Being in Fl., I am way more familiar with trailer wheel bearings than I would like. I have replaced them in my driveway, on the side of the highway, and at many boat ramps.
I'm proud to say that only one of those was mine. And it was because I let someone else check the bearings on my boat trailer instead of me.
I had thought that most of my trailer bearing work was behind me. The last one I did, I sat on an old Coke crate and instructed my friend how to replace his.
Then, last year about this time, Baitfish1's friend, who hunts with us got a new zero turn mower. He needed to come over to check on some stuff on his camper, so he borrowed Baitfish1's utility trailer and brought his old riding mower over. He was going to donate it to the farm.
It would come in handy mowing some places my bushhog could not get into.
When he drove in the yard, I figured we had a problem.
One of the wheels on the trailer was wobbling so much I could see it on the outside video camera.
We unloaded the mower, jacked up the trailer and tried to pull the hub. Did not have much trouble getting it off, when we loosened the nut, it slid off by its self.
Not sure how far down the interstate the bearings came apart, but it had not had any rollers in it for a while.
The outside inner race was welded to the axle, and the inner outside race was running directly on the axle.
In other words, the stub was toast.
Its a square axle, not sure of the rating. They sell stubs that can be welded in the tube, and a good machine shop can do it and make sure its square.
But, I started shopping around, and discovered I could buy the complete axle for less than getting it welded. Not only that, I could buy a complete axle kit with axle, mounting hardware, hubs and bearings for probably less than fixing the old one.
Wound up buying a brand new 3500# axle with hubs for around $200, if I remember right.
I don't have all the links where I was looking, but did find this one.
This is not the one I used, and its only the axle, but it gives you an idea of what is available.
The original axle had a hole bored in it for the spring king bolt. The new one had a bracket the same thickness as the head of the bolt that fit tightly around the axle tube. That way the axle was locked to the spring, but was adjustable center to center.
The original one had no brakes, but the replacement came with welded on flanges if we wanted to mount some.
I got some pics of the original axle after the first rain, so it was rusted a little. But when I went to put the new one on, I had lots of unskilled help, so I had to stay hands-on and never got any pics of the new one.
Here are some of the pics I did get, along with a handy chart for determining the hub stud config.
The 5 on 4-1/2 inch bolt pattern is the most popular 5 bolt lug pattern found on trailer wheels. There's an easy way to measure and be sure though. You need to measure from the center of one lug to the center of the lug nearest to it.
If the distance is:
2-5/8" - the bolt pattern is 5 on 4-1/2
2-3/4" - the bolt pattern is 5 on 4-3/4
3" - the bolt pattern is 5 on 5
3-1/4" - the bolt pattern is 5 on 5-1/2
