Note: Sorry for the long read in advance, but I'm a little OCD about details.
I have a galvanized utility trailer that I bought used 10 years ago. The rubber plug on the bearing protector says "Posi Lube Manufacturing". The spindle has a zerk fitting for lubing through spindle and back through the bearings/hub. Shortly after I got it, I pumped grease through the hub until fresh grease came out and never thought much about it. I put >200 miles/week when I bought it as I was building a camp at the time and not so many miles after that. I noticed last week that there was grease coming out of the rear seal on one of the hubs. It has probably been like this for a while, but haven't crawled around looking at it. I decided to remove one of the hubs, seal, bearings and races to see what parts it needed. It appears to be a standard 1 3/8 x 1 1/6 spindle.
I picked up new bearings, races and seals to do both hubs at a local trailer shop.
Inner bearing: L68149
Inner Race: L68111
Outer bearing: L44649
Outer race: L44610
Inner seal was labeled AD2541P which as best as I could figure out on an internet search is a 2.56 x 1.72 single lip seal. I bought 10-19 double lip seals.
The spindle has a SS wear ring with a hole for the grease to come out. My first question is that is this the same 1.68" wear ring that Waymire's sells and is it compatible with 1.68" and 1/72" ID seals? I didn't see a 1.72" wear ring with or without a grease hole on a web search. I was not planning in replacing the wear rings at this time as I'm not going to pump grease through the zerk fitting, I'm going to grease the bearings like normal and pretend that the zerk is not even there! There shouldn't be any pressure built up to blow out the seal and the trailer doesn't get dunked in the lake.
The next issue: I cleaned the hub, which appears to be poorly cast aluminum. The inner part of the hub is rough cast. I installed the outer race with an aluminum race/seal tool set that I used before on my boat trailer. The outer race went in without any issues. Then came the inner race. I could not get that one to go in far enough to seat. I removed it and tried it again: no luck. Ended up putting a mark on the inside of the race. It doesn't feel rough but decided to use the other race that I had. Read some web chatter about freezing the races and warming the hub. I stuck the race in the freezer while I had dinner. I heated the hub with a heat gun for heat shrink. Still could not get the race to seat. I cleaned it and put it back in the freezer. The race put a small gouge in the hub when it was cock-eyed. I smoothed it out with emery cloth. I also noticed that the edge where the original race was installed had some metal that was crushed. I was able to remove it with a screwdriver. The edge is also not concentric with the centerline of the hub. I have a feeling that the original race was installed with a hydraulic press or a sledge hammer!!
I'm going to take a break tonight and watch the Super Bowl after work and try installing the race tomorrow night. If it continues to be a struggle, I buy 2 new hubs. My only concern with new hubs is what size to match the spindle since the original had 2.56 x 1.72 seals.
Thanks for any advice.
Reply With Quote
