1995 Four Winns Horizon 190 Trailer wheel bearings

[ggundersen3]

I bought a '95 Horizon 190 at the end of 2020 and am ready to get the wheel bearings looked at/repacked/replaced as needed. It's a Four Winns bunk trailer. I haven't noticed any problems but want to get it taken care of. The previous owner completely disabled the trailer brake system which is fine with me as I never had brakes on any former boat trailers. I noticed one side has a "bearing buddy" with the grease fitting and the other side has just a metal cap over the hub. Because of the "former" brake system or any other reason, is working on the wheel bearings going to be alot different than any other boat trailers I've had in the past? Pics attached
Thanks

 

[Lou C]

Those look like 6 lug hubs, probably with standard bearings. The bearings will have a # stamped on them, if they are good you can just re-pack them but I would fix the brakes. If they are drums you can just replace the backing plates (6 lug hubs will use a 12" brake assembly), if the bearings are bad, I would replace them and the races. If they are drums and the bearings/races are bad and the drums are rusted, I'd just replace the whole thing, bearings, drums and backing plates. I have a 1988 H-200 and on the trailer it is just about 5,000 lbs and there is no way I'd ever tow it without trailer brakes. I have a single axle similar to yours with a 6 lug axle and 12" drum surge brakes and it stops great, hardly even feel it back there.
Check your state laws, dis-abling the trailer brakes may be a potential liability, most states require them for any load over 3,000 lbs. A 19' boat on the trailer is going to weigh more than that....

 

[ggundersen3]

Those look like 6 lug hubs, probably with standard bearings. The bearings will have a # stamped on them, if they are good you can just re-pack them but I would fix the brakes. If they are drums you can just replace the backing plates (6 lug hubs will use a 12" brake assembly), if the bearings are bad, I would replace them and the races. If they are drums and the bearings/races are bad and the drums are rusted, I'd just replace the whole thing, bearings, drums and backing plates. I have a 1988 H-200 and on the trailer it is just about 5,000 lbs and there is no way I'd ever tow it without trailer brakes. I have a single axle similar to yours with a 6 lug axle and 12" drum surge brakes and it stops great, hardly even feel it back there.
Check your state laws, dis-abling the trailer brakes may be a potential liability, most states require them for any load over 3,000 lbs. A 19' boat on the trailer is going to weigh more than that....

Thanks Lou,
I'll consider getting the trailer brakes working again. In my case I only have a 2 mile drive from the storage space to the launch ramp so it's not highly critical and rarely is it taken further than that. But thanks for the info!

 

[Lou C]

I added brakes to mine years ago (3500 lb axle, 10” brakes) and last year upgraded to a 6000 lb axle with 12” brakes. It stops so well you don’t even feel it back there. We have steep hills here so no brakes is not an option.