Trailer maintenance

I re-packed my bearings and adjusted my trailer brakes. It’s an RV so it also has other maintanence points such as replacing heater anode, oiling slides, ouling blades for tank emptying and rolling on a new rubber roof. Also there’s paint chipping at the trailer tongue so I’ll sand and repaint soon to prevent rust. Also make sure to check you suspension for leaks!

 

Also don’t forget about the module and cable that locks the brakes of the trailer runs away. Leaving your chain down is very dangerous as if it snags it will pop the lock on the brakes.

 

Thanks, after reading this it pushed me to replace my boat trailer tires. I upgraded to Goodyear endurance load D 8 Piles had 6 piles before. Two of the old tires were manufactured in 2010!!!

 

Just replaced the trailer lights and the coupler on the in-laws boat trailer. next thing on my list is the bearings and leaf springs. apparently these have never had the covers on them. they still seem pretty solid to me. no wiggle or noise. gets dunked in saltwater pretty regularly. i grease them up a few times a year or before moving her any real distance (20+miles). the boat ramp is only 2 miles from the house so we dont put many miles on her normally.on her normally.

 

Excellent write up and great advice.

 

Coming from a background where safety is paramount I was shocked at the overall condition of my new TT that had just been prepped by the dealer. Little green valve stem caps on tires 20 psi too low, 18 of 20 lug nuts not torqued too 100 ft/lb, wires, water hoses and LP lines against steel edges with no chaffing protection, trailer brake wires not secured and hanging in the breeze and that's just the safety related items. Many more items inside showing evidence of Covid era assembly quality.

 

@ColoradoTJ when replacing deck on a trailer, do you know if the wood needs to be spaced out like when putting up a fence? Or just lay them together as they are treated wood?

 

Wake up

Cleaned, inspected, and repacked wheel bearings on a '22 Winnebago Hike, looks good last a long time. Also stuck borescope down toilet to have a peek in black tank. Not horrible but we can do better.

 

After I had to install a new hub due to my ignorance concerning maintenance, I do a much better job keeping one of my Number One tools up and running.

 

Went camping Monday so on Sunday I ran all system checks and found one propane bottle pigtail leaking gas at the connector. We normally just run the left bottle so I decided to run the right bottle this time and got an immediate stench of propane. Soapy water sprayed it and it was pissing out from back of connector. Just another failure point I never expected.

 

If i recall, propane lines are on a 5 year replacement schedule.

 

Swapped out one of the stabilizer jacks control switch that died. Amazing the little shit that goes wrong on something that's only taken out 4-5 times a year.

 

My RV tires cost me $3600! I keep it inside and have tire covers for camping.
3 years and maybe 3K miles is a short period to replace them IMO.

 

Manual stabilizer jacks FTW.

 

How many and what type of tires cost you $3,600?

 

I do retract them manually on occasion when leaving early in the morning during quiet hours.

 

At least you're more considerate than the bros who use an impact on theirs.

 

6 Michelin 19.5 XRV's. Price was mounted and installed. Not sure if they balance big tires.

 

Washed and waxed.

 

Great source of info on trailer repair and maintenance:

https://youtube.com/@thetrailersmith?si=FRQ42mDKWj1uSrLc

 

I’ve watched a few of his videos - he seems to be pretty knowledgeable.

My 7x16 enclosed is due for some maintenance. It’s my workhorse and has treated me very well, so I need to repay the favor. This weekend or next, I’ll be installing some Lippert Equaflex equalizers and greasable shackles, along with packing bearings and checking brakes and such. I replaced the tires last year but they are wearing down again (tires do that…); hopefully they make it through the summer.

My travel trailer came with CRE3000 equalizers and it seems to tow smoother. Hopefully the Lipperts are worth the upgrade

Anybody have experience with them?

Hopefully this summer I will also get to retrofitting my single axle enclosed with brakes. I did the same thing on my last one and it made for a more comfortable tow, especially in inclement weather.

 

@blenton I put a set of those Lipperts on the 6.5x16 I'm currently refinishing so we can haul or SXS around. I also replaced all the leaf springs (a couple were bent), added a set of greaseable shackles, replaced the brakes, replaced the bearings, installed new tires, and painted it. I just have to install the rest of the lights so unfortunately I haven't road tested it yet. It was a lot of work but my wife's uncle retired from his stone mason business and hadn't used it in years so he gave it to us. It's a 2003 and has had zero maintenance. LOL. Here's a before and after, it still needs the lights finished and deck installed. Hopefully Sunday I'll wrap up the lights.

 

@blenton I finally got to take a trip with those Lipperts and it towed really well. Did about 1300 miles of mostly interstate but there were some tight, curvy, WV back roads along the way with some pot holes and it seemed to soak them up well.

 

Good to hear. Thanks for the update. Mine have been collecting dust in the box..

Life decided I was too complacent and placed some extra demands on my time. Haha. But it’s all good - mostly means I have to spend more time with my kids carting them around to activities in the evenings. So a win by default.

 

Kind of a different question...I have an old Ford truck-bed trailer. Bumpside Ford, not positive what year, but it has a 9" rear end. Somewhere around 1969. Still has the full rear axle and differential. I just finished changing the differential oil, which required pulling the axle shafts and differential gears. I had a local shop press on new wheel bearings. Guessing the oil hadn't been changed in decades, and was pretty low. And after a few days I found out why...

It's got a pretty good pinion seal leak. Oil level was low enough when I bought it that it wasn't leaking anymore. Annoying to have to deal this since there isn't even a driveshaft, but the gears need lube, so here I am. My question is on the pinion bearing preload. I know it's easy enough to count turns of the nut and mark the location and get close enough, but I wonder if I don't even need to worry about it? If there's no driveshaft, does pinion bearing preload matter? Can I just snug up the nut and call it good?

 

I'd imagine if the gears weren't meshing right you could still run into gear wear issues and end up sending metal throughout the unit and possibly ruin your new bearings. Do you have a way to cut the gear part of the pinion off or trim the teeth die down to the point they don't engage the ring gear? Can the pinion be removed altogether and the hole capped or plugged?

 

I know this is old but.....
I would think when using treated lumber you could butt them tight since treated lumber is going to shrink....ALOT!!!
When I built my deck thats what I did pretty much.
I used nails as spacers so around 1/16 of an inch.
By the time it dried out there was a bit more than an 1/8 of an inch gap.