Hank the Hauler, DIY trailer hub replacement

Well, the little truck could be better with a trailer behind it to haul limbs and furniture and stuff. As it happens I browsed without purpose on Govdeals and found this 3 miles away.

2018 Carry-On trailer, 4x6 mesh deck, single 2K axle. That is perfect for the little areas I have to get around, and the 5x12 just doesn't fit well. Plus that means I don't need to bring my trailer from home when I need one at work. The description says "Agency reports that trailer is rusted and the ball bearings are bad. Agency states trailer appears to be road worthy."I call and ask what I would need to haul it, they say 2 inch ball and should be fine to make it 3 miles on surface roads. Here is what I discovered.

Ummm, I'm not driving that out of the parking lot. It's the morning of a workday, I have a meeting in 90 minutes, and my big trailer is over an hour away (round trip). I've never replaced a trailer hub, but it doesn't look too bad on Youtube...

Luckily there is an awesome trailer & hitch shop literally next to my work. I run back, grab my tools, jack, and jack stand, and they are able to hook me up with a used hub and new bearings. Let's wrench!

I'm no genius, but I don't think a hub should slide that far on the axle.

Glad I remembered to pack the inflator!

Old hub has to get hammered off, lots of fun detritus to pull apart and clean out. Time to put on the new bearing and limp back!

Well berkeley, the new bearing won't go on smoothly either. We are going to stop photos for a bit for plausible deniability of liability, but let's just say It made it the 3 miles back to the trailer shop with only 1 bearing installed, and a lot of wobble. Here is what the bottle of the spindle looks like, and why my new hardware wouldn't install. Time to break out the file! Can I just use a flappy wheel?

Cotter pin with chain installed. Safety chains are good, so is the tongue jack, wheel & pivot. Rust seems to be all surface, tires and maybe wheels need replaced but this will only get maybe 50 miles a year on a road. Carry-On actually has a pretty decent website and lists the parts. However this trailer isn't the 2-in receiver listed and what the facility guy told me it had. It is 1-7/8, and I was lucky I had thought to bring all my hitches and balls just in case. The electrical on this will get completely redone. Here is what I'm (not) working with.

New full replacement kit from big river should be here tomorrow. Also was able to 3D print a cover for the one good spare light i had, but no sense piecing it together with how cheap the whole kit is. Will flappy disc the ground points first. Any thoughts on paint/grease or treatment after grinding?

You still have the old inner bearing on that spindle. Well, the centersection of the bearing. Get a flat punch and hammer it off.

In reply to iansane :

Yes! Realized that when I got back to work. Need to update photo. 

I think I have a spare trailer light like that.  I'll dig it out and see what I got.

Let me know if you want some help fixing that up.  

Thanks man, will do! Don't worry about the light. A complete kit was like $25. Just debating how aggressive to be on filing the spindle.

bbbbRASS said:

Thanks man, will do! Don't worry about the light. A complete kit was like $25. Just debating how aggressive to be on filing the spindle.

It only matters where the bearing rides.

It's been awhile since I messed with a little baby axle like this.  Can you hold the bearings beside where they go on the axle?  I know where one of them goes (cause as mentioned above, it's still partially there).  I imagine the smaller one goes roughly even with the start of the threads.

You don't want the inner race of the bearing to be loose when installed.  Some slight persuasion (preferably with aluminum or wood) to install is acceptable.  Don't hit a bearing directly with steel. Hitting Steel on steel bearings can be no Bueno for bearing life.

Edit...  now that I think about it, the outer bearing should probably slide on the shaft fairly easily in order to set bearing preload with the nut.  Disregard my earlier comment for the outer bearing.  Though it still applies to the inner bearing.

You can get that inner bearing race off by grinding it with an angle grinder most of the way through in 2 places 180 degree out.  Then hit it with a chisel.  That's if you can't just tap it off.