Trailer Axle Question

[posmallie]

So Sunday afternoon I lost a bearing on my way home from the Detroit River. I didn't know until I was a few miles away from home and stopped at a gas station and saw grease all over my rim. I finished the few miles home with no issues. My hubs are Vault HLS by Dexter.

I took the wheel and hub off and took multiple pictures and sent them to Dexter because they are still under warranty. They have been very responsive and told me today that the entire axle will need to be replaced. They said they will ship it to a repair shop of my choice, but the axle will be unpainted, and they will not pay for the labor to do the swap because the trailer is more than two years old.

I called a local trailer shop and they told me I would be better off painting the axle myself because they cannot do it any better than I can. Has anyone ever painted a trailer axle, and what product(s) did you use? My trailer is black. The guy also told me that they charge $125/hour for labor, and that replacing the axle is usually a 4-5 hour job. The guy from Dexter told me that replacing an axle should only be 1-2 hours, so someone is not being truthful with me.

Has anyone replaced a trailer axle, and how difficult was it? My trailer is a single axle with surge brakes (pads and rotors). I am fairly handy, and my father-in-law is very mechanically inclined. Unless there are special tools required for the job, I have all the tools to do it. I'm thinking we could probably do it ourselves but am looking to see if anyone has nightmare stories, or if there are things I need to look out for. I also still need to contact Dexter to see if self-installation would void a future warranty. One of my big concerns about taking it to a shop is the closest one is about 5 miles away, and I'm not sure if I can get it there safely, and I know it would be a hefty towing bill.

I appreciate that Dexter is replacing the entire axle, but this warranty job is looking to cost me a lot of money if I can't do some things myself.

[bbqpitboss]

Paint the axle yourself. You need to clean it good and wipe it down with lacquer thinner before you paint it. Rattle can will work fine. The hardest part will be getting the Trailer up and supported to have room to work.

[Fish Loco]

I would spray rhino liner on it pretty sure you can buy it in a can.

[rangered]

Don’t paint it use truck bed spray on liner stuff. I had to replace an axle due to
my own fault and that’s what I used. Couple years ago and still looks good. Good luck.

[MattVT18]

Took me about an hour to replace one of my axles, but it was a "fully dressed" axle complete with hubs, brakes and new leafs and already painted so basically drop old out and jack new one in. If you have to swap a lot of stuff over it'll take longer plus if it has brakes they will have to be bled. It's not a hard job.

[posmallie]

Thanks guys. The rhino liner is a great idea. I just watched a youtube video on replacing the axle and it looks pretty basic. Anything with the brakes will be the more technical aspect of the job.

[Cliffprocraft190]

I recently needed to replace the axle on my 25-yr-old single axle boat trailer. I jacked it up and it is currently sitting on some blocks and jack stands. There were just 4 bolts holding it to the frame but since they had been on there for 25 years, penetrating oil did not get the job done in 24 hours, so I got out a torque multiplier (multiplies force 3x) and that got them off. Will buy new Grade 5 hardware to reinstall. I plan on spraying the truck bed liner on mine. My project will be fairly simple as I do not have brakes on my trailer to deal with.

The bad part is since mine was so old I had to do a lot of measuring and place an order to have Dexter build me the axle and pay for it up front. It's been ordered 3 weeks already, but they said it wouldn't be here until the end of April. Hopefully since your trailer is still under warranty, they probably will have some pre-made in stock and you will get it a lot sooner than I will get mine. I will install it myself but will have to see if the tires still wear correctly. If not, I may have to take it somewhere and have it aligned.

[wareagle24]

I've replaced one before. No big deal really. I agree about painting it with bedliner spray. You can get it at any auto parts store.

[swamprat]

A couple rattle cans of Rustoleum and done, I don't see the need for bed liner spray.

[USS COMANCHE]

I've replaced the front axle on the tandem trailer. Instead of dealing with over 20 year old u bolts, I cut the old ones off and replaced. Jack stands are your friend. Being it's a single axle, I would recommend hooking it to your vehicle before jacking it up to remove anything to help keep it stationary.
I put trash bags and taped them in place over the spindles before priming and painting the axle with rattlecan flat black rustoleum. My axle was square tubing so it took a couple days to paint. Let it dry then rotate. Spray let dry then rotate.
BTW, take an awl and mark each side of the frame where the old axle was before removing just in case you need a reference with the new.

[Highcentered]

Easy job normally. Look at it yourself and see if you're comfortable doing it. Worst part I can see is possible stubborn bolts but if they're still in good shape they shouldn't take more than some penetrating oil and maybe a cheater bar to bust loose. One of mine required the gas axe but it had been on there for nearly 30 years. I'd just use some black Rustoleum to paint it and call it a day. Only way I'd pay a shop to do that job is if it was something I just didn't feel like dealing with.

[castforcash]

Fairly easy job, I too would use some brand of truck bed liner. I prefer raptor liner, way more durable than paint and better defense against stone chips which will eventually lead to rust pitting.

[sorrybasser]

I recently needed to replace the axle on my 25-yr-old single axle boat trailer. I jacked it up and it is currently sitting on some blocks and jack stands. There were just 4 bolts holding it to the frame but since they had been on there for 25 years, penetrating oil did not get the job done in 24 hours, so I got out a torque multiplier (multiplies force 3x) and that got them off. Will buy new Grade 5 hardware to reinstall. I plan on spraying the truck bed liner on mine. My project will be fairly simple as I do not have brakes on my trailer to deal with.

The bad part is since mine was so old I had to do a lot of measuring and place an order to have Dexter build me the axle and pay for it up front. It's been ordered 3 weeks already, but they said it wouldn't be here until the end of April. Hopefully since your trailer is still under warranty, they probably will have some pre-made in stock and you will get it a lot sooner than I will get mine. I will install it myself but will have to see if the tires still wear correctly. If not, I may have to take it somewhere and have it aligned.

I would use grade 8 hardware.

[Cliffprocraft190]

I would use grade 8 hardware.

I was considering grade 8 but the original hardware was grade 5 and held up just fine. I looked up the recommended torque settings for grade 5 and grade 8 on the web and it claimed grade 8 was more brittle steel than grade 5, so I figured if it had to absorb all the sudden jolts from all the bad roads we seem to have anymore, then maybe I should go back with grade 5 -- they still looked good when I removed them.

The article made it sound like grade 5 is better for some applications than grade 8. Like for holding two extremely heavy items together that don't have a lot of forces applied to them then grade 8 would be the choice, but if there are sudden, shearing forces trying to separate two items that aren't extremely heavy, then it sounded like grade 5 could be the better choice.

It recommended tightening 5/8" grade 5 bolts to 150 ft. lbs. and graded 8 to 220 ft. lbs. Does that sound correct?

[Cliffprocraft190]

My new axle arrived sooner than expected and I picked it up yesterday. I picked up grade 8 hardware on the way to the axle place because Fastenal did not have grade 5 bolts in stock in the size I needed. Now I just have to clean it and then either prime and paint it or spray on bed liner before installing it.

[5-20]

Second the recommendation about just using Rustoleum spray. That is some good spray paint. There's a really thick spray that's good for BBQ grills, will cover up rust, etx... I forgot the exact name of that spray but I'd use that. Just make sure to use the Rustoleum primer beforehand if needed.

[CJ1]

Frame and Chassis paint. Don't get it on anything you don't want it on including your skin as it has to wear off. The axle should not take anymore than a couple of hours for someone who has mechanical ability. Cj

[posmallie]

My new axle arrived sooner than expected and I picked it up yesterday. I picked up grade 8 hardware on the way to the axle place because Fastenal did not have grade 5 bolts in stock in the size I needed. Now I just have to clean it and then either prime and paint it or spray on bed liner before installing it.

I'm happy for you. Mine is supposed to ship today. Hopefully it only takes a few days to get here because I am missing out on some fantastic fishing right now. I figure once I get it, I still have a few days of priming and painting before I can install it, so I have a while before I'll be back out.

[jbassman87]

I replaced one of the axles on my trailer a couple years ago. It was not hard, although it came already painted with bed liner. I ordered mine from the trailer factory.

[Cliffprocraft190]

Prepped it Thursday, primed it Friday, painted it Saturday, and installed it today. Will be able to use my boat for the next club tournament next weekend!