Why does this keep happening?

B

bddo

New Member
Jul 17, 2010
18
NW Georgia
Boat Info
1996 Sundeck 240
Engines
5.7 V8
I just replaced the front brakes on my trailer and added brakes to the rear axle. I also switched from surge brakes to electric drum brakes. For some reason, the driver side axles keep throwing the dust caps while going down the road. I have checked the brakes to make sure they are not adjusted too tight, and also made sure that the axle nut is not set too tight on the bearing. The passenger side is working fine and never thrown a cap.

Any ideas as to what is causing this? The caps are not loose when I put them on (have to beat them on with a rubber mallet).

Thanks.

Bryan
 
Not sure why the dust caps keep coming off - but, have yu thought about replacing them with "bearing buddies" so that you can easily keep those wheels lubed?
 
The trailer has EZ lube axles, so bearing buddies would be useless (I ordered the bearing buddies before I found out that the axles were EZ lube). The dust caps I am using have the rubber insert so that you can get access to the grease fitting without removing the complete cap.
 
Yeah, I have the EZ Lubes as well with the rubber insert caps. Never had a cap fly off though.

Unless you have grease in the groove that the cap goes into - it sure sounds like a heat / expansion issue. Is your grease liquifying in those two hubs at all?
 
Now that you mention it, it does look like the grease is breaking down. Is this a sign of severe heat?
 
One problem could be the seals. If they are bad, they let water in, which in turn breaks down your grease when you are on the road. Heat and water intrusion could cause your problem IMO. I have seen the seals heat up and deteriorate because of the axle nut being torqued too tight. Your bearing will be a tell tale for that, will most likely be bound up and scored
 
All of the parts are brand new. I've only pulled the trailer about 100 miles so far. Are there special seals that should be used with the EZ lube spindles? I am using the seals that came with the hub/drum kits. When I pump grease in, it eventually comes through the outer bearing indicating that it is full.
 
You want to be using Trailer Wheel Bearing Grease, its a lighter grease and flows through the bearing good when the hubs are rotating down the road. Next, you don't want to have things full full of grease. Other wise when things heat up from normal running, the expansion, if cant go out the seal, will pop the cap off every time. Hope this helps some.
 
Is it possible that they only come off in a turn. Its hard to believe that your spindle could flex/distort enough, but I had a tractor/Backhoe that was doin the same thing. I finally figured out that it did it only when I went around a turn sharp. Just a thought. Not sure if I ever figured out how to fix it though.
 
I haven't checked the balancing on the tires. The fact that the grease appears to be breaking down very quickly certainly seems to point to a high temp situation. I'm going to take the wheels off, inspect and repack the bearings with new grease, and back off on the nut a bit. I think that if I take the trailer out on the freeway for a short drive at high speed and check the grease for breakdown, that will tell me if the problem is solved.

Thanks for the help and I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

Bryan
 
You may be over greasing the bearings. They should only have enough grease to fill the bearing and the race area any more then that and you can build pressure in the hub and the grease will over heat. Not sure why only the one side is coming off though.
There ae a number of good bearing packing video's on youtube if you have any question on how to pack the bearings.
 
I had the same problem on my bass boat trailer. Lost two bearing buddies before I found the problem. The nut that holds the hub to the axle was to loose and they vibrated off.
 
bddo said:
I haven't checked the balancing on the tires. The fact that the grease appears to be breaking down very quickly certainly seems to point to a high temp situation. I'm going to take the wheels off, inspect and repack the bearings with new grease, and back off on the nut a bit. I think that if I take the trailer out on the freeway for a short drive at high speed and check the grease for breakdown, that will tell me if the problem is solved.

Thanks for the help and I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

Bryan
Click to expand...
They're either too hot or they're not. Take the thing for a ride and then feel each hub. If you are having that kind of problem due to heat I doubt you'll be able to keep your hand on it and you should be smelling warm or burnt grease odors. Are you sure they have enough grease? You say "grease appears to be breaking down", what's it look like?
 
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