead of the round pins like a big truck uses? Been a PITA for me more than once, and doesn't make any sense to me.

You what makes even less sense? Using the big lug in the center of the RV plug for reverse lights. Always thought they should switch that to either the elec brakes or better yet use it for feeding 12V Aux power to the trailer. But that makes a mess much like the old 6-way round plugs. Some are wired with the 12V Aux on the center pin and some are wired with the elec. brakes on that pin. Plug a trailer in that is wired on the opposite standard than the truck and the trailer brakes are locked.

 

[MasterMech]

New plates. That's a story. Gut I got it from never registered it, He never had the guy he bought it from sign the title. Wife at DMV, lady says no go, if can't get it signed, a title with some kind of insurance incase original owner claims it.​

Don't even get me started with brain-dead DMV personell. Bought a trailer in Alabama. AL doesn't require titles on trailers. Drove it back to NY and tried to register. Presented a certificate of origin from the OEM, and a bill of sale from the orginal owner of the trailer (a business). No Go, they told me I need a title. Did my HW, tried again, I explained that AL doesn't do titles for trailers. She tells me there's nothing she can do without a title. I asked to speak to a supervisor, no luck there either. Switched DMV offices, a very nice lady beat a computer keyboard to death in the process but had me titled and registered in less than 45 minutes.

I didn't even gripe about having to pay the difference in sales tax from AL to NY. AL gets 4%, NY gets 8%.

"We're from the government and we're here to help...."

 

[bogydave]

You what makes even less sense? Using the big lug in the center of the RV plug for reverse lights. Always thought they should switch that to either the elec brakes or better yet use it for feeding 12V Aux power to the trailer. But that makes a mess much like the old 6-way round plugs. Some are wired with the 12V Aux on the center pin and some are wired with the elec. brakes on that pin. Plug a trailer in that is wired on the opposite standard than the truck and the trailer brakes are locked.

+1 . Center lug should be heavy + DC. (Guy might want to put a winch on a wood hauler trailer )
When researching I found several different wirings schematics.
Knew close to what I had so I knew the trailer pug I had, the color scheme was wrong.


"We're from the government and we're here to help...."

50 years ago or so, the Government used to work "For us"
Now we work "for the Gov"
& it keeps getting bigger

 

[MasterMech]

+1 . Center lug should be heavy + DC. (Guy might want to put a winch on a wood hauler trailer )​

If you're going to need that much power on-board then a battery on the trailer is the way to go for sure.

 

[bogydave]

If you're going to need that much power on-board then a battery on the trailer is the way to go for sure.

Was thinking the same thing. Hook the +12DC to the battery to charge it.
I'd like to put a winch on the front so I could winch logs on the trailer.
Weld a tow hitch receiver & then plug in a winch or other tools.
Somebody put one on the front & put a 2' trailer ball to hook the log splitter to , thought it was a good idea

Got all 4 hubs done. Cleaned & greased bearings, new seals. new grease. adj the brakes.

 

[nate379]

Was thinking the same thing. Hook the +12DC to the battery to charge it.
I'd like to put a winch on the front so I could winch logs on the trailer.
]

Without some sort of charge controller it won't work. It will either blow the fuse constantly or melt the wiring. Also will kill the truck battery if it stays plugged in.

Been there, done that, ruined the t shirt.

Prolly this would work... (broken link removed)

 

[bogydave]

Without some sort of charge controller it won't work. It will either blow the fuse constantly or melt the wiring. Also will kill the truck battery if it stays plugged in.

Been there, done that, ruined the t shirt.

Makes sense. Camper trailers have some kind of charger set up. If I ever do it, be prudent to install the right stuff.
PIA to be out & have dead batts on trailer & truck & out of cell phone range .

 

[nate379]

I went the easy way and just charge the battery when needed with a reg 120v to 12v charger.


Mech... Know all about the 6 pin being wired wrong. Towed a trailer 10+ miles before I realized the brakes were dragging... From smoke rolling off the trailer wheels!
They must have been out if adjustment or worn cause it didn't pull hard. My trailer will put you teeth in the steering wheel if full power goes to the brakes!