EZ Loader Trailer Evaluation ?

[tom&shan]

Just got my boat in November - question for the group on how to evaluate the condition of my trailer. Short of breaking down on the road - how do I tell if the bearings are in good shape, the springs are solid, etc.
Its an older trailer (1990) with rust all over the place, but since the boat is sitting on the trailer, not sure how to judge if I am in good shape, or dangerously close to being stuck on the side of the road.

[Captains Cat]

Tom & Shan. Easy way on the bearings/brakes (if you have brakes) is to follow the instructions HERE

Although it's for an RV, it's the same procedure. That'll allow you to check bearings and brake shoes (I assume it doesn't have disk brakes being that old). If you have surge brakes (probably do) check the mechanism up near the hitch too, change out the brake fluid, probably instructions for that on the RV site too. Maybe you have no brakes, on a 16FT boat and trailer (most places don't require them on rigs less than 3000#) that's possible. Spray springs/brackets with WD-40 or something similar and check them for soundness by tapping with a ball peen hammer or something like that. If they fall off, replace them.

Lights are usually a bigger problem, let us know if you need help there, it's usually a PITA to fix an old setup, easier just to replace lights and harness in toto.

Good luck!

Charlie

[Hunkydory]

Tom and Shan

Excellent advice and instructions from Charlie.

We've always thought we were dangerously close to trouble when towing a boat trailer, hard not to with bearing in and out of water especially salt water continually. To ease our mind we change seals, pack and inspect bearing yearly. Also when going to Alaska we carry a complete bearing and hub assembly for a spare. That's with our 22 on a single axle trailer. In the past with a RIB on a small trailer, on one trip 1500 miles on just dirt roads in Northern Canada had two spare complete hub assemblies. The point of this is with over 40000 miles trailering a boat we've never had a single problem with anything other than electrical. Good preventive maintance is the key and having spare sparts and knowing how to use them eases the mind. No problems is a bit of an over statement. On the one Canadian trip we had 9 flat tires.

Jay

[tom&shan]

How do I check what size hub and bearings I need - without going to the trouble of removing the wheel on the trailer? I went out and measured the outside wheel hub, the bearing buddies look to be around 2 inches, its a 5 nut wheel, about 4 1/2 from bolt to bolt. When I looked at WestMarine for hub kits they have a 1" and 1 1/16" spindle. Any ideas on what would be on a single axle EZ Loader?

[Hunkydory]

EZ
Loader

Tom and Shan----use the above link to contact EZ Loader.

The identification number of your trailer should allow them to give you the information on any part or part assembly on your trailer. Anyway that's the way it worked for me. Hopefully they can do the same for a 1990 model.

Jay

[oldgrowth]

[Aurelia]

We have an EZ loader 17-20 3100 roller model from 2002 and it appears to be tired. The brake actuating surge coupler could use replacement due to corrosion and lack of free movement even after thorough wrenching and lubrication. Also it has drum brakes is less than ideal shape and the drum exteriors/torsion arms look like this....


The parts alone for torsion axle, coupler, and a disc brake kit look like $1000 if I did all the work which I am not entirely excited to do. I think we may be better served by the next model up with 3700lb capacity for a little breathing room. The boat and motor plus batteries and full fuel should put us over 2500lbs alone so I think we could reach up to the current 3100lb limit pretty easily for at least shorter distances when fueled up.

Worth fixing or should we just shop new? And I would prefer to stick with a single axle model.

Greg

[colobear]

Greg it seems that your plans with the boat could drive this decision, if you plan to keep it quite a while and maybe do some road trips, Lake Powell, etc. then a new trailer might be smart. If you are going to be doing mainly local towing then you could do well with the existing trailer. We have a 2006 EZ loader two axle 4600# and have been very satisfied with it. EZ Loader in Arlington has great service. They have been extremely helpful. I put new Kodiak brakes on both axles a year or two ago for about $600, new tie down flexible brake lines all around at the same time for about $200. So with a single axle you should be able to do better than that. My torsion bars look about like yours but I am confident in them and did not worry about changing them. Just FYI I had a 60MPH trailer blowout near Spokane and, because of dual axles it was no problem at all.

[potter water]

If your trailer is ugly, then welcome to 75% of the boat trailers on the road and doing their jobs year after year, so the ugly shouldn't be an issue. '

I'd have the bearings and hubs and suspension professionally serviced this first time around unless you have a lot of expertise in that area. You don't know what prior owners have done with maintenance and there is a lot of really bad prior owner maintenance when you buy something with that many years on it.

I'd insist on new bearings, not just a cleanup of the old. I don't know what your tow rig is, but if it is large, you may not need to worry about brakes.

Make sure the bunks are not rotted and in good condition with good bunk covers on them.

Lights are a misery, and a trailer place will get them running well in a quarter the time you will, unless you have expertise.

It is definitely worth the money to make sure a qualified tech tells you your trailer is ready to go down the road. There is nothing more deflating than a flat tire, and nothing more stinky than a bad bearing when you are in the middle of nowhere.

Final advice, get quality towing insurance. I have two, boat U.S. and a rider on my truck insurance. It is very worth the few bucks.

[Aurelia]

Thanks for the input and we do plan to keep this boat for a long time and trailer it far and wide (non-retired wide). So I will get a quote on a new one but possibly put it off for this season depending on how an inspection at the local shop goes and quote on getting it rolling reasonable well again. I just hate sinking cash into something I won't keep.

Greg

[Sunbeam]

I don't have enough trailer experience to speak to your exact trailer, but when I bought my boat, I knew the trailer was going to need either major work or replacement (it had not been used, to speak of, but had been stored outdoors while the boat was indoors in rack storage; it had outdated parts, such as old, rusted drum brakes, etc.).

I debated either buying a new trailer, or having mine "re-fit." I decided on the re-fit with the idea that I would be able to have it done with parts that were better than (many) new trailers come with, and the cost would still be a lot less. (Also, I would not have been sure what exactly I wanted in a new trailer at that time; this may not be true for you though, since you have more trailerable experience.)

So, I had my trailer (which was structurally good) re-done with parts I specified. These included Tie-Down flexible brake lines, a new actuator, Kodiak disc brakes, Timken bearings (I took the foreign-made bearings out of the kit and went to a bearing house to get the Timkens), new tires of my choice, new LED lights and wiring, a new (and much more powerful) manual winch, new cypress bunks with new bunk carpet put on with Monel staples, etc. I had some issues with the parts of the job I didn't do, because the trailer place I went to was lousy, but I would do the same idea again (with a better trailer place!). I would guess that even with the upgraded parts, it was less than half the cost of a new trailer.

[thataway]

At this point you seem to have a good frame, and probably good rollers. This is the essence of the trailer--the running gear is difficult to keep in perfect shape in salt water, especially if you don't know how it was taken care of by the prior owner. I try and wash down my trailer with fresh water if possible.

Today I spent several hours working on my 18' Caracal trailer, because we are going to be towing it about 900 miles back home in a couple of days. It does probably need new springs and perhaps even spindles. The bearings and tires are good--no brakes, since it is under 3000 lbs and towed behind a 36,000 lb RV with big air brakes. We rebuilt the lights and redid the grease and checked the bearings as we do every time before a trip.

IN your case in will be much cheaper in the long run to redo the brakes and any other part of the running gear. Sunbeam makes an excellent point about choosing the best quality bearings, brakes, lines etc--and they will be better than a trailer which you buy off the lot, unless you can get a company which will build it exactly the way you want.

[Aurelia]

I am going to take it to Kitsap marina Friday for a checkup and pay them to pull the hubs off and talk to me about what it will take to get back on the road for at least a year or two. As long as that number is reasonable, we will stick with it for a little while at least. I still think it is a little light for the load and long term would like just a bit more load capacity. It is also a roller trailer and I do prefer a lower riding bunk model. The unit I have my eye on runs 4100 off the lot.

King 3700S

We will see how Friday goes. Thanks for the input guys.

Greg

[Aurelia]

We got an upgrade estimate high enough and combined with some longer tows now in the next few months, we ordered a new King 3700s. We launched with the easyloader and look forward to a lower load height with a new wider bunk model.

Greg