I was out and about the other day, about 60 miles from home when I came across a chance to get a free boat trailer, which although needed work was in far better condition than the one I'm using.
It had no lights, but that was no problem since I had a set of magnetic tow lights in the trunk.
The big issue though was that the right outer wheel bearing had come apart and was all but gone.
Knowing I couldn't tow it like that and the spare hub in my trunk used different bearings, I needed a quick solution.
The inner bearing was decent, it would survive with grease, which I had, but the inner was completely gone, and the inner race was stuck to the spindle.
Having limited tools, I went into the nearest store, which happened to be a tractor dealer to try and find a bearing, with the thinking that I could jury rig a second bearing outside the existing one and just leave off the bearing buddy to get it home, with that thought in mind, one of the mechanics came back with a sealed bearing with a 1" ID and 2" OD, about 1/2" thick. It was used and free, so I gave it a shot, I tapped the bearing in place where the dust cap fit, got just enough of the nut on to get a cotter pin in the hole and headed on home. It worked great.
Once home, with a torch in hand, I removed the broken bearing and stuck race and installed two new bearings. But the used sealed bearing worked fine.
I'm not sure if I'd have tried that on a loaded trailer due to side load issued but on a 200lb empty trailer, it beat having to come back home and get a trailer to go get it home with.
It had no lights, but that was no problem since I had a set of magnetic tow lights in the trunk.
The big issue though was that the right outer wheel bearing had come apart and was all but gone.
Knowing I couldn't tow it like that and the spare hub in my trunk used different bearings, I needed a quick solution.
The inner bearing was decent, it would survive with grease, which I had, but the inner was completely gone, and the inner race was stuck to the spindle.
Having limited tools, I went into the nearest store, which happened to be a tractor dealer to try and find a bearing, with the thinking that I could jury rig a second bearing outside the existing one and just leave off the bearing buddy to get it home, with that thought in mind, one of the mechanics came back with a sealed bearing with a 1" ID and 2" OD, about 1/2" thick. It was used and free, so I gave it a shot, I tapped the bearing in place where the dust cap fit, got just enough of the nut on to get a cotter pin in the hole and headed on home. It worked great.
Once home, with a torch in hand, I removed the broken bearing and stuck race and installed two new bearings. But the used sealed bearing worked fine.
I'm not sure if I'd have tried that on a loaded trailer due to side load issued but on a 200lb empty trailer, it beat having to come back home and get a trailer to go get it home with.