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IC2 · 10-21-2016, 09:50 AM

If indeed it is/was a Dexter axle, be real careful of what they supply to you as a replacement. The bearings are not what I would call quality nor, in my case when I changed the axles on the last 5er, even packed having only a smear on the outside - along with a 16 greasy finger prints on the brake shoes of 1 axle. I have changed so far, 4 axles worth of bearings on two 5ers to US made Timkens.

lynnmor · 10-21-2016, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC2

If indeed it is/was a Dexter axle, be real careful of what they supply to you as a replacement. The bearings are not what I would call quality nor, in my case when I changed the axles on the last 5er, even packed having only a smear on the outside - along with a 16 greasy finger prints on the brake shoes of 1 axle. I have changed so far, 4 axles worth of bearings on two 5ers to US made Timkens.

I hope folks listen to what you are saying, sometimes this advice falls on deaf ears. Having axle service done "professionally" means nothing anymore.

**JohnRR** · 10-21-2016, 11:50 AM

Overall it sounds like things worked out the best it could have.

Great presence of mind in unloading the car to lighten the load.

twinboat · 10-21-2016, 12:37 PM

NY EZPass may send your wheel a toll violation.

Very fortunate it came off at slow speed. Bouncing tires are killers.

PlayItForwrd · 10-21-2016, 06:55 PM

What many don't realize, and I didn't see brought up here, is that defective brakes are very often the cause of wheel bearing failure. Shoes dragging heats up the drum, the grease turns to oil and just runs out, the bearings then get REAL hot REAL fast and disentegrate...

Notice in the pic of what's left of that axle, there's not a hint of grease anywhere. Blown out bearings simply won't create that much heat by themselves.

However, a bearing that fails by itself can be the reason for brake heat, as the wheel won't be rolling on center, and the brake shoes can drag, and cause the heat after the fact.

So which failed first, the brakes, or the bearing?

I had a dragging brake bearing failure on a single axle Kit Companion travel trailer YEARS ago. What caused the brake dragging was pretty off the wall: I was towing my Harley on a snowmobile trailer behind the Kit, almost home from vacation on I-80. A guy alongside points backwards, so I stop to check: The taillight housing on the bike trailer fell out of the pocket it was stuffed into was was dragging the ground. I pushed it back in and away we went. About 10 miles later someone else starts pointing backwards, and I see smoke in the rear view. I was near a 'view area' exit so I pulled in. When I got out I was horrified to find my brakes were on fire! Under a wood wheelwell no less!

-- I found the problem-- the taillight that was dragging the ground... What I found when I checked the bulb, was the taillight filament had broken off on one end, and had attached itself to the brake light filament. So when I turned on the headlights, the light filiament energized the brake light filament-- and the brakes! The braking was so light I didn't even notice, and I found out after fixing the axle (no sign of bearings!) that the right side brakes weren't connected...

That's how mine happened... One of my kids lost a rear wheel bearing on a car due to brake heat, a disc caliper wasn't retracting. Many things can cause brakes to drag, broken spring, a pebble. Whenever bearings are serviced, brake parts need to be checked out too.

2Labs · 10-21-2016, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlayItForwrd

What many don't realize, and I didn't see brought up here, is that defective brakes are very often the cause of wheel bearing failure. Shoes dragging heats up the drum, the grease turns to oil and just runs out, the bearings then get REAL hot REAL fast and disentegrate...

[snip quote]

And something along these lines is what I think led to our wheel failure last night. We have electric brakes on our trailer and what immediately stood out to me when I first looked at the assembly - on the side of the highway - was that the plastic jacket was completely missing on the wires that are attached to whats left of the brake assembly.

It was raining all day today, and my immediate focus this morning was to find a shop that could handle the repair, but I did get a couple of photos before I dropped it off. This one shows it pretty clearly. What's left of the brake assembly is tied up with the yellow strap, and if you look closely, you can see that the wiring is completely exposed.

My experience tells me that this amount (length) of missing jacket did not happen between the time the wheel came off and when we pulled over. I believe that something during the drive caused a break or short in the wiring and the brake on this wheel was dragging and overheated. As I approached the toll booth and applied enough additional pressure to slow from 65 to 50 to 45 to 25 to 15 to 5 ... the assembly just had enough and let go.

peterson · 10-21-2016, 09:43 PM

Aw, that's nuttin. When I was ten years old I saw my dads runabout boat going down the exit ramp of the freeway.

RV_Fan33 · 10-24-2016, 07:44 AM

Glad no one was hurt!

biker art · 10-24-2016, 11:44 PM

Have a professional do it? I had a professional replace a wheel bearing on my classic mustang a few years ago and just made it 80 moles home before it went out again. I fixed myself with a replacement brake drum after the wheel bearing ruined the old one. I did complain about it and got my money back. At least they were good about that. I rather do it myself but at 74 years old that work is getting old even so I still do most work myself.

mrt_1111 · 10-25-2016, 12:44 AM

the lenght of a mole about 5 inches, so you made it about 400 inches. About 33 feet

2Labs · 10-26-2016, 09:38 PM

I got a phone call this morning from the shop where I dropped off the trailer. They have had a hard time identifying the axle and coming up with a drop in replacement - the words Chinese parts kept coming up in the conversation

The shop contacted a local trailer store that had 8 axles in stock, but none would match up. They told me it could be a couple of weeks before they could source a replacement - or that they could have a local shop weld/build a new axle tube for the trailer.

I really didn't like that idea. We're about 500 miles from home and I would prefer to not have a custom axle that may be not end up being just right - especially since I'll have little recourse to have any problems fixed after we leave - since we live so far away.

I decided to call the trailer manufacturer again - I did call last Friday and leave a message that was not returned. This time someone did answer and I got through to a technician that could assist. With the trailer VIN they were able to look up the original build record and went to work sourcing a replacement axle.

A few calls later, we have an axle being dropped shipped to the shop. It's a complete axle with brakes, springs and u-bolts -- $477 with shipping. This should save me some money on labor as well since it will be drop in ready when it arrives.

I drove by the shop today on the way to Tim Horton's and saw that the trailer was not in the yard. So it appears they got it inside and are pulling the tires off the front axle to make sure the front bearing are ok.

Hopefully the axle arrives early enough tomorrow that it can be installed and we can be on our way back home.

2Labs · 10-27-2016, 03:30 PM

Here's the video of what we saw .. the dashcam caught the missing wheel rolling away. It's a little hard to see with the raindrops on the windshield, as I want the dashcam to be as close to the middle of the windshield as possible. I think it's time for some RainX.

Looks like I also need to reset the settings for the dashcam again as the date/time stamps are way off.