Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Brought the boat home from the marina today, 30 miles. Get out of the truck after I pull in the yard and can smell an oil burning smell. Look under and sniff around the truck...not the truck! Follow my nose to the trailer and bingo, smells like hot grease. Upon closer inspection find the wheels and tires (both fronts and right rear mostly) HOT..TOO HOT to touch the aluminum wheel and the most effected tires very hot also!

Triple axle Eagle under Formula 353
Drum brakes all axles, greasable spindles
"5 Star" aluminum wheels (stock)
Tire pressure a little under cold, at 72-74 lbs. at the marina before I left.

A month ago I serviced all 3 axles with bearing removal, cleaning, checked seal condition, checked brake shoes and hardware, hand packed and then filled with "Mystic JT-6" high temp wheel bearing grease (big thread about this once before). Trailer has not been wet, as we loaded with the travelift after I cleaned the bottom.

I can't believe this grease is failing, I don't think it is.

Pulled rubber plugs out of dust cap and stuck my pinky into the grease you can see and it was warm... NOT hot.

Do I have some brakes shoes dragging? You can't tell on the road with a DuraMax. ;)

Big question...Did I boil the fluid? The most affected brake drums were HOT! Dragging brakes would put the heat out into the wheel and tire like that, right?

If the bearings had been the source of that much heat they'd have siezed, don't you think?
I mean there was some serious heat put into the spindles, that's why I could smell the grease around the trailer. Though my thought, is that the JT-6 saved my bearings.

I'd have put this in tech, but I wanted the exposure here, and alot of others are doing thier season ending tow right now...might help me, and them.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Sounds to me like you have dragging brakes. When I trailer I try and take off at leaste a little fast so that I know that the surge brakes pull open. That is my best guess as you said shoes so I am asumming drum brakes. Is this the first time that you ahave trailered any distance since you did the work to it? Some how you have a dragging brake....

Jon

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

were shoes adjusted properly after drum removal? Everything put back in properly, I've pulled drums off only to find someone put shoes in backwards, they have a tendency to bind up. Other thing is self adjusting shoes?? Definitely brakes dragging, bearing wouldn't create that much heat.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

I had the same problem with my last trailer. It was dragging drum brakes but it was due to sticky wheel cylinders. Popped the dust covers off and found abundant rust :( . Even with the bleeders open I couldn't push the plungers back. Replaced them and ok.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Check master cylinder for fluid return after braking.It doesn't take
much trash to restrict the small orifice.Usually all wheels experience this problem when restricted.Could also be wheel cylinders.Make sure bearings are properly preloaded.If there to tight no room for thermal growth.Good Luck

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Thanks, I figured brakes.
I've greased the surge plunger grease fittings previously.

Never took any shoes or hardware off.

Wheel cylinders looked good...not apparently rusty.

Never had any issues prior to today. Trailer stored indoors (dry).

I'll check the fluid level in the morning, and consider full change out of fluid.
How do you push and bleed a surge coupler system?

I installed Russell "speed bleeder" bleeder screws on my Corvette...they work awesome! I need to see if I can get them for the trailer anyway. One person bleeding.

Any other thoughts on why they'd hang up all of a sudden?

I had considered the spindle nuts...though they are all the same, run up snug then backed off "some".

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Liek hot pursuit said, IT is probably dirt/rust in the master cylinder working like a check valve . YOu apply the brakes and when you pull up to release ,the dirt plugs that TINY little hole and won't allow the fluid to return and release the brakes . This is common . Just for the hell of it , undo the brake line on the back of the master cylinder (on the trailer) . You may find a big burst of fluid blow out of it when you do !

Tontos right also , Redneck trailer supply for parts you need . I order from them 2-3 times a week .

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Thanks guys...I appreciate the advice, and the link for that bleeder set-up.

I'll check for fluid return first ...and go from there.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

What he said!! and check to see if the bearings were overtightend..

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

so is the fact that I can push and pull the coupler in and out 60% of it's travel by hand :rolleyes: a giveaway to the "no fluid return" scenario?

O.K so i'll open the line at the back of the master cylinder, will the piece of debris plugging the hole come out with the fluid? It should right?

As soon as I split that line open have I committed to a complete all-around bleed? 'Cause if I have, I'll do all new fluid...probably not a bad idea anyway.

So without one of those air tools, what's the proper way to bleed with a surge coupler?

Thanks again.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

O.K first I pushed fresh JT-6 through all 6 bearing sets until I got new grease out. Got loose/runny grease with good color out of 4, all three on one side, and just the front on the other. No sign of any metal in the runny chit. The other 2 hubs, the grease was not broke down at all.

Broke open the line behind the master cyl...and nothing...no pressure in the line...in fact no fliud came out at all.

Jacked up each side of the front axle...no brake drag at all, in fact not even a scraping (they need to be adjusted, unless they were hung up long enough to thin the shoes some).

WTF is going on???

Troutly, when you had these issues, did it resolve itself and leave you scratching your head...or did you do something to resolve it?

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

If you have the extra cash,trash the drum brakes and convert to disc
brakes.There's good reason that no cars run drum and shoes anymore.
Shoes were OK for horse & buggy's just think of the investment your
towing around. They also sell a composite master cylinder nothing to
rust internally. Big advantage to this set up is every component exposed,
no heavy drum to remove for pad inspection.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Thank You for your help. :)

Randy

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

You may have HAD pressure ,but as long as it sat ,it may have bled off. IF you can spin the tires easily now . The problem is gone > temporarily < !! It is definately not a wheel bearing issue . I do this stuff every day . It is in the brakes .

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Oh, another thing ,,,, if you pumped that much grease , open up the brakes and see how much grease you got on the brakes !! That could be parts of the problem too . You need to replace the seals once a year .

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

Agreed, trailer problems suck. So many take them for granted and don't maintenence much at all, go down the road all over hell and don't have problems. Go figure... :rolleyes:

So I'm a good boy and do the bearings, check the seal condition, and the condition of the brake shoes and hardware...and BINGO, some immediate BS with the brakes. WTF. :eek:

Probably just a coincidence, though i gotta tell'ya, I'm not feeling too rewarded for my efforts!

I've had 5 boat trailers and numerous other small trailers (snowmobile, jet ski, landscape) and have never had a hub or brake problem 'till now.

I'll get to the bottom of it, and it's discs for me next time! ;)

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?
 

How tight did you make the axle nut? It should only be hand tight. And loose at that.

Re: Trailer trouble...ideas?