Wheel bearings and brakes

[NorCalKid]

Hello TM Forum,
I may have found the trailer we are going to buy thanks to a referral from forum member Nance! Thank you kindly,Nance.
Quick questions.
I want to be really sure the bearings and brakes are safe. Since I'm getting the trailer on the weekend in Central Oregon, getting it serviced is not possible.
1) I saw Bill's excellent post on wheel bearings. I can do that service myself, assuming (don't say it... ) a 2003 2720 SD would have the easy Zerk fitting under the dust cap. Would that model year generally have the Zerk fittings?
I can pull the hub and hand pack, but my mechanic skills are rusty.
2) Has anyone posted instructions for checking the brakes? In a past life, I used to work on cars, and pulling a drum to check brakes does not worry me, but I have never checked or tested electric brakes.
Thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks in advance, Neil

 

[Bill-TMO]

Lubircating the bearings: Almost all modern TMs (and a 2003 certainly qualifies as modern) have the Zerk fitting under the dust cap. I say "almost" because I think we had someone report a TM - a single case - in which the trailer had a different axle. I know that my 2002 2720SL had the EZ-Lube fittings on the axle. At any rate, it is easy to check. Just pop off the black rubber cover, and the Zerk will be staring right at you.

You should not have to hand-pack the bearings. Some of our members prefer to hand pack, but that is an individual choice.

Checking the brakes: You have an electric brake controller in your tow vehicle - please tell me you do. When you plug the trailer into the Bargman 7-pin connector, the controller will tell you if the electric circuit to the brakes is good or bad. Check the owners' manual for the controller to see just how the controller indicates this check. As for checking the braking capability, the first thing to note is that you almost certainly CANNOT cause the brakes to lock up. There are a lot of different instructions out there, both formal and shade tree, that say to adjust the brakes until they will lock up. They won't. Your best bet is to simply drive slowly down the road, maybe 20-25 mph. Take your foot off the gas, then hit the manual control on your brake controller. You should feel the brakes come on and pull your tow vehicle toward a somewhat slow stop. You could also jack up the trailer (put the jack under the FRAME, never under the AXLE), spin the wheel by hand, and apply the brakes manually. The wheel should stop spinning very quickly.

Bill

 

[saulpm911]

2518 ks

How do you grease the bearings on the 2018 models with the factory mags. How do you get in to do it. I started pulling the cap but it started chipping the chrome on the cap. It has a chrome cap. It has black rock on the mag.

 

[Bill-TMO]

With the old-style plain wheels, you could grease the bearings simply by removing the rubber cap at the end of the hub, which exposed both the zerk and the rim-gap where old grease emerges. But my 2020 2720 has sexy aluminum wheels! Those wheels have a removable cap in the center, and removing the caps lets you remove the rubber cap under it. But the rim-gap is covered. Bottom line - in order to grease the bearings using the EZ-Lube hubs, I have to remove the wheels.

Bill

 

[Wavery]

The problem with buying any 20-year-old trailer is that you have no clear history of the service that the trailer has had. Worst case scenario is that the previous owners have never removed, cleaned, inspected and and reassembled the wheel bearings or trailer brakes. Best case scenario is that the previous owners kept meticulous records of recent services and all is good. Chances are, your TrailManor is somewhere in between.

The manufacturer recommends that the bearings be inspected yearly. The reason for that is bearings can suffer from the abuse of over-loading, sitting for long periods of time without rotating and various other things.

The problem is, you are now 20-years into the game with (more than likely) no idea of the condition or abuse to these bearings. There is a good chance that you could hook up, drive a few hundred miles and be fine. There is also a chance (maybe slim) that you could be going down the freeway and one (of 4) bearings overheats, freezes up, spins a race on the spindle and the spindle breaks. If that happens, the tire & wheel come off and enter traffic. Maybe into oncoming traffic.

Anyway, it is prudent to pull the bearings, clean them and inspect them with a magnifying glass for pits and/or discoloration. If they are good, pack them with grease and install new grease seals.

Before installing the brake drum, look at the brake lining to be sure that they are at least 1/8” thick and not coated with grease. Next, look at the brake magnets and be sure that the wear sensors are quite visible. If you can’t see the wear sensors, replace the magnets.

Entire new brake assemblies are fairly cheap and may be worth just replacing. It’s just 4 bolts and 2 wires to replace the entire brake assembly, including the backing plate.

After assembly, adjust the brakes and test. The best way to test to see if the brakes work at all is too spin the tire (with tire off the ground) then pull the pin out of the breakaway switch. The tire should abruptly stop. If it does not stop, check to be sure all of the wires are connected. It is common for a wire (or2) to have come apart. Don’t worry about polarity. The wires to the magnets just have to be connected.

You can find many YouTube ideas on servicing trailer bearings. Watch a number of them because some people don’t know what they are doing.

 

[saulpm911]

I saw this on the forum but did not see a reply. I am having the same problem. See question below.
How do you grease the bearings on the 2018 models with the factory mags. How do you get in to do it. I started pulling the cap but it started chipping the chrome on the cap. It has a chrome cap. It has black rock on the mag.

Any idea on how to remove the cap m

 

[Bill-TMO]

You have to jack up the camper and remove the wheel. Then it drops right out the backside.

With the old steel wheels, you didn't have to pull them. The sexy wheels are a mixed blessing.

Bill