Another vault hub came apart

[bkeenom]

Just replace full torsion arm spindle and hub on port side rear. This morning coming back from getting warranty transfer on the motor the front starboard side let loose. Tire went bouncing down the road and jumped the interstate median. When I changed the other spindle I'I checked the other three for evidence of leakage and there was none. That was a hundred miles ago. Now I'm a little bit concerned about the other two letting loose. Dexter warranty the first one and I'm sure the warranty this one. 2017 trailer. I just wish the parts were more readily available locally.

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[javelin90]

I had similar hubs on my Stratos. Club member had same boat as myself. He switched it from Vault style hub to grease. I know grease is messier but he had similar failure heading to lake. So i switched mine from oil to grease. At least if mine the seal develops a bad leak, I can at least grease it with the grease gun. With the Oil style you might not see it leaking on a trip and before you can stop to add oil it destroys the hub and spindle.

[fishnfireman]

Doubt this is the reply your looking for ----------From the looks of the OLD oil inside the calipers and the end of the axle, that things been leaking a long time.
Nothing in the world wrong with vault hubs. I've never seen a seal just BLOW out they will start leaking LONG before it reaches the point of melting a hub like pictured above. Some of us need to look on the inside of the wheels once in a while.. A good time to do it is when the boats off in the parking lot. I look at trailers all the time and just shake my head.
Just calling it like I see it. sorry !!

[captainrab]

Good point. I also keep an infrared temp gun in my truck and check bearing temps before I remove the boat just to make sure that I don’t have a bearing that’s warmer than the others. Temp variations along with checking seals mitigates a catastrophic failure. The temp gun is relatively inexpensive on eBay. Hope this helps. Take care.

[fishnfireman]

Good point. I also keep an infrared temp gun in my truck and check bearing temps before I remove the boat just to make sure that I don’t have a bearing that’s warmer than the others. Temp variations along with checking seals mitigates a catastrophic failure. The temp gun is relatively inexpensive on eBay. Hope this helps. Take care.

Never thought of that.. ON long trips every time we stop I grab the end of each hub. it's not as good as a temp gun but a bad one will dang sure be hotter than the rest.

[bkeenom]

Never thought of that.. ON long trips every time we stop I grab the end of each hub. it's not as good as a temp gun but a bad one will dang sure be hotter than the rest.

Go 50 mi to fish Saturday morning. When we got to the lake I touched each hub and they were cold. Also inspected the inside of all three of the other wheels when I put the new spindle on.
I am not a vault hater. previous Skeeter was pulled all over the country with no issues on 10-year vault hubs. It is really easy to see when they are leaking in these were not as of Saturday morning

[krindgen]

Sorry, that is ugly. Catastrophic failure.

[fishnfireman]

I'll have to take your word on that as I wasn't there.. Just saying that picture with the caked on oil and road grime tells me it's been leaking a long time. It's been my experience in West Texas it takes a while to get that much build up.
Good luck with it.

[ifishinxs]

Might be a bad angle in the picture buy it looks like inner brake pad is almost to the metal and outside pad looks good. Frozen up calipers can cause alot of issues.

[Jeff Hahn]

Maybe it s because I’m old, but after having greased hubs for ages that never gave me any trouble and then oil bath hubs that left me beside the interstate twice, I can not for the life of me figure out why boat manufacturers went with oil hubs. Greased hubs, if not over greased, as as bullet proof as it gets.

[DaveBrabec]

Vault hubs dont have oil they use a hybrid grease, But you still have to maintain them.
I have a 08 trailer and check end play and grease every couple years.
Just worked on mine.
One seal was blown out and same wheel caliper was stuck.
Replaced seals, rotors, calipers , bearings and while I was doing it changed spring bushings

[fishnfireman]

Could be I learned from the old style that I have no issues with the new. That and helping others taught me some hard earned lessons. You can't wait for 5 years or have an issue before checking and not expect problems. How many of us actually LOOK at both sides on a regular basis ?? It shouldn't take but one roadside failure to make you put it on the check list!.. The ONLY advantage that grease hubs have over oil is they will run a LOT longer than oil once that seal is compromised before a complete failure. Trailer seals aren't the best and it only takes a small piece of sand under the seal lip to start the process. Hopefully someday they'll be as good as the ones on our trucks..
PS-- Even though the Vault system uses hybrid grease, as the hub heats it it turns to an oil consistency and will leak out much faster than regular grease.

[bkeenom]

Might be a bad angle in the picture buy it looks like inner brake pad is almost to the metal and outside pad looks good. Frozen up calipers can cause alot of issues.

The fiber is broken off The brake pad. You can also see part of it broken off on the other pad. came apart pretty violently and broke the caliper as well.