San_Diego_SeaRay
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
- Messages
- 337
Just bought a 1998 23 foot bow rider this weekend. It has a galvanized two axle King Trailer (they market themselves as the "saltwater trailer" company). I *believe* each axle is rated to 5200 lbs. These are torsion axles with a 6 lug pattern and heavily rusted drum brakes and hub assemblies. Didn't really think about it too much; this is common for saltwater boat trailers. The trailer may be newer than the boat; I forget.
So I picked up the boat on Sunday morning. Traffic was light. Took the 5 freeway south for 15 miles, then cut east to the 805 for another 7 miles. Arrived at my storage lot and the guy told me where to park the boat and trailer. I pull into position, start backing up, pull forward to readjust, put it in reverse to back up again, and as I pivot around to my right to look behind me I see a wheel rolling alongside my Ford Excursion. Hmmmm. I'm the only vehicle here this morning. That must be my tire and of course it was. The outer brake drum was still attached to the wheel with all 6 lug nuts.
So last night I got a chance to inspect the hub assembly. 90% of the grease was a reddish brown color. The remaining 10% was a light green/blue color; all of this "virgin" grease was in the dust cap. The castle nut was firmly in place, along w. the heavy washer behind it. The inner (larger) bearing was intact and was structurally sound. Both inner and outer races seemed in fair condition. However, the smaller outer bearing was obliterated. All that was recognizable was the smaller radius sleeve that mated with the spindle. Everything else was gone. All I found was a mangled bit of circular steel. No evidence of actual bearings in the bits.
So my question: Is this outer bearing really responsible for keeping the entire wheel assembly on? I would *think* that it would be engineered so that if this bearing did have a catastrophic failure, that the castle nut and the heavy duty washer would somehow prevent the wheel from coming off. I just have a hard time believing that this doesn't happen more often if it *is* engineered this way.
So I picked up the boat on Sunday morning. Traffic was light. Took the 5 freeway south for 15 miles, then cut east to the 805 for another 7 miles. Arrived at my storage lot and the guy told me where to park the boat and trailer. I pull into position, start backing up, pull forward to readjust, put it in reverse to back up again, and as I pivot around to my right to look behind me I see a wheel rolling alongside my Ford Excursion. Hmmmm. I'm the only vehicle here this morning. That must be my tire and of course it was. The outer brake drum was still attached to the wheel with all 6 lug nuts.
So last night I got a chance to inspect the hub assembly. 90% of the grease was a reddish brown color. The remaining 10% was a light green/blue color; all of this "virgin" grease was in the dust cap. The castle nut was firmly in place, along w. the heavy washer behind it. The inner (larger) bearing was intact and was structurally sound. Both inner and outer races seemed in fair condition. However, the smaller outer bearing was obliterated. All that was recognizable was the smaller radius sleeve that mated with the spindle. Everything else was gone. All I found was a mangled bit of circular steel. No evidence of actual bearings in the bits.
So my question: Is this outer bearing really responsible for keeping the entire wheel assembly on? I would *think* that it would be engineered so that if this bearing did have a catastrophic failure, that the castle nut and the heavy duty washer would somehow prevent the wheel from coming off. I just have a hard time believing that this doesn't happen more often if it *is* engineered this way.