Another Wheel Bearing Post

Less than a month ago we stopped in Glendale, AZ and had our 50,000 miles wheel bearing inspection and repack. We found an RV store to do the work, and were told everything (bearings, brakes) looked great. That is what we wanted to hear, since we were planning on spending 7 weeks in Mexico.

When we were in San Ignacio, Baja California Sur, Mexico we noticed a squeaking noise that seemed to be coming from the driver's side trailer wheel hub. We stopped and took off the dust cap, removed the cotter pin and backed the splined nut off one castellation. We test drove it, and the squeak had disappeared.

The next day while passing through a military checkpoint we noticed the squeak again, though not as loud. Not wanting to deal with the inevitable language barrier at a local mechanic, I e-mailed Cary for his thoughts on whether this was something that we needed to deal with right away or not. He replied that a squeaky hub was an unfamiliar symptom to him, that it was likely coming from the torsion bar suspension. He offered a remedy for that and said it was not something that needed immediate attention.

The next day we were heading out of La Paz and heard the same noise. We listened to see if the noise was happening in time with the roughness of the road, or whether it was in time with the rotation of the wheel. It seemed to us to be the latter. I was thinking that at some point I would stop and try loosing the splined nut again, but this was a holiday weekend. When we reached Mex 1 we found 6 lanes of traffic on a 4 lane road, so there were very few places to pull over. We figured we would wait until we reached our campground a short distance down the road, only to find the campground closed.

A bit further down the road I thought I was sensing an unfamiliar vibration, but couldn't determine where it was coming from. I pulled over, checked for excessive play on the wheels of the camper. They seemed fine. I stood on the bumper to see if I could get the suspension to squeak. It did, a little. So perhaps there was something to the torsion bar scenario?

A short distance later we were leaving Todos Santos when I noticed in the rear view mirror that the driver's side hub cap was careening down the road behind us. I stopped immediately to retrieve it. That is when I noticed our recently repacked wheel bearing was badly damaged - the bearing race had disintegrated, and a strip of metal from it was dangling out past the splined nut.

I called Cary and described the symptoms, and he said it almost certainly that the hub had been over tightened. There have been a rash of such instances recently, so I thought I'd share Cary's recommendations and my own experiences and thoughts for how to avoid our fate.

Cary sent me the following link to a video that shows how to properly repack our bearings:


Not being mechanically inclined, I suspect I'll never attempt this. But I tried recreating the final steps to see if both hubs were currently correctly tightened on our camper. They both appeared to be overtightened, so I tried loosening one and repeating the final steps on the video. I found that after the camper had been driven for a distance the method shown in the video did not work (either that or I'm too wimpy to turn that splined nut very far by hand).

So I referred to the Camp-Inn Owners Manual. There it says there should be some play in the bearings, approximately 1/16" worth. So I tightened the hub back to where there was no play. Then I backed it off to until there was some play, not having a good sense of whether that was 1/16". I then backed it off one more castellation, and that was clearly too much play. So I retightened it one castlellation, and once again checked for play. That seemed to be the sweet spot that Cary said was necessary to keep these bearings from being damaged from being either too loose or too tight.

The moral of our story is that we will inspect for excessive play periodically, but will only repack bearings every 50,000 miles or so. We'll have that done at an RV repair facility (Cary says some trailer repair places are more familiar with boats and may overpack the bearings, creating a different set of issues), but once we are home, I will inspect the wheels for proper play and make any needed adjustments. Given the recent rash of burned out bearings, this would seem to be a prudent precaution that all Camp Inn owners should take.

If you would like to read about our recent wheel bearing misadventure, here is the link on our blog:
A Tag Team Teardrop Trailer & Bicycling Adventure: Dias 13 & 14: Our First Misadventure

 

Thanks for a great, informative post.

 

Thanks! Hopefully it will help someone avoid our experience.

We are camped in the Serra de Laguna (near the southern end of Baja), and a fellow camper here had a farm equipment business for many years. He said that the instructions in the video and in the manual were spot on. But if in doubt, it is better for the bearings to be too loose than too tight. There should always be some play when you do the wheel test.

 

Sounds like it may not be a bad idea to carry some bearing replacement parts. What parts should I have on hand in case of a failure? Come, cup and bearing? Anyone have part numbers?

Thanks

Thanks

 

See tjcrebs post from March 1, 2014 - carrying spares don't cost very much - got mine online last year.

Bob

 

Thanks Bob. Here is the post he referenced:


Yup Alan's right Ashe, many boat trailers use the same 2000-lb rated Dexter axles as our CIs. Here's a link to Light Trailer Bearings and Seals:

http://aftermarket.federalmogul.co...ents/Light Trailer Bearing and Seal Guide.pdf

Try searching for: National Bearings A4
and: National Bearing Seals 474276

Timken's bearings and seals can be found for about $7 each. Or you can get kits with the cotter pin and bearing-races for about $20.

Be aware you'll probably need a press to replace the races.

Regards, T

 

If replacement bearings can be found in a town as small as Todos Santos, carrying spare bearings would only make sense if you were planning to be offroad for a fair amount of time. But bearings and grease only amounted to $12, which is cheap enough for peace of mind. The better insurance is simply checking to make certain that the bearings areare not over tightened.

 

I'm a have a little prepper in me. I like to have spare parts on hand.

 

We carry a spare set also. It's a small investment.

 

Then you might want to carry a propane torch with you. It was necessary to heat up what I am guessing was the inner bearing cone in order to get it off the spindle.

 

Prepper, not do-it-yourselfer......

 

Having the parts is 80% of the battle!