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ck21084 · 06-21-2010, 07:57 AM

So I have solved many issues with the brakes as well as repacked the bearings.

My question is this... I drove for 15miles at 45mph average with a top speed of 60mph. I drove this distance with the brake controller set to 0.0. After this drive the temp on the hub/drum was 118oF - 134oF. Should I be concerned with this temp range?

HowieE · 06-21-2010, 08:12 AM

Can't say with what you have provided.

To test this type of question you want to drive on an Interstate for 20 miles or so and Coast to a stop, do not use the trailer brakes. A hill top rest area is great if you can find one. Now measure the hub temperature. Any temperature you see at this point is bearing temperature and that should not be as high as you were reading.

The readings you gave if you stopped with the trailer brakes or used the brakes just before stopping that is not out of the question as the drum temperature will transfer to the hub area quite quickly.

If I can not hold the hub cap with bare hands after a coast to stop then I get concerned.

RickDavis · 06-21-2010, 08:17 AM

Probably you are ok. I assume it was hot outside since you are in FL. You might also notice the hub / tire temps are warmer on the sunny side, I have checked temps with an infra red thermometer, but it was usually after braking as I was trying to get a feel for eveness and the temps were quite a bit higher.
Be interesting if some one else has some numbers. I get mine by shooting through the holes in the wheels onto the drum

87MH · 06-21-2010, 08:18 AM

Did you turn the drums?? The twenty bucks or so to turn each one is money well spent any time you have the drums off.

I experienced a couple of "hot hubs" after losing (exploding) another of those Friggin Frakken ST tires.

Found the brake (magnet) wire in the exploded hub was torn and making contact with the drum.

Also found about a handful (2 or three tablespoons) of brake dust in each hub - that may have been enough to "drag" the brakes -

Definitely reset the star adjustment wheel - back off the adjuster until you eliminate all drag.

tpi · 06-21-2010, 08:44 AM

Hard to say. I've experienced the sunny side hotter too. You probably experienced picking up a tool out of the open toolbox on a hot day..too hot to hold. Ambient temperature and temperature of pavement factors in. 134 does sound a bit hot if the ambient temps and pavement were cool.

I'd lift the trailer with bottle jack and check the bearing play frequently until you're sure everything is OK. I just did mine and am planning a short shakedown trip with this test when I return. A big dose of bearing play is sure sign something is amiss. The should be the teeniest amount of play at outer edge of the wheel when set bearing correctly, where just one more hole on the castle nut would eliminate it. At that time you can also check your brakes for drag.

ck21084 · 06-21-2010, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HowieE

Can't say with what you have provided.

To test this type of question you want to drive on an Interstate for 20 miles or so and Coast to a stop, do not use the trailer brakes. A hill top rest area is great if you can find one. Now measure the hub temperature. Any temperature you see at this point is bearing temperature and that should not be as high as you were reading.

The readings you gave if you stopped with the trailer brakes or used the brakes just before stopping that is not out of the question as the drum temperature will transfer to the hub area quite quickly.

If I can not hold the hub cap with bare hands after a coast to stop then I get concerned.

HowieE,

I did not use any trailer brakes on this entire run of 15 miles however the outside temp was 100oF. are these still not acceptable temps? I know that they would at lease be 100oF if there were no movement at all.

ck21084 · 06-21-2010, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tpi

Hard to say. I've experienced the sunny side hotter too. You probably experienced picking up a tool out of the open toolbox on a hot day..too hot to hold. Ambient temperature and temperature of pavement factors in. 134 does sound a bit hot if the ambient temps and pavement were cool.

I'd lift the trailer with bottle jack and check the bearing play frequently until you're sure everything is OK. I just did mine and am planning a short shakedown trip with this test when I return. A big dose of bearing play is sure sign something is amiss. The should be the teeniest amount of play at outer edge of the wheel when set bearing correctly, where just one more hole on the castle nut would eliminate it. At that time you can also check your brakes for drag.

Sounds like i may have overtightned the bearing nut. I tightned it finger tight and then used a wrench to get to the next slot for the key way.

RickDavis · 06-21-2010, 09:31 AM

WE are heading for the birthday bash , leaving tomorrow. I will try to get some actual hub temps with and with out braking over the next few days.
They should not be uncomfortably warm when you touch them . If you use the brakes, don;t touch the drum, or do it carefully

RickDavis · 06-21-2010, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ck21084

Sounds like i may have overtightned the bearing nut. I tightned it finger tight and then used a wrench to get to the next slot for the key way.

That probably is too tight . I bring them down lightly snug with a pair of pliers and then back off one slot.
The Dexter site has a book you can download with instructions.

DaveFL · 06-21-2010, 09:42 AM

Not a trailer but a MH. After my brakes failed. Shooting each wheel with an ir thermometer all showed about 100 except one at 300, made troubleshooting easier. If any wheel has a significantly different temp at the axle would be a good indicator. I have found sunny side will be higher by 10 degrees, so your 20 degrees is a little high but would do it again before I would pull wheels on my MH. If I had a trailer I wouldn't worry too much but just do it for general maintenance.

ck21084 · 06-21-2010, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickDavis

WE are heading for the birthday bash , leaving tomorrow. I will try to get some actual hub temps with and with out braking over the next few days.
They should not be uncomfortably warm when you touch them . If you use the brakes, don;t touch the drum, or do it carefully

Rick,

Thanks for taking time from your day to do this. I really appriciate it.

ck21084 · 06-21-2010, 02:07 PM

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to back off the adjuster short of taking the hub and drum off?

I know that on one of the brakes I have a warped drum.(.095") I am really just trying to make sure I can get from Tampa to Atlanta ok and with out issue and then back. I don't have a ton of money to dump in to it before the trip but after i get back i was going to get the never adjust backing plates and new drums.

wingfoot321 · 06-22-2010, 12:16 AM

There should be a small horizontal slot near the bottom of your backing plate with a rubber plug in it. Remove the rubber plug. There is a special curved brake tool for this purpose but a medium size screw driver will suffice.
The "star wheel" is directly inside this slot. Front of slot on the left side of trailer (looking forward) and Back of slot on the right side. The screw driver applied at a upward angle rotating it down should be loosening or freeing up the shoes inside the drum.
Ideally you should have the tire elevated so you can spin it and have it hooked to the tow vehicle so you can have the brakes center the shoes after each round of loosing or tightening.
I always back mine off enough to not get any significant drag as the wheel rotates and yet can lock the wheel under hard braking if I need to.

RickDavis · 06-22-2010, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingfoot321

The "star wheel" is directly inside this slot. Front of slot on the left side of trailer (looking forward) and Back of slot on the right side. The screw driver applied at a upward angle rotating it down should be loosening or freeing up the shoes inside the drum.
Ideally you should have the tire elevated so you can spin it and have it hooked to the tow vehicle so you can have the brakes center the shoes after each round of loosing or tightening.
I always back mine off enough to not get any significant drag as the wheel rotates and yet can lock the wheel under hard braking if I need to.

The direction to loosen or tighten may vary depending on previous assembly when serviced. With the wheel elevated I usually adjust until the wheel won't turn, then back of around 10 clicks. Some of the dragging noise you hear when spinning the wheel is from the magnets which are lightly pushed against the armature by a spring

ck21084 · 06-22-2010, 07:23 PM

This evening I managed to remove one hub, sand the brake pads to remove any glazing, clean the adjuster and lightly lube with graphite, sand the mag-drum contact patch, and repack the bearings with lucas heavy duty grease (525oF stable) after a good soak in mineral spirits to remove the other fresh grease I just used then installed new double lip seals i bought from redneck trailer supply in tampa ($2.00ea). Nothing like packing all four wheel bearings and replacing seals again every two weeks. lol

Now I have not road tested it but it seems to spin much better now and I have the mentioned slight play with the tire on. I did tighten the nut down to around 50ft-lbs and then loosened and made it finger tight at the first notch.

Any thoughts?

RickDavis · 06-22-2010, 07:56 PM

We are at the flying J in Wytheville, va on the way to the birthday bash.
Stopped and took several hub temp readings. Some with light braking and some with the trailer brakes off thru the day
With the outside temp at 100 deg. the hubs were at 120 deg plus or minus 2
With the temp at 80 deg. the hubs were at about 100. Braking or not made little difference but I use the brakes very lightly.
Just for info when the trailer was at 120 the front truck hubs were 109, the rear 127.
My conclusion is that at summer temps the hubs run about 20 degrees above ambient.
My brakes etc are well seated, last brake/bearing work was about a year ago
The trailer is a tandwem axle weighing about 5K

gwchitty · 06-22-2010, 09:26 PM

CK21814, sounds like you were too tight and corrected the problem. The bearings like to run a smidge loose and never tight! I only snug the nut up to about 20 ft-lb and turn the wheel by hand to distribute the grease. Then back off the nut until the pin fits, Final check for a smidge of looseness. My bearings have been running less then 100F and the treads run just over 100F. Have a good trip and drive carefully!

ck21084 · 06-23-2010, 06:08 AM

Rick,

Thanks for the info. I will use these as benchmark tempatures on my first run.

tbettes · 07-24-2010, 02:59 PM

I just pulled all 4 wheels off of my 84 31' Excella and replaced the backing plades with Dexter self adjusting brakes. I repacked all bearings and remounted everything. I took off on a 150 mile test drive this last week prior to about a 5,000 mile trip we have planned in August and September. One hub was much hotter than the other 3. I had no way of measuring but I could rest my hand on the other 3 even though I had been driving in stop and go traffic between Houston and Galveston and could not on the hot hub. I elevated the wheel off of the ground at the campground and the tire spun freely and had just a very small amount of play, no more than it should I thought but I went ahead and tightened the hub nut one more mark for the cotter pin (the tire still spun freely). I tested the brakes to make sure they were working and not dragging by spinning the wheel which it did freely and having my wife step on the brakes in the TV. We pulled the trailer back from Houston to central Texas and the hub was still hotter than the others but not alarmingly so.

Should I replace the bearings? or just repack them assuming I did not do a great job? I can not feel or hear any roughness.

I did not have the wheel turned. SHould I take it off and have it turned? This wheel had a broken wire and had not been braking for some time.

I prefer to fix this here at home before I am a longs ways down the road.....

Thanks
Tom

gwchitty · 07-25-2010, 06:51 AM

Tom,
Thats a tough call and hopefully someone very knowlegable will weigh in. Here's my 2c worth. You said you had been in traffic before you checked the hub. It sounds to me like you are seeing brake - related heat and not necessarily bearing related heat. Someone in a previous post suggested driving 20 miles on the interstate and then coasting into a rest stop or exit using minimal braking and then checking the hub temp. Maybe you should try that and if the temp is lower it confirms good bearings and hot brakes. If it turns out to be hot from brakes, I would still want to know why it hotter than the other drums but I would be less worried about trouble on your trip. By the way, I would be checking the hub and cap area for bearing heat, not the drum. I also use grease rated for disk brakes so I get the highest temp rating. I use a cheapy infra-red non-contact thermometer from Harbor Freight. under $10 on sale.

Bill