Feral

Yep got to set my spare up that way as well.

Also mates reminded me that having been a \"manual worker\" for years, with popeye forearms, my finger tight is pretty tight compared to a desk wallah, so make sure you test the wheel for wobble before fitting the split pin. (Grab opposite sides and try and wobble it back and forth, anything but the slightest movement, go one more notch on the nut and try again)

Mate depends on the setup. I generally only finger tighten, (no spanner) then try and rock the wheel, if you can feel movement I tighten to the next alignment with the hole and try again, and so on. On this trailer usually finger tight is enough.

All thanks to Gazza the photobucket guru!

First Step. sort out all the tools your going to need (and in my case curse missus for having tools I need in car at her mates place!)

Tools I used.

10inch shifter

Needle nose pliers

Side Cutting pliers (just in case you need to cut away split pin)

Trolley Jack

Car Stand

piece of soft pine or similar

Bucket

Turps (my choice of cleaning solvent)

Bucket

cleaning brush

Gloves

Marine Bearing Kit

Hammer

Marine grade grease

wheel brace

old flat blade screwdriver (those plastic covered ones they put in the kit are just the right size)

First up, Put jack under axle, axle stand under suitable part of trailer frame.

Loosen each wheel nut half to one turn

Jack trailer up high enough for tyre to clear the ground, put axle stand in place and adjust, slowly release jack until trailer rests on axle stand. I like to leave a little weight on the jack, as you need to push and shove a bit on the axle and it holds it still. Remove wheel.

Using the old screw driver and the hammer remove the dust cover of the bearing. Just put the blade in dip between the cover and the hub, and tap gently, rotating the hub a little after each tap. When it is loose, pull it off.

Bend split pin straight with needle nose pliers. Grip head of split pin firmly with pliers, pull split pin out.

Bang gently on hand holding pliers if necessary to shock it out.

undo castellated nut with shifter.

Pull off bearing retaining washer

Gently pull hub off axle. keep clear of the hub, as greasy dirty bearings may just drop in your lap!

Use screw driver to gently tap out rear bearing seal.

remove bearings and inspect.

Grease should be clean, and not milky - milky indicates water has entered hub, and emulsified the grease, which can lead to wheel bearing failure. The grease on the bearings in the photo still looks ok, but the grease on the cleaning brush is definately milky, in this case these hubs came from an ordinary trailer when I built the boat trailer, and were quite old. Obviously even though I repacked the bearings, the rear seal was not up to keeping water out.

Thoroughly clean the hub, and inspect the bearing seats for signs of wear or damage. If the seats look to be in good nick, you can leave them in place, and fit the new bearings as is. (Yes the purists are spluttering at this stage, but the fact is removing the old seats is a tricky job for someone not used to it, and failure to bed the new seats correctly, or damage caused to them whilst installing is a real possibility).

If the seats are worn or damaged, they are removed by gently tapping them from behind using a brass or other soft metal drift. (So as to not scratch the hub). These are a force fit and take a little bit of work to get them out.

Using a suitable drift through the hub, gently tap on the back of the seat from behind to remove (rotating and tapping until it works its way out.) First photo shows area you need to tap on from behind.

Bearing seat almost out

Bearing seat removed

If you remove one bearing seat, remove and replace them both.

Bearing kit, showing new bearings,rear bearing seat (front bearing is sitting in seat, making it hard to see) and rear seal. Note the size of the marine style rear seal, it is much thicker and larger than a normal rear seal.

Place hub on flat surface, place new seat gently in hub, thicker side down (this is very important, other wise you will have remove it again) Put piece of softwood over the seat, then gently tap with a hammer until the seat is flush into the hub. Go gently, try to keep it as even as possible.

Then gently tap around the edge of the seat using a brass drift or similar until the bearing seat is fully home against the flange in the hub. Repeat for the other bearing seat. Try to go down as evenly as possible.

Get a good dollop of grease and put it on the outside of your palm.

Grab the bearing in the other hand. The idea is to push the bearings bigger side down onto the grease, but just the edge onto the edge of the dollop.

This forces the grease into the bearing. keep rotating the bearing in your hand, pressing down onto the grease until all the grease has been pushed into the bearing. Rotate the bearing gently, and check for the amount of grease showing in the small side. if none there, using another (smaller) dollop of grease push grease into the small side in the same way.

Repeat for the other bearing.

Gently smear a small amount of grease into the rear of the hub, making sure you coat as much metal as you can.

gently place bearing in hub

place the rear seal onto the hub. The mostly metal side goes in.

this side goes out

this side goes in!

Gently place the piece of soft wood over the seal, and gently tap until the seal is fully bedded.

Turn hub over, and grease any internal parts not already covered in grease.

Place bearing in hub.

Clean the axle of all old grease and dirt

Wipe fresh grease all over axle where hub will cover it. Gently pick up hub, making sure front bearing does not fall out and slide onto axle. Using fingers to push front bearing in at the same time. Note it takes some pushing, the big marine seal offers a fair bit of resistance.

Put on bearing retaining washer

Put on the castellated nut. Tighten nut by hand only. When it is fully hand tightened, using the shifter gently turn it slightly tighter if necessary to line up the split pin hole in the axle with one on the recesses in the nut. Tighten no more than that! Do not loosen it to line up a hole.

Push split pin through hole and nut (be careful of grease coming out of hole)

Make sure the pin is aligned so the ends can easily bend around the nut, using the needle nose pliers, gently bend the longer leg around the nut. repeat for the shorter leg, around the other side of the nut. Make sure the legs are close to the nut, the dust cover has to fit over the top.

Get a dollop of grease, and grease around the nut and axle end.

As this is a non galvanized hub in a marine environment, I then grease the entire hub outside (including wheel studs)to protect it from the salt water. A galvanized hub, or hub that is not on a boat trailer does not need this.

Fit the dust cover over the bearing end, and gently tap into place with the hammer handle.

refit the wheel

When finished, if you have small children or pets around likely to be around the trailer, you may wish to wipe any excess grease on the small part of the hub that is exposed when the wheel is fitted.

Note the wheel will be quite firm to rotate, due to the marine seal. Much firmer than a normal trailer wheel!

Also note, try and use a marine grade grease that actually says it is resistant to water infiltration! Also do not mix different types of grease in the one hub, they can actually react with each other causing failure. If you decide the existing bearings are good, and you just need to repack them, unless you are absolutely sure you are using the same grease that was originally used, wash the bearings and hubs clean, dry them out thoroughly, then repack with grease.

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2007/09/08 14:40

Ok was all set to photo all the steps involved in changing my wheel bearings on the trailer, but when I set out all the tools, I discovered the tool box with my brass drifts was in the back of the Camry, which my wife had taken out for the day!

As I was all set to go, I did them anyway, I just wont show the photo's of how I got the seats out of the hub! :whistle:

Thats probably a bit past the skill level of a beginner anyway!

Mate they are full of sand, might be prudent to let them sit in a bucket of salt water for 24 hours before you turn them into finger food!

A Quick look at the DPI site and there appears to be no limits set. (size or numbers).

But be picky, they tend to get about in big groups, and each group tends to be of about the same size, so obviously you ant to look for a group of big uns!

Yeah it needs to be pretty calm for the poppers to work.

Thanks Werewolf,

have not used any of those spots for livies before, will give it a go next time.

So Werewolf, where are you sticking the hooks in the live Boney Bream? Back, Lip, other? or several?

As Troy said, but when begining do up that knob until your lure only just does not go to the ground (will limit your cast a little but almost bullet proof against birds nests during casting.

Also get your thumb ready and just as your lure hits the water stick it on the spool, also prevents over run birds nests.

Your reel may also (almost certain) have a second set of clutches that work on the free spool, but adjustment is different from reel to reel, so you will need to read the instructions, or find someone with the same sort of reel to give you some advice (probably someone here will either have one or know it well enough)