Thread: A friendly reminder.....

Check those boat trailer bearings! Even though I had greased mine, one came apart on the way home last weekend. I had stopped at a gas station and saw grease slung all over one of the wheels. Didn't take long to realize that the bearing was gone. I told the son-in-law, let's just go in and get some chicken, give it a little while to cool off, and we'll change it out. Yes---I did have two extra bearings in the truck. After a few minutes, we jacked the trailer up---under the station lights---changed out the bearing, and were back on our way in a very short amount of time. I'm sure glad we stopped though. If we had gone further, we probably would have lost the entire wheel. Smart thing---keep some extra bearings with ya---along with the right tools to change it out. (Experience is such a great teacher)

Originally Posted by randybenham

polebender,

I had the same thing happen to me this spring, but I was real close to the house. I didn't have any bearings with me, but I do now. I wound up changing out both sides, race & all. I kept the other good set of bearings, so now I have a spare in case the same thing happens again.

Couple of years ago I drove from Lepanto to Horseshoe lake on I-55. When I got to the boat ramp, I happened to look at one tire, and the hub was resting on the shaft--no bearing, race, nut or anything! To this day I don't know why it didn't fly off when I was going 70 mph on the interstate passing a big rig. Since then, I don't grease my bearings, but completely repack them at least every year and carry a spare hub and bearings with the trailer. The hubs are only about $35.00 ea., and are easier to replace in the field than bearings. ps: I had a set of Buddy Bearings on my hubs at the time!