Cost to replace wheel bearings?

[groovzilla]

all,

purchasing a 1966 20' globtrotter from a distance and having it towed home - i'm putting new tires and spare on the trailer and want to change out the wheel bearings

any idea of whats parts/labor cost to do this??

[CRH]

Inner and outer bearings and races are probably about 25 bucks a wheel. I would figure about 30 minutes per wheel shop time to swap them.

[tjdonahoe]

Why change them , if good? Just pack the old ones...

[groovzilla]

thanks!

[kenfconnor]

My suggestion given the age and unless you know when these were replaced would be to go ahead and start with new parts. Then you have a baseline. The bulk of the cost is labor anyway and cleaning and repacking will take about the same time or more than just replacing. In my book this is not a good area to try to save a few dollars.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by CRH

Inner and outer bearings and races are probably about 25 bucks a wheel. I would figure about 30 minutes per wheel shop time to swap them.

I bought a set for one wheel some years back to carry in the trailer as a
spare.

I bought from an Airstream dealer (maybe that was my mistake!) and my recollection was that I was charged much more than $25 for a compete set of inner and outer bearings,races and seal for one wheel.

never have had to use them yet! I repack my bearings year year or two and they have always looked fine - in fact they didn't even look as though they needed more grease, but I think it wise to check regularly and at teh sme time to check the brakes.

More recently I was in a local utility trailer manufacturer's shop buying complete backing plates and brake assemblies (now installed) and noticed that they had the same size wheel bearings for sale for much less $ than I paid - more like the figure that you quote.

May be a difference in country of origin? quality of product? AS dealer vs other sources?

Brian.

[MelGoddard]

I would just replace the drums (race inside), and get new 'cones' if not included with the drum.
Cheaper than the Labour costs to replace/repack the old ones. And 'new' stuff usually has some kind of warranty.
Use Top quality grease to repack.
(We usually repack every year or 5000 miles because grease can dry out or overheat in service).

[perryg114]

If the old bearings are Timkin they are probably better than the Chinese made replacements that you are going to find. Always replace bearings and cone races together and if you put old bearings in a new drum, move the cone races with them. I just replaced my drums with newer ones and they had larger bearings in them made in china so I could not use my old bearings. Since they are larger capacity than the old bearings, I am hoping they will be ok.

Perry

[Jacob D]

Originally Posted by groovzilla

all,

purchasing a 1966 20' globtrotter from a distance and having it towed home - i'm putting new tires and spare on the trailer and want to change out the wheel bearings

any idea of whats parts/labor cost to do this??

Assuming you have the original Henschen axles, Dexter brake assemblies will bolt right on and you can clean, inspect and repack the bearings for about $100. The complete brake assy backing plate and all is about $50 each. I don't know the cost of new bearings but I would be surprised if you need to replace them. My guess is about $100 per wheel. My '67 still had original bearings until I replaced the axles with larger ones a year ago.

[Action]

The decision to replace the bearings or not would be best based on the actual condition of the existing bearings. (Unless you have money to burn)

For a new to you trailer pulling the brake drums and inspecting the brake assembly and the bearings is a great start to the ownership process. It is not complex and is perfect for you to get to know your trailer.

Specifically for the bearings you would want to inspect the race and the rollers. If both are bright and show no signs of burning or damage by all means clean, re-pack and re-use. Here is a link to understand some of the failures of wheel bearings. It is focused on automotive applications and the trailer would be the same.

http://www.knowyourparts.com/technic...-service-tips/

And carrying a spare set is always a great way to shorten down time should the un for seen occur.

Lastly, know that far the most wheel bearing failures occur due to conditions that introduce debris or foreign stuff into the bearing. Being absolutely clean when handling bearings is the best advice I can give.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Aciton

[crispyboy]

I wouldn't make a decision on the bearing until I knew what the condition of the originals were.
If you must buy new then seek out quality bearings. Many trailers burn up spindles due to inferior off-shore bearings. This information comes from my good friend who is an "Axle Surgeon" by trade - he replaces axle spindles for a living.

[GatorDave]

If trailer has original axles consider replacing them for much smoother ride and less road vibrations beating up the trailer..
Axles come with new brakes, hubs & bearings.
If the shock absorbers are even with the frame or close to it and no downward angle they are shot. I replaced the axles on my 95 last year. The ride difference is incredible.

[tjdonahoe]

Clean the old ones if good, pack them and run them ,my KW has 1.4 million on all the wheel bearings and still good..

[groovzilla]

thank you everyone for your input.

it turns out that the seller has been extremely helpful and was willing to tow the trailer to a truck tire shop in business for 35 years.

the shop put 3 (spare too) new tires on the trailer and inspected the bearings. the shop said the bearings were fine but they wanted to grease everything and install new bearing caps.

cost for tires and bearing re-grease was $350

trailer gets towed 1500 miles to seattle the end of december.