In many earlier posts I bragged on how I was up to 22 years on the set of tires on my utility trailer. Regardless, I figured I had better replace them to be safe. And I will have to admit committing the sin of not checking my bearings very regularly.
See the tilt of one of the wheels:
If you think that can only spell danger with the bearings, you are exactly right. They were shot, with actually the rollers in the rear ones on one wheel being totally missing.
It was probably only a matter of miles before disaster happened.
The spindle was scored and took some sanding to smooth it out enough to slide the new bearings on to it. I did it, but I am going to shop for a whole new Dexter Axle assembly soon, complete with the shaft, spindles and hubs.
The other discouraging thing is that when I went to buy new tires, my local dealer did not have ready access to US made tires. I was in a hurry and had to settle on China tires, radials built by Hercules. I do not know anything about this brand and I will use the future to research US tires for when it is time to replace them.
One interesting point my dealer pointed out to me is that he could not, because of new federal laws, install passenger tires knowingly on to a trailer rim. Something to do with liabilities. So if he was honest with me (and I do trust him), I wonder how others got away with it? Maybe one has to just take the wheels in without saying they are for a trailer. I can do it as the rims I have are from Jeep products, but that would not be doable for those with smaller rims. But then again, not too many cares use tires that small anyway.