UFP Spindle Seal Wear Sleeve

I have a Ranger Trail trailer with UFP spindles. I changed the vault oil filled hubs over to standard grease and replaced the seals and bearing cups / cones. I have two of them that I have resealed and cannot get them to stop leaking. The seal wear surfaces have pretty deep grooves from the previous seals and a fair number of miles. Has anyone attempted to replace the wear sleeves on this style spindle before? Youtube is a bit lacking and it seems nothing really matches my setup. Also its ridiculous finding parts for boat related stuff online as it seems the documentation on these is terrible compared to the auto industry. I have included a picture of a brand new spindle assembly I plan on using to fix the problem but it would be much cheaper to just replace the wear sleeves if its easy enough.

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Speedi sleeves can be replaced, the issue can be getting them off the spindle. Some will easily come off. New May need to cut the worn one off. Need to know shaft diameter, width of existing sleeve. NAPA stocks a good assortment in my past experience or a bearing/seal supply house should have them.

Go to trailer parts depot, and look under the hub bearings and kits section. They have sleeves for UFP. I tried posting the link but can’t get it to work. My Ranger trailer has the Tie Down Engineering spindles, I got sleeves from them last year, perfect fit. Not sure if the UFP spindles have it or not, but mine have an o ring that goes on under the wear sleeve. Don’t forget to get some if yours does to.

Can you get a seal with a smaller inside diameter so it fits a little more snug on the spindle?

I tried to sort seals to get the tightest fit but that didn’t fix the problem. I also tried to seat the new seal deeper to run on a new spot. I tried leaving another seal slightly proud of the hub and that didn’t work either. They won’t even seal enough to make it down the road a mile to storage without oozing. I have a hunch one of the spindles is slightly bent anyway based on tire wear patterns so I will replace a couple spindles now, then with those old ones off the trailer I will try to learn something about replacing the wear sleeves. I assume I can just split the sleeve with some precision die grinder work or even just a sharp chisel. I have heard there are o-rings under the sleeves as well so will need to figure that out when the time comes. I am sure I’ll have to get ranchy to find a makeshift way to drive a new sleeve on without mangling it. I will try to update this post with more pictures and commentary as the project unfolds.

Adam Steffes wrote:

I am sure I’ll have to get ranchy to find a makeshift way to drive a new sleeve on without mangling it. I will try to update this post with more pictures and commentary as the project unfolds.

If the spindles are off the axle, could you put them in the freezer, and heat the spindle seals in an oven, and let thermal expansion be your friend?

HRG

I had the same problem with the grooves on the spindle.Mine wouldnt make it a couple hundered miles without grease leaking and water entering.I was sick of repacking bearings and buying seals,so a few weeks ago I put those sleeves on my spindles.I didnt have old ones to cut off tho.I drove them on using a bunch of old bearings stacked on the spindle.Worked pretty good and so far no grease leaking.Good luck

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Adam Steffes wrote:</div>
I am sure I’ll have to get ranchy to find a makeshift way to drive a new sleeve on without mangling it. I will try to update this post with more pictures and commentary as the project unfolds.

If the spindles are off the axle, could you put them in the freezer, and heat the spindle seals in an oven, and let thermal expansion be your friend?

HRG

Good call – could give that a shot. Just hope it doesn’t melt the o-ring! Maybe since there is a o-ring involved one might have to go the traditional route and bust out the persuader? Would be cool to have a pipe cut to the right length to stick past the end with the ID turned to match the spindle shape to support the wear sleeve. Overkill…

I have never seen any sleeves with o-rings. Usually metal sleeve light to moderate press on the shaft. Perhaps the o-ring if there is one is the source of the leak? A pipe of the correct ID is the way to go.

Art Green wrote:

I have never seen any sleeves with o-rings. Usually metal sleeve light to moderate press on the shaft. Perhaps the o-ring if there is one is the source of the leak? A pipe of the correct ID is the way to go.

The ones I used on an old trailer use an O-ring under the sleeve.
https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Bearings-Races-Seals-Caps/Bearing-Buddy/BB60010.html?feed=npn&msclkid=27c18301095d112cb3b1e38dcd9241ce&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing%20%7C%20Shop%20-%20Trailer%20Bearings%20Races%20Seals%20Caps&utm_term=4576923311274063&utm_content=Trailer%20Bearings%20Races%20Seals%20Caps

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I started digging into it. Both hubs leaking, one of them already pretty full of water and the grease went milky after three launches.

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Here are images of the seal side showing how much is coming out.

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Here is the old wear sleeve with a pretty deep groove from the original installation which was the hybrid oil vault style lube.

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Well as expected the spindle to axle connection was stubborn but hammering a chisel in the pinch slot to break it loose worked well and a 2 jaw puller made it walk right off there. I tried several other methods before the puller. If you have to do one I would recommend just opt for the pulled right away. I also used penetrating oil and let that soak while I ran to the parts store to rent the puller.

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Just for curiosity sake I took the wear sleeve off one of the old spindles by using a sharp chisel to cut a groove and then spin it a bit. I found an o-ring groove under it as expected.

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Bearings on ufp trailers are weird. The idler hubs have standard inner and outer bearings. Inner cone 68149 and outer cone 44649. The DB35 brake hubs/rotors use the same cones as the idlers but the inner cup is a different number with slightly (0.030”) smaller OD. Why on earth you would do that is beyond me since the hub has plenty of meat to bore it out another 0.030 for the standard race. The brake hubs take 68110 outer race and the idlers take 68111. Seems the bearing house guy here stocks dozens of 68111 but only had 2 of the 68110.

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Got it all buttoned back up – next step is to re-sleeve the old spindles and have those ready to go for next year when its time to service bearings again. The grease on one of the spindles was totally shot with water contamination in only 3 outings. Couple pics to show the rest of the process.

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