Snapped a trailer axle while towing today

Snapped the shaft where the hub mounts to the axle on my trailer this morning. Wheel flew off and the trailer hit the pavement. I was fortunate to be in Ft Snelling State Park going 20mph at the time, and not a mile back doing 55 on Highway 5 in airport traffic. And now I know why I’ve been paying for the RV package from AAA.

It’s a 30-year old trailer, but there was plenty of good fresh grease in there. Bearing buddies were new when I got the boat 3 seasons ago. Seems a little crazy to me.

Had it towed to Watergate Marina in St. Paul and they’re working up an estimate for me. Sounds like they wanna replace the whole axle. Couple hours labor at $90/hr, plus the axle itself. I’m trying to decide if I want to put the money into this rusty old Spartan or try to find a used trailer in better condition.

So anybody have any tips for finding either a good used trailer, or a good parts source for the axle? It looks like Northern Tool has complete kits with fresh hubs and leaf springs for about $200. Is there a better option? The trailer is a Spartan Classic roller, boat is 15 ft tri-hull. About 1400 pounds loaded.

Northern tool is the best option I can think of. Kramer spring in st paul mute be able to help also. Probably not the correct spelling.

catnip wrote:

Northern tool is the best option I can think of. Kramer spring in st paul mute be able to help also. Probably not the correct spelling.

Thank you, wasn’t aware of Kremer and they seem to be a good bet if Watergate comes in too high.

I found the used market flooded with rusty, rock chipped trailers. It took me a long time to find a nice one.

Don Miller wrote:

I found the used market flooded with rusty, rock chipped trailers. It took me a long time to find a nice one.

I have a month, but I guess won’t hold my breath. I think my existing rusty old trailer with a brand new axle & hubs makes more sense than somebody else’s rusty old trailer that hasn’t been serviced/updated at all.

Rigid Hitch in Burnsville has complete axles in all sizes.

1st lose the bearing buddies I found they don’t work, pack your bearings by hand or snap on has a cool tool that packs them, it looks like a oil filter and I can do my single axle in 30 min. all 4 bearings do this in the fall as your bearings can hold moisture all winter and fail premature. as a new axle that’s the way to go the only other part that can fail is the winch and lights easy fix

Bearing Buddies are not meant to grease your bearings when used properly they keep positive pressure where the bearings are in the axle so water does not get into them. You still need to do regular maintenance, been running Bearing Buddies now going on 35 years and nary a problem.

I am a dealer for rigid hitch. Measure your axle and PM me the part number on the rigid site, and I should be able to save you some money. It looks like a 2200# complete axle kit with springs and hubs is $123 plus tax. Check that vs Northern and if rigid is a better deal let me know and I will get you what you need.

Most likely, it had nothing to do with the bearings.

Most trailers are even going back 30 years were sold as package deals with the boat and are BARELY adequate to hold the boat that sits on them. The trailer is the area where they cost-cut to make the package as cheap as possible.

So likely if the boat weighs in at, say 1400 wet (with fuel full), the trailer axle is rated for 1700-1800 at most.

Add 30 years of road and storage stress to something that wasn’t adequate to begin with and you get metal fatigue and failure.

Personally, I’d go with the “devil I know” approach and replace the axel and running gear, but ONLY after the following:

1. Find out the REAL wet weight of the boat + motor of if this is not possible, try to determine the weight rating of the original axle and then oversize the replacement if possible.

2. Have a pro inspect the trailer and find out if you have any other metal fatigue signs.

Notorious failure areas are the bends where the “Y” turns straight and goes back toward the wheels. Any bending of the metal makes for a strees point and I’ve seen a number of failures at this point.

Also, the area where the tongue hinges if it’s a tilt bed trailer. The stress on the tongue right at the hinge bolt can tear the metal at this point or it can elongate the holes so that they “guillotine” the bolt that forms the pivot point.

3. Inspect all attachment points where the bunks and rollers fasten to the trailer. Also the leaf spring attachment points.

Personally, I’m a fan of Bearing Buddies and wouldn’t roll without them. Never had a bearing failure on any of the 6 trailers I’ve owned that have had them. Those that claim they don’t work usually don’t understand how they work.

Grouse

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think the gray area w/ Bearing Buddies comes down to the time of install & what condition the hub was in at that time. If you install them on a brand new hub with freshly packed bearings, I’ve heard they can be great for the long haul if you ensure there’s enough grease to maintain pressure. I need to be better about that this time around

mojogunter wrote:

I am a dealer for rigid hitch. Measure your axle and PM me the part number on the rigid site, and I should be able to save you some money. It looks like a 2200# complete axle kit with springs and hubs is $123 plus tax. Check that vs Northern and if rigid is a better deal let me know and I will get you what you need.

That would be an enormous help my friend! Thank you for the generosity. Need to get the measurements but everything at Northern is at least 200 so this would be amazing. FW has been busting my balls lately (rightly so), so every dollar I can save will help. Will PM you tomorrow!

I hope they have what you need. Glad to help a guy out getting into boat ownership and the pain that can come from it. I will be fishing tomorrow but if you get me a number I will set it up for will call on Monday or whatever day works for you. They are in Burnsville if you can pick it up. Shipping an axle can get spendy.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Most likely, it had nothing to do with the bearings.

Thanks for the perspective Grouse. I did have the boat weighed when I was buying a vehicle because I wanted to see if I could get away with a Subaru. Right around 1250 packed down.

I will ask the shop to do a thorough inspection of the welds etc.

mojogunter wrote:

I hope they have what you need. Glad to help a guy out getting into boat ownership and the pain that can come from it. I will be fishing tomorrow but if you get me a number I will set it up for will call on Monday or whatever day works for you. They are in Burnsville if you can pick it up. Shipping an axle can get spendy.

No rush as I’d like to get the shop’s opinion on the integrity of the frame and I’m not expecting to hear from them til Monday. I can definitely pick it up in Burnsville.

mojogunter wrote:

I hope they have what you need. Glad to help a guy out getting into boat ownership and the pain that can come from it. I will be fishing tomorrow but if you get me a number I will set it up for will call on Monday or whatever day works for you. They are in Burnsville if you can pick it up. Shipping an axle can get spendy.

If you are a dealer I am pretty sure Rigid has free shipping if the purchase is over $100.

Axles I would have to pay to ship because I am out of their free shipping circle.

I had that happen. Need to replace the whole axel. The shorelander I had on my 1800 pro v was 300 buck with nothin. Fully loaded was around 600 20 mins to bolt and and ready to go. Cheaper was without breaks etc. worth the extra for other parts. Most axels you can’t replace the shaft. My dump trai,re had a similar issue and was only. 350 axel with electric breaks. A utility trailer I had stolen and recovered needed a new axel 150 bucks. Buy a bigger axel for weight as your boat might be close to the max weight with gear etc.