trailer axle question?

[bassfshin24]

So I was on my way up to Mille Lacs this past weekend and noticed that my buddy bearing was missing from the driver said wheel of my boat trailer. stopped in at rapid sports marine in ham lake and they said my bearings were shot and needed to be replaced. left the boat there for the weekend and got a call this morning saying my axle needs to be replaced now too. Is this normal? I don't know a ton about boats and trailers. Can a bad axle axle cause the bearings to go out? or visa versa? Please let me know if anyone has some general information?

[Bigtom]

I would say if your berring got so hot that it shattered and fell apart causing the hub to ride on your axel that it could be bad.

Also if your berrings got hot(lack of grease) and spun on the axel after they welded together it could of wore down your axel shaft.

I is hard to say whats wrong with out seeing it. I also wouldn't think that they would try to pull a fast one on you but you never know theis days. Hope this helps some.

[SkunkedAgain]

I'd have them do it but tell them you want to see the axle. Of course, they could always just have a bad axle sitting around (that didn't come off of your trailer) that they show you, but if it's peace of mind that you want...it's tough going.

[bassfshin24]

Thanks for the tips guys. I just told him to replace it. I have a trip planned to mille lacs this weekend and then again the next weekend so i needed to get it fixed quick. Hopefully they have it done Friday. Pretty big dent in the bank account though!!

[Rick Reisewitz]

I talked to rapids sports marine earlier this year and they tried to charge me 350 for the same axle that i got from a different dealer for 200 and they both where coming from shorelander.

[Eastwind]

Based on my own personal experience, there are a lot of places that are better to do business with than the boat store mentioned. That being said, the important thing to remember is this. Your Bearing Buddies likely fell off after the bearings failed. The hub got hot and expanded, the wheels got to wobbling you get the picture. The two biggest mistakes that people make with their Bearing Buddies (I've done at least one of the two) is to grease them too much and too often or to just forget about them and not grease them enough. If you grease them too much you blow out the inside seals on your hub. This is easilly discovered by looking at the inside of your rims on occasion. If there is grease slung on them, the seals are no longer sealing and your losing grease. Bearing Buddies should only need to have grease added once or twice a year. Most of the people that sell you the trailers with the Bearing Buddies do not bother tell you this. The most important thing is you should only pump in grease until the face plate with the fitting on it starts to move toward you. When this plate moves at all STOP PUMPING. That is the part that I had to learn the hard way. I was pumping in grease until the plate was all the way out and grease would come out around the plate. This, of course blew my inner hub seals and led to the eventual problem. I also feel my hubs evey time I stop and get out of the truck to ensure that they are not overheating. It is very expensive to get a trailer with a boat on it winched on to a ramp truck and hauled to a repair shop. However, it does beat some of the potentially dangerous results of a wheel falling off at 60 MPH.