Best way to change trailer roller

[Whimmpy1]

I need to change the roller on the front of my boat trailer I am new to the boating world and wanted to see if any one has changed the roller with the boat on the trailer I don't have a boat dock to keep the boat in the water unless I tie off next to a bank any help would be great

 

[whitney]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

I can't tell you the _best_ way but I can tell you how I did it.

Unhook chain, unwind strap a bit, put floor jack in between hull and trailer with big rubber block, jack up 2 inches, swap roller. This was on an 18' open bow, very light at the front, so I had no concerns doing it this way. Not much pressure was needed on the jack.

 

[scorpionfs]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

well the front roller doesnt really roll much,well mine doesnt anyway ,just a place for the bow to rest,id wait till i put it in the water couldnt take ya but a couple minutes to change well unless its been in salt water,then no worry about jack slippin puttin hole in ya boat like someone i know lol just my thoughts gl

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

I can't tell you the _best_ way but I can tell you how I did it.

Unhook chain, unwind strap a bit, put floor jack in between hull and trailer with big rubber block, jack up 2 inches, swap roller. This was on an 18' open bow, very light at the front, so I had no concerns doing it this way. Not much pressure was needed on the jack.

+1 on this. I changed all 10 rollers this way. Once the boat is up, though...put a block between the hull and trailer so it can't come back down if the jack were to fail.

 

[dingdongs]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

probably lots of rust on pin so whichever way you decide to remove it slap plenty of marine grease on spindle to save doing it regularly.a file and some rough emery paper should clean up a majority of the rust prior to re-assembling.an honest opinion would be launch the boat for a couple of hours and leave it tied up and repair all rollers in one go

 

[howlnmad]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

It sounds to me like you're talking about the bow roller by the winch. If so, and it's on rollers, just slacken the winch and roll it back a few inches. If it's on bunks, tie it off to a tree and loosen the winch and pull it off a couple inches. Then pull it back on with the winch.

 

[blifsey]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

It sounds to me like you're talking about the bow roller by the winch.

Whimmpy1, probably do need a little more explanation of which roller you mean. I could read your OP as bow stand roller by winch or forward most roller used to guide boat into position.

If the forward most roller used to guide boat into position, I changed mine once by raising trailer tongue jack as high as it would go, putting a sturdy 4X4 on blocks under keel and then lowering the tongue jack. The boat stayed in position and trailer went down clearing the roller. You can do rear roller in similar fashion by lowering trailer tongue first, block stern keel area and then raising trailer tongue (which will lower rear of trailer).

 

[Pirate_40]

Re: Best way to change trailer roller

I rebuilt the trailer for my smaller boat with the boat sitting just above it. I changed out all the hardware, pivot bars and roller assemblies. I did this by jacking up the boat at the keel and placing boat jack stands underneath the stearn. Then doing the same midway up with another set of jack stands. Since the boat sat this way for a week I blocked the keel. I have four of these stands from when I used to get my boats hauled and blocked for the winter and never got rid of them. You could try to borrow or rent them from a local marina. They do make working on the trailer safe and easy.