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Any trailer maintenance I'm not thinking of?


Nitrousbird

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I trailer, but my trip is 2 miles driveway to ramp, with a max speed limit of 45MPH.  Not exactly hard on the trailer.  But I seem to take one long trip a year the last 6 years, with failures 2 of the 6, so a 1/3 failure rate.

Failure 1:  445 miles into about a 450 mile one-way tow, caliper bolt backs out.  5 years ago, never had touched the caliper...ever.  Repaired everything, full system bleed/fluid replacement.

Failure 2:  Last year, maybe 60 miles into the trip, left rear wheel came off around 70MPH.  That cost me a few hundred and 4 hours to get her back on the road and trashed my fender.  Either I didn't torque the wheel down (unlikely, I'm fairly anal about it), or it just needed re-torqued.

I'll be repacking all bearings this weekend.  Have replaced half the trailer wiring and serviced most of the remainder.  Winch strap and bow roller has been replaced in the past few years.  Boat buckles front and rear.  Just installed new - and fits by about a 1/4" each side from the boat - 10.75" fenders that properly clear my 18" wheels, as the previous setup was less than ideal and had rubbing opportunities.  Tires are about 4 years old, always garaged and fully inflated.  Bunk carpet is getting worn but the bunks are on there solid.  No rust problems on the trailer.  

What am I not thinking of?  I just want to tow the damn thing to/from Norris Lake next Friday and not deal with problems.  Last year's trip also included the truck's AC clutch AND AC idler pulley failing at the same time out of the blue, though I replaced everything I could up there to prevent future issues (other than the water pump and alternator, which show no signs of looming failure).  As luck would also have it, my freaking auto-leveling air compressor started intermittently failing this morning...which I replaced a little over 2 years ago...so another will be on the door step on Sunday for swap out.  Not really any other preventive maintenance I can do on it right now.  Boat, as usual, is rock solid and doesn't need anything.  My trip two years ago had my previous truck breaking a weld on the exhaust AND a crack in the not that old fuel filter (where the lines decided they wouldn't come off with the tools I had on hand and required a shop visit during vacation).  Let's just say it was the last straw; did a bunch of fixes, sold it to a friend who has been loving it ever since...go figure. 

I want a no issues trip - what am I forgetting?   

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If they were 4 year old trailer tires and not car tires I would bet on a failure on this trip. Being they are 18" I'm guessing they are car tires? I have not got 4 years out of a trailer tire in the past 12 years. Mine also always stored in garage too.

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When was the last time the pads were checked or replaced? I just did a whole axle for $37.00 delivered for the pads. I only trailer 1 mile round trip and you would of thought I had 100k on the pads. Not real impressed with the UFP (DB-35) set up.

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11 hours ago, dalt1 said:

If they were 4 year old trailer tires and not car tires I would bet on a failure on this trip. Being they are 18" I'm guessing they are car tires? I have not got 4 years out of a trailer tire in the past 12 years. Mine also always stored in garage too.

 

11 hours ago, oldjeep said:

Fwiw, I'm on year 6 on my stock trailer tires with no issues other than the right rear is low on tread.  That is the one that takes a beating backing into driveway.  Likely replacing them next spring. 

I think since my last 3 boats were close to max capacity on the C range trailer tires, that makes a big difference. Hope these D rangers on my new LSV fair better. I will let you know in 4 years.

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On 9/7/2018 at 9:04 PM, oldjeep said:

Check the bunk bolts.  Mine seem to back out occassionally. 

Mine are solid.  Rusted and would probably breaking coming out, but they aren't going anywhere and the bunks are tight.

On 9/7/2018 at 9:35 PM, dalt1 said:

If they were 4 year old trailer tires and not car tires I would bet on a failure on this trip. Being they are 18" I'm guessing they are car tires? I have not got 4 years out of a trailer tire in the past 12 years. Mine also always stored in garage too.

Yes, car tires.  Nexen N3000, which was the boat manufacturer tire of choice for quite a while.  1939lb load rating on each, so well above my need (whole rig is probably around 5000 - 5200lbs).  

On 9/7/2018 at 11:43 PM, wdr said:

When was the last time the pads were checked or replaced? I just did a whole axle for $37.00 delivered for the pads. I only trailer 1 mile round trip and you would of thought I had 100k on the pads. Not real impressed with the UFP (DB-35) set up.

Checked all the pads while doing the bearings this weekend.  They all have a ton of life left in them.

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Lube the winch and check the strap/cable.  The web straps tend to rot after a few years.  Steel cables are better, but they do like a shot of spray lube every now and again.

Not a bad idea to lube the jack while you are at it.

Have fun next weekend!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did all the prep and right when we got there (probably when we launched) the freaking brake line to the back right brake snapped off.  

Ended up towing the whole way home without trailer brakes.  Fortunately, my truck's brakes are pretty decent (and slightly better than stock), so I just kept a little extra distance and it was all good.  Looks like I'll be replacing all of the brake lines now...

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1 hour ago, That Guy said:

How was the weather last weekend? We went the weekend before and had great weather and the lake basically to ourselves, it really dies down after Labor Day. 

We arrived Friday evening and left Wednesday morning.  Friday evening, Saturday and Tuesday were great.  Water was warm and calm, though the middle of the lake did get some wind chop on Saturday - the only day we really ventured much west of the 33 bridge by Bubba Brews.  We prefer lake east of the bridge and north of the dam the best, though it is all good.  Sunday was awful weather all day.  Monday was clouds, rain and mist.  We went out twice for about 3 hours but never got in the water.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 9:47 PM, oldjeep said:

Fwiw, I'm on year 6 on my stock trailer tires with no issues 

Just finished year 16.  Tires still look good.  I do not let the sun hit them when trailer is parked.  Average about 1500 miles a year.

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  • 1 month later...

On my 2014 tandem Boatmate trailer with 255/55/18 Nexen RU5 tires - 109V rated, tires @ 1940lbs ea. Trailer GVWR is 8175 (boat/trailer weight is about 7800lbs when carrying my 500lbs of lead bags)....always kept in garage and tires still look almost brand new, even tread with very little wear showing, about 6 weeks ago I was pulling boat out of launch and friend saw a tire was low when we were wiping down the boat. Long story short, was a leak in sidewall and closer inspection showed a piece of steel belt (looks like staple at first) had broken thru and was causing the leak. Lucky I had good friends there who had the right tools and helped me put on the spare trailer tire since I was driving my new Ram truck that night and did not have my jack and other specialty tire changing tools that I have religiously carried in bed of my truck for last 2 years and have never needed to use, lol.

Even keeping trailer in garage, close inspection shows some very light cracking on sidewalls, I check the tire pressure often and keep them inflated to the max cold psi of 50. Anyway....Saying all this cause it really surprised me and did not expect it... make sure to keep a spare on-board and glad I have always been OCD about that, mine did not come with a spare and it was one of the first things I added to my trailer when I bought the boat/trailer over 2 years ago. I will be changing all 4 tires before Spring, have not done it yet simply cause I wont be using the boat much at this time of year. Thinking I will go with Nitto tires this time around tho the Nexen tires have excellent reviews. (I love Lake Norris and was there over Fathers Day this year during the trip posted here on TMC, I try to go once/twice year).

Only other things I have replaced are the bow roller and winch strap cause I did not like how it was looking about a year ago and didn't want to take a chance with it breaking on me. I also check my brake pads on the regular. At some point soon, I plan to replace my bunk rails with new pressure treated lumber and add the GatorBak bunk covers which look really well built and durable compared to bunk carpet considering how heavy my boat is. I am starting to get some wear on my bunk carpet at front and I am careful to not powerload.  Gatorbak is spendy, but looks like a "one and done" deal.

http://gatorbak.com/gb350-bunk-cover/

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6 hours ago, Infinitysurf said:

On my 2014 tandem Boatmate trailer with 255/55/18 Nexen RU5 tires - 109V rated, tires @ 1940lbs ea. Trailer GVWR is 8175 (boat/trailer weight is about 7800lbs when carrying my 500lbs of lead bags)....

1940 X 4 = 7760

It seems as though you have your tires at their limit, and that's assuming the weight is truly equalized on them. 

Yes, tongue weight takes some of that, but it might be time to step up to more tire. 

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16 hours ago, justgary said:

1940 X 4 = 7760

It seems as though you have your tires at their limit, and that's assuming the weight is truly equalized on them. 

Yes, tongue weight takes some of that, but it might be time to step up to more tire. 

I mis-wrote the tire capacity above, not sure if computer auto-corrected me or I just typed the wrong number cause I had my brain thinking about something else....I just looked at the tire to double check and its listed as 2,271lbs on each Nexen RU5 tire (not 1940) which takes total capacity to 9,084. (these are the factory tires that Boatmate used to install on their tandem trailers).

Good catch tho, had I typed that correctly it definitely would be an issue...maybe I hit some kind of road hazard which caused tire to prematurely fail, I did look at tires carefully and there was no "scrubbing" on sidewalls like a curb had been hit and if I am carrying my 500lbs of lead when trailering, I always make sure to center the weight directly over the tandem axles and spread them out. The new Nitto tires I am looking at installing are also 109V with similar capacity and are actually the ones that Boatmate now installs/sells with their new trailers.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/18/2018 at 12:47 PM, goodmatt78 said:

I just bought a bottle of corroseal....I plan to touch up under side of trailer where rust had started.....much better stuff than the rustoleum crap.

A friend of mine was telling me about corroseal, uses it on his old 4x4 trucks. Got a few spots rusting on my trailer. Was thinking about trying this to clean it up.

Does it turn black after application? Do you paint after you apply?

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2 hours ago, KDCr7 said:

A friend of mine was telling me about corroseal, uses it on his old 4x4 trucks. Got a few spots rusting on my trailer. Was thinking about trying this to clean it up.

Does it turn black after application? Do you paint after you apply?

Yes...it turns rust matte black.  It also acts as a primer, so you can paint or leave it.  I just used it on my truck hitch.  I'm planning to use it on the underside of my trailer and fenders.  It pretty amazing stuff.  I tried the rustoleum version and it sux in comparison.

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