Reasons to NOT Postpone Bearing Maintenance

And that is why I stress doing an end play test often. Simply giving the wheels a good aggressive shake to feel the bearing play regularly is important before it gets to the point of a major failure like this. Probably every other gas stop you should be shaking your wheels to test end play.

Cary
 
It looks like the drum (in this situation) is still attached to the wayward wheel. Would that imply that the bearing seized and the axle eventually just snapped off from the wear?

Also, I'm guessing this trailer must have had a tandem axle. Otherwise, he would have been limping along and sending sparks down the highway with one wheel until he stopped. He was really lucky.
 
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SouthernStar said:
It looks like the drum (in this situation) is still attached to the wayward wheel. Would that imply that the bearing seized and the axle eventually just snapped off from the wear?
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Yes, some sort of spindle failure on the axle had to happen for the whole hub/drum to depart the axle. Either seized bearing and snapped spindle like you suggested or wore itself clean through from a totally chewed up bearing. Could be non bearing related though and perhaps the spindle got cracked and finally fully failed while driving. I have seen that happen. It appeared to be a cattle/horse trailer that lost the wheel so this is a trailer that often leaves the pavement and perhaps it was involved in a rough terrain incident that damaged the spindle.

Cary
 
I can attest to what @Cary Winch is saying -- I've seen 3 situations so far this year where catastropic failure happened, or was imminent. Check before each trip, and at every rest/gas stop. It takes 5 seconds per side.

For what it is worth, these don't require highway speeds to fail. A customer drove their camper from their home to the storage lot --- just a few miles, never above 45mph. The wheel was so hot when they arrived at the storage location, walking past the camper, they felt heat on their legs as they walked past the camper -- proably 3 feet away from it. Had they been on the highway it could have been tragic.

The sad part is, their dealer never even mentioned wheel bearing maintenance to them, and they had no idea they needed to do it - they thought it was just like their car.
 
+100 on this...
I have a related story on a wheel coming off my old Blazer in baja just as I was rolling into a llanteria 40 years ago

Its not hard to just get in the habit of checking bearings, and relatively easy to do it yourself vs have someone screw it up for pay.

Read The F@$ing Manual (RTFM) is the humorous reminder in a couple car forums I follow...

PS: there is a Metric Sh1t Ton of highly valuable advice on how to DIY here too.

Thanks again @Sweeney and @Cary Winch and CI crew for keeping this forum as a resource for us fanboi's and loyal customers and lurking customers to be.

Appreciate you!
 
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TheSongDogHouse said:
+100 on this...
I have a related story on a wheel coming off my old Blazer in baja just as I was rolling into a llanteria 40 years ago

Its not hard to just get in the habit of checking bearings, and relatively easy to do it yourself vs have someone screw it up for pay.

Read The F@$ing Manual (RTFM) is the humorous reminder in a couple car forums I follow...

PS: there is a Metric Sh1t Ton of highly valuable advice on how to DIY here too.

Thanks again @Sweeney and @Cary Winch and CI crew for keeping this forum as a resource for us fanboi's and loyal customers and lurking customers to be.

Appreciate you!
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Who are you kidding? I'm probably the biggest fanboi out here! This forum is absolutely my favorite place to spend my free time!
 
Cary Winch said:
And that is why I stress doing an end play test often. Simply giving the wheels a good aggressive shake to feel the bearing play regularly is important before it gets to the point of a major failure like this. Probably every other gas stop you should be shaking your wheels to test end play.

Cary
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How much play are we looking for? Mine wiggle a tiny bit, maybe 1/8" or so
 
Dan sloan said:
How much play are we looking for? Mine wiggle a tiny bit, maybe 1/8" or so
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That is perfect. It can be less than that and even a little more than that. What you don't want is for it to be several times that which would indicate service is due. If both sides are too loose likely just time for bearing service. If one side is normal and the other side is notably more that could be indicative of a bearing starting to fail and would be the trigger to go find a mechanic to pull it apart and inspect.

This is why we recommend carrying one (no reason for two) full bearing kit in the camper in case this scenario happens in the middle of no where. Finding a mechanic to work on it is fairly easy but that may involve waiting for bearings and seals to ship from a parts store warehouse the next day.

Cary
 
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