Nissan Rogue Forum

Trailer Bearing Maintenance.

Well I bought a trailer! lol (why do i crave a Budweiser and a mullet every time i say that?)
Anyway, its a 2008 Carry-On 4x7 open trailer. Great condition, and for a great price. Since i didnt know if anyone has maintained the trailer since its birth in 2008, i figured id start taking a look around. I lubed up the raising leg in front. I lubed the coupler. checked the lights and lubed the lift gate.
THEN I DUG INTO THE WHEEL BEARINGS, AND FOUND THE FILTH.
Im going to do a quick instruction on a how-to for checking, changing, cleaning & repacking your trailer bearings.

1. start by chocking the wheels on your trailer, and lifting up the wheel your going to work on. i chose right under the frame and lifted up the trailer till the wheel is spinning freely.

2. YOU CAN REMOVE THE LUG NUTS AND REMOVE THE WHEEL, BUT YOU DONT HAVE TOO. Remove the dust cap from the center of the wheel


3. next once your remove your dust cap, you will see this:

take the cotter pin out. you will have to straighten its legs out as it goes through the axle to keep the castle nut from unscrewing.

4. once you remove the cotter pin, the castle nut should unscrew easily. these should not be tight. (to tight and you cause damage to the bearings)

5. now you can remove your HUB from the spindle. it will slide off, and the OUTER most bearing might pop out easily. totally normal, dont worry.


6. inspect your bearings & the grease thats in there now. is it milky? murky? watery? rusty/browish?/ did you find metal junks loose? clean the outer bearing and parts and inspect for rust. SET IT ASIDE CLEARLY REMEMBERING THAT THIS IS THE OUTER MOST. (some trailer use 2 different sizes for outer/inner)
HERE IS WHAT I FOUND:




7. AFTER YOU REMOVE THE OUTER BEARING, you will need to remove the inner bearings that sit closest to the center of the trailer. you can take a piece of wood, or something similar and GENTLY tap out the bearing and the seal thats holding it in.


8. inspect your bearings & the grease thats in there now. is it milky? murky? watery? rusty/browish?/ did you find metal junks loose? clean the inner bearing and parts and inspect for rust. inspect the seal. is the rubber torn? is it worn down? is it rusty? is it bent?AGAIN, TAKE THE TIME TO INSPECT, CLEAN, AND PLACE ASIDE REMEMBERING WHICH IS WHICH.

9. IF EVERYTHING IS FINE - GO AHEAD AND CLEAN ALL YOUR PARTS AGAIN MAKING SURE EVERYTHING IS IN GOOD CONDITION. CLEAN EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE SPINDLE. AFTER YOU CLEAN THE BEARING, INSPECT FOR GROVES, DINGS, OR MISSING ROLLERS. ROLLS THE BEARING AND LISTEN...is it making a rusty roller skate wheel noise? does it sound like it has sand inside?

SIDE NOTE: bearings are cheap. go to etrailer.com and order a new set for both side. thats what i did. etrailer.com BEARING KIT ORDERING CHART this chart makes things a lot easier.
on the bearing itself will be the words CHINA written on it, and then a long part number (example)L44649(thats mine). "L44649" is going to be your bearing part number. that's what you find on that chart, and order. its like $10/wheel. cheap enough to just replace versus risk loosing a wheel.



10. If you feel that your parts ok, or if you got new ones: you will need a bucket of disk drum/wheel bearing grease

any pep-boys or auto parts store has it for $5 or less.

take a glob and rub your spindle liberally. rub the inside of the hub, and rub your bearings. rub everything in the hub with grease. dont be cheap.

take a nice glob into your palm and force the grease INTO the bearing crevasses.

once you feel you have shoved as much grease INTO the rear bearing reinstall THE REAR BEARING into the rear race. add more grease, and seal with the seal all onto the hub.

11. now install the hub onto the spindle. install your outer bearing into the race, add more grease and washer(if you have one) shoving more grease into the area.

12. handle tighten the castle nut till its snug. back out one millimeter at a time till the hole is aligned for the NEW cotter pin.

13. pack some more grease, and seal with your dust cap

DONE!

REFERENCE:


PHOTO CREDITS(along with my photo's):
Replacing the Bearing, Races and Seals on a Trailer Hub | etrailer.com
Repacking Trailer Wheel Bearings | The Family Handyman

(NOTE I DID NOT COVER HOW TO REPLACE THE RACERS BECAUSE IN SOME IT TAKES A PRESS TO GET THEM BACK IN. IF YOUR RACERS FALL OUT OF THE HUB, ITS TIME TO GET A NEW HUB.) if you order from etrailer.com the new kit, it will come with new 2 new race's per wheel. they are pushed into the hub. you can bang them out- but i did not cover that in this write-up.
they are the shiny disk the bearing sits in.