Recent events (disintegrated bearings and exploding tyre) have made me realise you neglect trailer maintenance at your peril.

I bought an older, second-hand trailer last year. It was owned by a lad who worked for one of the top tuning firms. That and its nice shiny coat of paint lulled me into thinking it wouldn't need any major maintenance for some time - WRONG.
As some may know the bearings on one axle disintegrated whilst attempting to transport AkaKeith's MK to Malton. Fortunately the rim and tyre stayed on but only by good luck.
The following week having replaced that hub and re-newed the other three outer bearings we set off for Northumberland with the F27 on board intent on wellying over the Moors. Whilst going around the Newcastle by-pass in Frid eve rush-hour a trailer tyre explode big time.

My theory is that the original problem with the bearing may have been caused by the tread delaminating (un-seen despite close inspection) and hammering that bearing to death.
Again we got off lightly but it was worth noting that the tyre fitter who supplied a new tyre reckoned the old one was at least 11 years old.
In theory tyre companies say it's unsafe to run tyres more than 5 years old regardless of use. Now I know they are right!
Also the fact that it's a 4 wheel trailer reduced the danger and inconvenience when things fell apart.

So if you own a trailer make one of this winter's task a strip down, de-grease, inspect and re-grease of all the trailer's components - You Know It Makes Sense!
Cheers, Pewe

Dan, forgot to mention one of our numerous stops on the way up was caused by some numpty (self) forgetting that the ancient swing-over bar on the hand-brake should be swung back when towing so the hand-brake doesn't ratchet on when braking.
Still can't get my head around what happens if the trailer breaks away and the break-away cable pulls on the handbrake with the ratchet lever swung back. Presumably it gives one tug before failing - but that doesn't mean the brakes stay on?

[Edited on 5/10/09 by pewe]

The other classic trailer/caravan error is binding brakes, i.e. poorly adjusted cable or handbrake on first click, on the overrun system, cause bearings to overheat, loose grease and sieze up...

Dan

[Edited on 5/10/09 by Bluemoon]

On the biannual trailer MOT in Germany tyres are illegal if over five years old.

Good advice there, something I should have done with my old trailer

My old trailer was an old single axle trailer, which in my own words was crap! As it was so crap I used to spend the whole time towing looking in my mirrors just to see if anything was going wrong.

This one day as I was trailering the racecar to Lydden along the M25 luckily I was looking in the nearside mirror, when all of a sudden plumes of grey smoke started coming from the nearside, I pulled over straight away onto the hard shoulder only to find the wheel red hot with smoke pouring from the bearing.

As I spotted it so early, the bearing had not seized and thankfully a fellow racer (a mate) was only 5 miles behind and he had a tub of bearing grease on board.

After stripping the hub/bearing on the M25 hard shoulder and cooling it in water we repacked the bearing put it together and headed off to Lydden with no further problems

quote:

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Still can't get my head around what happens if the trailer breaks away and the break-away cable pulls on the handbrake with the ratchet lever swung back. Presumably it gives one tug before failing - but that doesn't mean the brakes stay on

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Your not alone on this either, becuase theres a trailer for sale on here at the moment that only has three wheels after a bearing collapsed.

i had a wheel fall off a new trailer because i assumed it had come ready packed with grease - luckily i noticed it vibrating in the wing mirror so was on the hard shoulder as it finally wobbled off!

I had a wheel fail on a new trailer too (the bearing was greased and correctly adjusted, as I did it!), but I was very lucky - although the entire wheel and hub dispapeared somewhere into a farmer's field off the A34 near Oxford at 23:30 on a rainy night, my holiday breakdown insurance was valid until midnight and I got it delivered to Manchester for free.

I went to where I had bought the hub units (Towsure) and made a fuss at the counter until I was putting off enough customers that the shop replaced them with better units.

Interesting about the bearing failures.
I noticed the old bearings I replaced had "Spain" marked on them.
The local bearing supplier supplied replacement SKF or Timekin (can't remember which).
At the time I thought they were expensive but if they last like others of those brands I've used in the past maybe they're a worthwhile investment!
Cheers, Pewe