lateral play in trailer bearings

[dlb]

we just bought a '79 bigfoot fiberglass travel trailer. i'm going over the thing and checked the bearings and brakes yesterday. when i jacked up one side and tugged on the wheel, i found quite a bit of play. i figured the big nut just needed to be tightened a bit but even when the nut was bottomed out and tight as it would go, the play was still present. the play is about 1-2 mm straight in and out, pushing and pulling the wheel to and from the camper. i checked the other side and it was fine with no noticeable play.

we wanted to take this thing on a fairly big test trip this weekend, 12 hrs of driving in total. but i don't know if i want to risk it like this (i won't have time to fix it before then).

having virtually no experience with this stye of bearings, would anyone here agree with me that this is a bearing problem and that they probably need to be replaced? would it be foolish to through another washer under the big nut so that it can hold things more snugly, just as a temporary measure for this weekend?

[larry mcgrath]

Thats way to much play in a wheel bearing. First pull the hub and check the bearings --- are they tapered roller or ball bearings--- Generly there is a thick washer with a protruding notch on the washer to prevent the nut from backing off, even though the nut has a cotter key instaled. I wouldn't tow it like this. Pull the other side off , I'll bet it has a washer on it. Go to the Timkin bearing sight there it a super video on the Proper way to torque wheel bearings, instead of WAGing it. Larry

[dlb]

thanks larry. the outer bearing is a roller style, i couldn't see the inner one for all the grease in there and didn't poke around to check what kind it was at the time.

both sides have the thick washer with the protruding notch on it, the offending side is not missing it. that is what leads me to believe that the inner bearing on the bad side is hooped. i thought tightening the nut would take up the slack on both the inner and outer bearings. is this not the case? does the nut only apply pressure to the outer bearing?

[larry mcgrath]

Pull the hub off and look at the the rear bearing and race and cone, the nut preloads bouth bearings. larry

[splatterdog]

If you take it apart, make sure the outer races haven't spun in the hub. It's easy to tell as they should be press fit. Inner races can spin too, causing a groove on the spindle.

[Petros]

this much play usually means they are worn too far, and will fairly quickly chew themselves apart into dust.

If you take it out and clean it good and put in fresh grease, it may last your trip no problem. OTOH, it might grind away to dust in the next 20 miles (I have seen it), than with spindle riding directly on the races, you will end up having to replace the hub and spindle too. Evenually it will grind all the way through the spindle and it will break off, you loose the wheel and have no way to put a tire back on it.

So, make your choice and take your chances. I had that much ply on my Tercel front wheel bearing for about six months (5000 plus miles) and finally replaced the bearing because it was getting too noisy. I also has something similar on my Pathfinder, and after one 4 hour trip the bearing was dust, fortunately the spindle was not damage too much.

[dlb]

pulled it apart and everything looks fine. the inner bearing is a roller-style, larry. no obvious wear marks on the bearings or races. the only thing that looks suspicious is the race for the inner bearing looked off-center to me in the drum. see the pics. the silver circle at the bottom is the lip of the inner race. you can see it is not equal all the way around. i measured it for wear once it was out and it's equal, 5 mm all the way around. so i'm hoping the problem is not the drum itself but i guess i could also just replace that.

bearing 009.jpg

bearing 011.jpg

bearing 012.jpg

[larry mcgrath]

David your pix dont show a lot, from the look of the pix I'd say their trash, these are tapered rollers .the race should be highley polished with NO pitting........ did you look at the TIMKEN BEARING sight? There should be a lot of great info there Larry

[Gottolovem]

I'm no expert but i'm with Larry their pretty rough. Their probably good for the one 12 hr trip but you know that it will be the only thing your thinking about the whole time.

How about some picks of the trailer? Bigfoots are well made
You going to tow it with the Ford and ditch the cab over?

[dlb]

i didn't think to take detailed pics of the bearings or races because all the surfaces look polished and even to me, no pitting. but the play was undeniable so i took everything to the store and the guy there said the inner bearing felt rough to him when he rolled it around the race. i don't understand how that would translate to 1-2 mm of lateral play in the hub when everything is done up snug but i guess that's the case. i am convinced the off-center inner race is part of the problem.

so i ordered two complete assemblies -- drums, bearings, races, seals, lug nuts, etc, for $70 each. i'll just do the one side for now since the other side checked out fine, but bring the second assembly along as a spare in case we have troubles. it will come in useful one day and i can rest easier knowing we have a backup in case something falls apart on a trip. the last thing i want is to have to haul the camper on a flat deck to a shop that is closed for the long weekend.

i'll go take some more pics now.

[dlb]

ok just spun the bearings and they both feel sort of gritty to me. again, not sure how that could cause 1-2 mm of play but it doesn't really matter because that play is definitely there.

pics!

bearing2 003.jpg

bearing2 004.jpg

bearing2 005.jpg

bearing2 006.jpg

bearing2 007.jpg

bearing2 008.jpg

bearing2 009.jpg

i think we got pretty lucky with this. it's a '79 but we've checked lots of others of the same vintage they generally sell for $6000-$7000. this one was $3200 but they took $2000. i don't think they knew what fiberglass campers usually go for, and they were on a gulf island which makes it a hassle for people wanting to look at it. everything works well and it's really clean. no leaks, even in the monsoon we just had. i had to do some wiring on the truck to get the second battery to power the interior stuff of the camper and clean a bunch of dirty contacts on the exterior lights but that's it. there are other small jobs i want to do on it eventually but they can wait.

jenn wanted a travel trailer instead of the camper so it's easier to use the truck for stuff besides camping in the summer. we also like that we can drop this at a camping site and then take the truck elsewhere for whatever. however, i don't like towing anything if i can avoid it so we're going to test it out in the next few months and see how we feel. worst case scenario, we flip it and make some money on it. not so bad.

[Gottolovem]

very cool

Doesn't it have it's own battery's? If not it's a great idea to add them with a solar panel to keep them topped off year round.
My motor home has two deep cycle battery's and one GOOD panel "not the cheep harbor freight crap". When camping others have to run their generators every day to top off their battery's for the up coming evening! Not me full battery's every night no noise or wasted fuel.

[Petros]

those are nice little trailers, they hold their value very well because the metal ones tend to develop leaks at the seams and get moldy inside the walls. No seams on this one piece top. looks like a well thought out interior too. We had an inexpensive used mini trailer for a while, the small ones are easy to tow, even with the older 4 cyl. import trucks. and easy to leave behind in a camp site so you can drive around with the truck for local sight seeing. Works well for stopping in a rest stop or walmart parking lot and crawling into the back for a nap or overnight sleep, and than be on your way in minutes in the morning (unlike tent camping). Smaller ones are easy to tow and back up, and usually not a big deal to park if you use the far side of the parking lot. It also does not affect your fuel economy much. If you use them regularly they are nice to have for cross country camping, adventure travel in remote areas and similar uses, even for having a place to sleep in ski areas in the winter. You also have more privacy and security as compared to tent camping.

They always put light weight wheels and bearings on small travel trailers, they assume that they will not get a lot of miles (which is usually the case as compared to the family car, home made trailers that use an old car or truck axle will never have to replace the bearings). when the bearings are rough it means they have worn surfaces and with the tapered roller bearings, it does not take much wear to develop a lot of play. As stated, they might last the trip, but once you start losing metal off the surface, the wear accelerates and suddenly destroys itself real quick. So it would be a gamble to not replace the bad one. the race in the picture looks discolored, a sign of metal loss. You made the right choice, better take the time now than do it in the middle of your trip.

[dlb]

very cool

Doesn't it have it's own battery's? If not it's a great idea to add them with a solar panel to keep them topped off year round.
My motor home has two deep cycle battery's and one GOOD panel "not the cheep harbor freight crap". When camping others have to run their generators every day to top off their battery's for the up coming evening! Not me full battery's every night no noise or wasted fuel.

our truck was modified by a PO for camping and has a second battery for campers wired in in the engine bay. both batteries get charged when we drive. the truck has one 7-way plug at the front of the box for plugging in campers and another 7-way at the tail end for trailers but this plug was only wired for running lights, brake lights, and turn signals. so i had to run a 12 gauge wire from the second battery to the trailer plug (with a fuse, of course). the bigfoot's 7-way plug was already wired to accept 12 V i didn't have to do anything on that end, lucky for me.

we have a decent solar panel but haven't had a good use for it yet. i'm sure we will eventually.

[irowiki]

Just put a sign in your cab for in the morning when you're going to take a drive to unplug the trailer first