Axle price question for my boat trailer

[JasonJ]

I will be wanting to pull my boat out of the water in the next week or so. I decided to pull my hubs apart on my trailer and do some preventive maintenance. One splindle has a bad sealing surface, and the hub is shot. The inner bearing race does not seat, it moves around and causes slop. The other hub is fine, and a new seal would fix things. Since this is an old EZ Loader and things are simple, I decided to go online and price parts. After pricing a Speedi-sleeve for the bad bearing surface, a new hub, new bearings, new seals, I started to think about a whole new axle.

I found a place that will have a brand new 2000 pound axle with new hubs, bearings, seals, and u-bolt kit to the door for $122. I checked around, and the 4.5 inch 5 hole lug pattern axles all are 2000 pounds or therabouts, and my boat weighs about 1300 pounds soaking wet. I can safely say the current axle is most likely in the 2000 pound range.

What I am asking is if $122 to the door seems a bit cheap for a complete axle assembly with hubs and u-bolt kit. I am going to check my local place that sells trailer parts and see how he compares.

By the way, the current problems have always been there, I have just been avoiding the issue since I don't tow that often, and it is only a half mile either way, but I will be doing more towing so I want some reliability.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Axle price question for my boat trailer

Thats a reasonable price for the axle. What you need to measure is the spring perch spacing so the new axle will match up with the springs. The distance between hub faces is the other factor. A third factor is whether you want a cambered or straight axle. Cambered axles have a very slight upward bend in them which forces the wheels to take a slightly towed in at the bottom stance. They theoretically stand straight up when loaded. Finally, you need to determine if the spring perches need to be on top of or below the axle. Some trailers have the springs above the axle, some are below.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Axle price question for my boat trailer

The perches come seperate from the axle. I would just break out the trusty welding rig and weld 'em in place. The axles come in 1 inch increments, I need a 69 inch face to face width. The camber I am not horribly concerned with, and the farthest ramp from my house is about 6 miles on a 35 mph road, the usual one I use is a half mile.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Axle price question for my boat trailer

10-4. No sweat then. You might check Northern Tool as they carry a full line of axles. If you have a farm store in the area, check the auto parts area. Our Fleet Farm stores carry them.