Junkyard Trailer II

[C-Bill]

This is a continuation of Junkyard Trailer

Stainless Steel Connectors

As previously mentioned, this custom Baja trailer has all stainless steel connectors. I’m sure some of you are very familiar with stainless steel, but I wasn’t except that I knew it existed and it was expensive. For those of you who only know what I knew then, I’ll bring you up to speed. I’m not an expert, but I’ll try to explain what happens.

When you put a stainless nut on a stainless bolt, it goes on great until it gets tight. When you put the pressure to it with a wrench to tighten it, you will gall the threads. Okay, I looked up “gall” in the Webster’s to see how this fits what actually happens. As close as I could get was “an irritation or annoyance, or a cause for this.” I can relate to that!

Plain and simple, the interaction between the nut and bolt under significant pressure results in the destruction of threads and seizure at that point. The nut is there to stay! This can be avoided by using an anti-seize lubricant. I have some made by Permatex and I suggest using it sparingly and don’t get it on your hands as they will be silver for some time to come.

Looking close at my spring hangers on the trailer, I saw a nut that was about an 1/8 th of an inch from being tight. I put a wrench on it to tighten it and it wouldn’t move. This resulted from using an air gun and the nut got hot and seized before getting anywhere near tight.

ALL the nuts on u-bolts holding the spring assemblies had seized and had to be cut off and redone! Many more stainless connections were the same way. Encountering this problem on the road would be a disaster. Some had to be broke off while others had to be cut off with a hack saw. Enough said on this subject!

Bill

Wheeler Dealer - sorry but I could not access the other thread any longer and I have one or two more items to post before I'm done.

[C-Bill]

Part VI

I really don’t know how many of you do your own service work on trailers. I’m not encouraging anyone who doesn’t have some experience to read this and try doing your own work, it could turn out to be a night mare. I’m in an area where I have little choice, but I have had previous experience doing this type of work. In this part, I want to discuss the hidden area inside of hubs which is normally machined to very close tolerances to accept specific wheel bearings and races. We’ll be looking inside those hot dipped galvanized hubs on my trailer built by an “Engineering” company.

Hubs

Naturally, the Baja trailer would have galvanized hubs to protect it from the saltwater elements. I had asked that this trailer be built with disc brakes as, in my opinion, there were very good brakes available at that time (1997). I suggested several of the brands which looked good to me all of which were defective, according to the trailer manufacturer. At that point, I left it up to the builder.

Eight months after taking delivery of the trailer, I find I have a manufacturers first generation disc brakes with 1/4 in. thick or less stainless steel rotors and galvanized hubs and they are defective. I searched the computer internet and found this brake manufacturer and called them.

We discussed defective calipers and the service rep I spoke with was a prince. He quickly advised me that I had their first version and three modifications had been done since. He asked for my address and immediately shipped me two brand new calipers, for FREE!! I didn’t have the heart to bring up the problem the rotors hubs. I decided to try to correct this problem with the hubs and hope they work better with new calipers.

Those rotor hubs had been hot dip galvanized inside and outside prior to installing the stainless steel rotors. You can’t imagine what those machined surfaces looked like drowned in galvanizing. I called a dealer and asked if their hubs were also galvanized inside. They responded in the affirmative as if to say “so what, they’re supposed to be!” I thanked them & hung up.

After hanging up, I went to work on the inside of the hubs with a moto-tool to clean up the surfaces as best as I could because new calipers were in the mail. The bearing races I drove out were Russian & the bearings were Chinese. Certainly, this was a matched set - sure!

I always buy a quality matched bearing & race. I highly recommend that all new bearings be washed with kerosene or something similar to get out any metal chips. It is more common to find pieces of metal than you would believe. I’m not going into the packing these bearings with grease as everybody has their own method.

I will mention that the most difficult place to get grease into after mounting the hub is the space between the big bearing and the seal at the rear of the hub. Before putting the hub on the spindle, it is easy to fill this void and the back half of the hub with lube manually. But, before filling that void between the bearing and the seal, I use a small mirror to look in that space to see if the circular spring behind the rubber seal has fallen out. Those are easy to knock out while seating the seal. The only way to really avoid this problem, is to use a press to seat the seal.

I didn’t expect to find the same galvanizing problem inside the hubs on the none braking axle, but it was the same problem again. At this point, I’ve had it with a particular Southern California custom trailer builder. I got on the phone, called Dexter and ordered a pair of hubs without galvanizing on the inside.

I want to make you aware of a handy freebe or it used to be free. For those with computers, go to http://www.dexteraxle.com and request their catalog. Mine came with a very informative manual, “Operation Maintenance Service Manual.” It is very handy to have in the tool box.

The only thing that is original on my trailer today is the frame (bunks are new), fenders, springs, and rims. I seriously considered legal action against the company that built the trailer. Common sense prevailed and I hope I never see him again!! BUYER BEWARE!

I hope to post once more to tell you about the current improvements to the trailer. For those considering disc brakes and an electric/hydraulic unit, I’ll have a good idea of how all that works. IF everything works like it should, my C-Dory will be in Kent, Washington by the end of this month for repairs.

Bill