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Tough day trailering...

Old 06-11-2006, 12:11 AM
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Default Tough day trailering...

Had my mind on testing my new-to-me Sutphen 26 all week! Had all the gear prepped Friday night. Good snackage, some Backwoods cigars (right from the tinfoil, baby!), good tunes, tools, etc. I was gonna hit lake elsinore for some testing time...get the feel for the boat at low and high speed before taking anyone else out, and hitting the open ocean.

So I pulled the boat/trailer out of storage and started heading slowly down the road. This was the first trip with the trailer since pulling her 280 miles back from the purchase in AZ.

As usual, I had my eyes on the side mirrors of my truck to make sure my rig was towing smoothly. About 100 feet outside the storage facility I saw the front left trailer tire shimmy something fierce. I thought it was my imagination...a little paranoid of problems (like most of OSO members I'm sure)...but sure enough in another 25 feet, the same thing happened again!

What the @#$%? I took a good look at the wheel lug nuts, the axle, and the suspension, but saw nothing unusual. Then I kicked the affect tire and it actually moved, and so did the hub behind it??? Wierd!

At that point I jacked the front axle up in the air, and yanked on the wheel...THE WHOLE WHEEL CAME OFF IN MY HAND!

I knocked the bearing cover off, and the lug that holds the hub onto the spindle was floating in grease, completele off! Scary to think that can happen but it did! The bearing and race was completely chewed up by lateral movement, and the spindle had some light scarring.

All together the damage was minor, but the potential for disaster was definitely there! So lucky the wheel didn't pop-off on the freeway at speed on the initial trip back from AZ. So lucky nobody got hurt!

Like I said, it was a tough day of trailering.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes you jsut gotta let it out!
Dave911
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Old 06-11-2006, 12:14 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

i have to disagree, it sounded like a good day.. you caught it before anyone got hurt or you f ed up your baby.. so you missed out on the testing... you had a good day my friend.. its all how you look at it...
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Old 06-11-2006, 07:56 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

It just went to a bad day again!!! Stec called you his friend!!!
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Old 06-11-2006, 08:00 AM
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I have you beat my friend,left south carolina en route to jacksonville poker run.Lost 1 bearing on rear tire had to stop and remove tire,proceed last 50 miles on 2 wheels one side.Found a trailer place and bought all new bearings,greased and reassmbled in a parking lot in crack town jacksonville.Did the poker run and pulled the boat out.Drive 2 miles and boom tire blows.Pull out the tools and put the spare on.We go hit 95 and 25 miles away another bearing smokes.WTF Remove tire and start again 100 miles from home Im cruising at 50 miles an hour.25 miles away from home another bearing blows on the other side.No stopping went the last 25 with smoke pouring out and made it!!Poker run was great nobody got hurt!
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Old 06-11-2006, 08:07 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

if you cook a bearing, disassemble the others and inspect and repack them. usually when one fails the others are ready to.
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Old 06-11-2006, 08:09 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

It just went to a bad day again!!! Stec called you his friend!!!
dont be phuckin wit mr wonderful, you'll hurt his feelings...then he'll need to have a good cry
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Old 06-11-2006, 08:54 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

When I was a kid in the 70's, my parents had a 17 foot Browning bow rider boat. We were heading Lake Anna one Saturday morning when one of the wheels came off at about 60 mph. My sister and I were in the back of the station wagon (remember the ones with the rear facing seats) and as we saw it come off, it shot by my dad, who was driving. I bet that thing rolled a mile before it stopped in a ditch. Bad thing was, it was a single axle trailer. Good thing, it didn't hit anyone. If that happened today on that same area of road, we wouldn't have been that lucky as it is a pretty heavily traveled road. Just thought I'd share this, as I had almost forgotten about it until I read your post.
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Old 06-11-2006, 09:28 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

Was there a cotter key floating in the greese? Thats the only way the retaining bolt could back off, or it sheared or was never there to begin with. I would pop all the dust covers and check, you can tell easy by lifting the tire and pulling back and forth, if there is any play there is a problem. It is important once you repack to retighten the bolt since the greese works in and slop forms, if not you get this. Nice save though, an OSO member here drove all the way from St Clair Shores with a blown hub, once the boat was off and the weight was off the tire passed him on the way to park the trailer Cost him most of the day and the SOTW poker run. You can file the spindle down, make sure it is smooth to the touch. In most cases the burrs happen off the spot the bearing rides. Otherwise it has to be cut off and weld a new one on. Also you can blow the rear seal if you pump in too much grease. All these have happened to me at one time, I have towed trailers more miles than most people drive their autos and I have seen it all. Even a snapped axle on 94 with the AT on, that cost me 3 new axles and a week in Chicago. This was an electric brake conversion to surge, they never plugged the hole for the wires so for 6 years water, sometimes salt, sat in the axle, then it snapped and the other two were not far behind, I had it all chained up and was going to head home on 2, we did a test run and I had a follower who said the other 2 were all streesed out and bending, believe it or not I pulled off an exit in Joiliet that had a semi and big truck axle shop right in front of me They were closed so I backed the boat and went home. Now these guys could have bent me over all the way but they didn't, they were the best stand up people I have ever had to place life in. They did it all in a week and for a better price than I could have gotten, even if done myself. So you are doing pretty well, it could be this bad Or ditch the trailer and put it on top of the car.
Attached Thumbnails Tough day trailering...-truck-boat-over-cliff.-wince-.bmp   Tough day trailering...-yamajunk-car-roof.-small-small-wince-.bmp  
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Old 06-11-2006, 10:00 AM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

Think of all the toll money they will save

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/a...hmentid=215620
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Old 06-11-2006, 02:43 PM
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Default Re: Tough day trailering...

Originally Posted by plumbers crack
I have you beat my friend,left south carolina en route to jacksonville poker run.Lost 1 bearing on rear tire had to stop and remove tire,proceed last 50 miles on 2 wheels one side.Found a trailer place and bought all new bearings,greased and reassmbled in a parking lot in crack town jacksonville.Did the poker run and pulled the boat out.Drive 2 miles and boom tire blows.Pull out the tools and put the spare on.We go hit 95 and 25 miles away another bearing smokes.WTF Remove tire and start again 100 miles from home Im cruising at 50 miles an hour.25 miles away from home another bearing blows on the other side.No stopping went the last 25 with smoke pouring out and made it!!Poker run was great nobody got hurt!

That sucked! Glad you made the run and made it home in one piece. Nice to meet you on Saturday.

Scott
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