Trailer maintenance almost too late

[xman23]

I've been looking at the condition of the tires on my 4' x 8' 1200LBS capacity trailer for some time. The trailer is 25 years old, has lived outside. Yea the tires had sidewall cracks. Just this week a guy at work told a story of his dual axle trailer shearing off a wheel at 70MPH. It went flying by him. He used a ratchet strap to keep the axle a inch from the ground. This got my attention.

So today I needed to haul a full load of wood to the cabin. Normally this load has the tires very warm after the 70 mile trip. So I loaded about 3/4 load, stopped to fill the tires to 70 LBS. My plan was to stop at Tractor Supply. We had to search everywhere in the store and came up with 2 tires on galvanized 5 bolt rims, right size, 6 ply 1150 LBS rated. $94 each and I was on my way. I was a relived as I pulled into my driveway.

It was raining, but I got started pulling a wheel. A bit of a pain as the empty weight of the trailer is not enough to prevent the wheel from turning when I was breaking the bolts. Straps hooked into rims solved this. I got the tire off and noticed cracks in the tread of the almost bald tire. It was a miracle these tires didn't explode. I spun the hub, a dry wheel bearing sound. Pulled the hub and packed it with Bell Ray water proof bearing grease. Perfectly quiet now. This bring back memory's, haven't done this in 40 years. Will do the other wheel tomorrow.

Hope this will inspire you to check yours.

 

[Sawset]

Whenever I get hold of a new to me vehicle (or trailer) I pull the wheels and put anti-sieze on the lug bolt threads. Shearing half the studs off in a snowstorm to replace a tire years ago kind of sticks in a guys memory.

 

[andym]

Whenever I get hold of a new to me vehicle (or trailer) I pull the wheels and put anti-sieze on the lug bolt threads. Shearing half the studs off in a snowstorm to replace a tire years ago kind of sticks in a guys memory.

I do this too. Just remember it's easy to over-torque a bolt that is lubricated.

 

[Sawset]

I do this too. Just remember it's easy to over-torque a bolt that is lubricated.

Right about the over torque. Another reason to pull them, anti-sieze, then retorque. I think they come dry, and the service stations use air impact sockets. Give it some corrosion time and they can be no fun to get loose. I know they spec torque requirements, but thats one thing I haven't done is torque lug nuts to a spec. Maybe because it comes from a day where I knew no one with a torque wrench. 18" socket wrench, cinch it nice and snug, alternate the tighten sequence, have never had a warped rotor or loosening lug nuts.

 

[Gearhead660]

I've been looking at the condition of the tires on my 4' x 8' 1200LBS capacity trailer for some time. The trailer is 25 years old, has lived outside. Yea the tires had sidewall cracks. Just this week a guy at work told a story of his dual axle trailer shearing off a wheel at 70MPH. It went flying by him. He used a ratchet strap to keep the axle a inch from the ground. This got my attention.

So today I needed to haul a full load of wood to the cabin. Normally this load has the tires very warm after the 70 mile trip. So I loaded about 3/4 load, stopped to fill the tires to 70 LBS. My plan was to stop at Tractor Supply. We had to search everywhere in the store and came up with 2 tires on galvanized 5 bolt rims, right size, 6 ply 1150 LBS rated. $94 each and I was on my way. I was a relived as I pulled into my driveway.

It was raining, but I got started pulling a wheel. A bit of a pain as the empty weight of the trailer is not enough to prevent the wheel from turning when I was breaking the bolts. Straps hooked into rims solved this. I got the tire off and noticed cracks in the tread of the almost bald tire. It was a miracle these tires didn't explode. I spun the hub, a dry wheel bearing sound. Pulled the hub and packed it with Bell Ray water proof bearing grease. Perfectly quiet now. This bring back memory's, haven't done this in 40 years. Will do the other wheel tomorrow.

Hope this will inspire you to check yours.

Preventive maintenance on anything will save you in the long run. Reduces headaches too.

 

[peakbagger]

I had a friend whose family owned a boat that they towed around to both salt and fresh water. The dad was a salesman and nebotiated the boat with the trailer thrown in. The trailer was really not heavy duty enough and it had relatively small diameter wheels and borderline axles. It got stranded a couple of times on the side of the road with a cooked bearing usually late on a Sunday afternoon. Not fun.

 

[paulnlee]

We went camping for years with a pickup camper. On the way to work I passed by a 5th wheel in a yard. Finally stopped and asked if it was for sale, yes, bought it. On our way to Raystown Lake in PA, around dead mans curve in Easton heard a crunch and a wheel goes rolling by. Dumb a$$ newbie to trailering.

 

[firefighterjake]

I take off the trailer tires every Fall and put them back on with anti-sieze . . . ever since a trip up north to the County where I had a flat and could not get the tire off no matter how hard I reefed on the lug wrench. Trying to remove the tire in the cold and snow at night beside a busy road is not much fun. Fortunately, I called my buddy from Washburn who came down with his father and uncle and they attempted to get the tire off . . . to no avail. However, this being the County, they noticed a homeowner nearby in a garage, went over and asked the complete stranger if he had a torch they could use and of course the guy told them to pull the trailer in and he would get it off . . . folks are like that in the County.

I did however learn another important lesson this winter . . . two lessons really.

Lesson 1: When you take off the tire to put on anti-seize and grease up the bearings make sure you snug up the lug nuts after you've let the jack down and recheck them a few miles down the road.

Lesson 2: If you're driving on I-95 and it seems as though the trailer is making a louder noise than normal you should probably stop and check it over.

Learned this lesson when I got off the highway, turned right and saw my trailer's driver side tire go rolling off into the ditch. Ended up breaking several studs . . . again at night . . . in the cold. Fortunately I had a few spare studs and we were able to half-@#$ things by stealing some lug nuts from the other wheel and very slowly limp to a friend's house 4 miles away.

 

[Sean McGillicuddy]

Jake ... No you can't borrow my trailer ....

 

[maple1]

U bolts.

I took a deeper look than usual under my sled trailer (15 years old?) last summer and it was a holy crap moment. The bolts were all corroded down to spindly little spikes of rust. Got new kits right away, they twisted right off when I changed them.

 

[ABMax24]

I will never put anti-seize on my lug nuts, if it takes an impact or long breaker bar to remove them that's fine, but I don't want to put anything on the threads that will make it easier for them to come off themselves.

One other thing to check is trailer brakes, it's surprising how many trailers come without self-adjusting shoes in an effort to save cost. You do have to jack up every wheel and adjust them manually to get it right. Even my 2018 33' 10,500 lb fifth wheel RV is this way, for what we paid for it I they should be self-adjusting though.

But as mentioned above boat trailers also need special attention, water does terrible things to bearings, the bearings on my boat trailer were toast after 5 years.

 

[bholler]

I put anti seize on every lug nut I put on. And have never had one come off other than when I had the wrong nuts for a set of wheels. As long as they are the right ones and torqued correctly they won't come off. You do have to retorque them after a little bit though

 

[maple1]

I have never had a problem getting lug nuts off. As long as I had the right tools. Which you might not have if you're road side. Maybe I have been lucky.

But have had problems getting the wheel off the drum, after the nuts are off. There's where I have put antiseize - on the wheel/drum mating surface.

 

[Zack R]

I put anti seize on every lug nut I put on. And have never had one come off other than when I had the wrong nuts for a set of wheels. As long as they are the right ones and torqued correctly they won't come off. You do have to retorque them after a little bit though

I do the same thing on all my vehicles. I don't slather the threads in antisieze, it just takes a little bit. I also put some on the back of the wheel where it contacts the hub for the same reasons others have mentioned. Beating the side of a tire with your boot isn't fun.

A often skipped step is the final torque check after driving a short distance. Most tire shops say 50 miles, I do mine probably after 10 miles or however far it is to town and back.

 

[Sawset]

I had a 67 chevy impala 45yrs ago. The "studded snow tires" needed to come off. Nuts came off fine - rims needed a heavy sledge and a lot of cussing to get them off. 96 ranger also was a little tight. Seems that if the rim center hole goes over a lip on the rotor, it may bind from too tight of fit. My camper rims are that way, but they had some grease in that area, so they've slipped off easy enough.

 

[peakbagger]

I will never put anti-seize on my lug nuts, if it takes an impact or long breaker bar to remove them that's fine, but I don't want to put anything on the threads that will make it easier for them to come off themselves.

One other thing to check is trailer brakes, it's surprising how many trailers come without self-adjusting shoes in an effort to save cost. You do have to jack up every wheel and adjust them manually to get it right. Even my 2018 33' 10,500 lb fifth wheel RV is this way, for what we paid for it I they should be self-adjusting though.

But as mentioned above boat trailers also need special attention, water does terrible things to bearings, the bearings on my boat trailer were toast after 5 years.

A lot of folks dont understand a bolted joint, heck ASME offers a couple of day course on the bolted joint. The concept with a bolted joint is that the screw threads convert radial torque into tension. Almost every bolting instruction I have seen advocates the use of lubricant on the threads as if there is friction between the mating surfaces, the torque is applied to the friction rather than stretching the bolt. This means the actual torque applied to stretch the bolt is less than planned. Some bolting systems skip the torque wrench and actually grab the head of the bolt and stretch it to the desired tension and then the nut is just snugged so its flat, the tool then releases the head so that the bolt is at the right tension.

 

[ABMax24]

A lot of folks dont understand a bolted joint, heck ASME offers a couple of day course on the bolted joint. The concept with a bolted joint is that the screw threads convert radial torque into tension. Almost every bolting instruction I have seen advocates the use of lubricant on the threads as if there is friction between the mating surfaces, the torque is applied to the friction rather than stretching the bolt. This means the actual torque applied to stretch the bolt is less than planned. Some bolting systems skip the torque wrench and actually grab the head of the bolt and stretch it to the desired tension and then the nut is just snugged so its flat, the tool then releases the head so that the bolt is at the right tension.

I understand how the relationship between lubrication of threads, torque values and bolt/stud tensions. Torquing is a major part of my trade, most of our stuff is hydraulically torqued as torque specs can easily exceed 3000 ftlbs. We don't use the stud tensioning method as it's too hard to accurately get the same gasket tension time after time.

That being said at the company I work for we have far more issues on our trucks that have had the studs lubed, for 2 reasons, almost every OEM specs wheel nut torques based on dry threads, torquing to the same value when lubed over tensions the stud and runs the risk of failure at some point in the future. The second is the risk of the lug nut coming loose, this seems to be a much bigger issue on trucks that are hub-centric and use nuts with the flat pressed in washer, tapered nuts seem to come loose less frequently. Obviously you could reduce the torque when lubed to prevent over-tensioning, but that exacerbates problem 2, it makes it even easier for the nut to spin off.

I know many don't think lug nuts loosening off is a major problem, but dodge used to put left hand thread nuts on the drivers side of their cars to try and prevent this.

Feel free to lube yours, but mine will continue to go on dry, I've yet to have a wheel come off, frankly I've never even had a nut turn on me when re torquing the wheels after the first 100 km.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I understand how the relationship between lubrication of threads, torque values and bolt/stud tensions. Torquing is a major part of my trade, most of our stuff is hydraulically torqued as torque specs can easily exceed 3000 ftlbs. We don't use the stud tensioning method as it's too hard to accurately get the same gasket tension time after time.

That being said at the company I work for we have far more issues on our trucks that have had the studs lubed, for 2 reasons, almost every OEM specs wheel nut torques based on dry threads, torquing to the same value when lubed over tensions the stud and runs the risk of failure at some point in the future. The second is the risk of the lug nut coming loose, this seems to be a much bigger issue on trucks that are hub-centric and use nuts with the flat pressed in washer, tapered nuts seem to come loose less frequently. Obviously you could reduce the torque when lubed to prevent over-tensioning, but that exacerbates problem 2, it makes it even easier for the nut to spin off.

I know many don't think lug nuts loosening off is a major problem, but dodge used to put left hand thread nuts on the drivers side of their cars to try and prevent this.

Feel free to lube yours, but mine will continue to go on dry, I've yet to have a wheel come off, frankly I've never even had a nut turn on me when re torquing the wheels after the first 100 km.

I have been lubing threads for years and have seen unlubed come loose. I worked for a tire shop years ago and they refused to use lube. I made the statement about accurately torquing lugs and they told me it was their way or the highway. Later that day two cars were brought in after the wheels came off on the highway. The shop ate the damages but still refused to lube threads. It is practically impossible to know what the actual tension on a fastener is with dry threads/surfaces. They will always bind and proper torque will not be reached safely.

 

[Sawset]

It is practically impossible to know what the actual tension on a fastener is with dry threads/surfaces. They will always bind and proper torque will not be reached safely.

Interesting the contrast between torque and tension.
I did a little looking into bolted fastener connections (vs welded) when building a trailer here. Fastening can be a matter of cost of labor and materials, and whether the joints need to be disassembled or not. There are examples of bolted joints everywhere, but also those that are welded, with both equally strong and fail safe. The trailer I was replacing was built in the 60s, not a weld on it, no joint ever loosened, or any of the lubed lug nuts.

 

[peakbagger]

Anyone who has had a set of threads gall will quickly figure out that torque does not always equal tension. The old cadmium plated fasteners would practically never gall but due to the toxicity of the cadmium, fasteners coated with the replacement coatings just don't work as well. Stainless is the worst, look at a thread wrong and it will gall. I use a lot of stainless on my solar installations and dab every thread with a spot of never seize, yes its messy and another thing to carry in the pouch but the time and hassle spent snapping or cutting a galled thread without it makes it worthwhile.