trailer bearing question

[sea wolf]

i towed my boat home the other day, a trip of about 30 miles. about half way home i stopped to check tire pressure, & when i felt the tires they were very hot to the touch. i greased the hubs before i left, so i know they had grease in them. the tire pressure was ok. do u think the bearings are shot? i'm not hearing any scraping from the hubs or grinding. is it safe to jack the trailer up with the boat on? the trailer has bunks & it is an 88 eagle. thanx.

 

[gspig]

Re: trailer bearing question

Did you also feel the hubs? My tires get hot also, I fear that I may be at the limit of the tires load range. My hubs, however, are only barely warm. I have jacked up my trailer with the boat on, I place the jack on the axle as close to the suspension attachment point as possible.

 

[rwidman]

Re: trailer bearing question

You can jack the trailer up with the boat on it, this is what you must do if you have a flat or blowout on the road. Do what gspig said about the jack placement.<br /><br />If the bearings are just "warm" then they are not heating the tires. The tire pressure should be the maximum stated on the tire (when cold).

 

[djvan]

Re: trailer bearing question

Do you have trailer brakes? If so try not using them (if you have that option) or disabling them and going for a long ride, recheck for heat. I once had a car trailer that would heat up the hub pretty hot if the brakes were used a little bit excessively. Of course if you are in a heavily populated area this may be quite risky.<br /><br />DougV>

 

[ThomWV]

Re: trailer bearing question

Tires tend to get pretty warm during the summer. My test for hub heat, which is an entirely different thing, is to firs feel the tire and then feel the hub. If they are about the same (and I can hold my hand on either) I don't worry about it.<br /><br />One thing though, the heat liberated by braking won't heat up the tire, it disapates quickly from the wheel. Braking may heat up the hub enough that you'll notice it but the heat bleeds off quickly. I say that as a person who checks the wheels at every stop. When I pull into a rest area off of an interstate I tend to get on the brakes pretty hard because I do not like to slow down while still in traffic. So I reserve my braking for the access road to the rest areas. Even with that heavy braking (bringing down our typical 7,000 pounds or so load from 60 to 20 in a short distance) I can still put my hand on the hub if everything is OK.<br /><br />Thom

 

[Oldsaltydog]

Re: trailer bearing question

Was your COLD tire pressure as high as recommended?

 

[milkyway]

Re: trailer bearing question

I have surge brakes and my experience was similar but one of the brakes actually caught FIRE due to extreme heat. Actually the heat burned the brake hose closest to the brake cluster. Good there was someone close with a water hose. What a scary experience. I thought I would lose the boat which had a tankful and my truck hooked up. So now I always have fire ext. on the truck just in case. <br /><br />NOw I never run on hot hub and tires. I adjusted the star nut just enough so that the tire will actually spin freely if you do it by hand with the trailer jacked up. Push the manual lever by the tongue and the tire should stop completely. That's what I did. This loosening delays longer the trailer's braking action by about 1/2 second more so keep more distance and brake earlier and lighter. When I got the trailer brand new, the tire spun only 1 rotation by hand and all my problems started. I learned the hard way. Dealer kept saying it was fine and I said no. This is their business you know. And adjust your braking habits . If your bearings are shot, that's a different story but I am sure you won't be able to drive far.