Grabbing a HF Trailer..

[bobhenry]

The badly maligned Chinese bearings is caused largely by stupid human error.

The rust preventive paste that they are packed with for shipment is NOT grease.

It will not lubricate properly.



Yet since they come preassembled most folk seem to think " OH GOODIE THEY ARE ALREADY PACKED "

They are not!


With the time taken to clean them and repack them properly with a good grade of HI temp grease they will last decades with occasional attention.

It is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot and blaming the gun! DUH!

[Mary C]

I had my mechanic make the suggestion: do not take out the back bearings, he suggested that I lay the wheel down over a bowl and pour paint thinner over the bearings to wash out the glue I used a very large syringe(can get at Tractor supply) and pushed the thinner through the bearings probably 25 times. Then I filled the syringe with bearing grease and pushed it through the bearings. I did that 20 times making sure the grease got between all the bearings. Yes it was very messy but I used purple power to clean everything up. News papers down first and lay out a few paper towels before you get started!!!

Mary C.

[RPH]

The badly maligned Chinese bearings is caused largely stupid human error.

The rust preventive paste that they are packed with for shipment is NOT grease.

It will not lubricate properly.



Yet since they come preassembled most folk seem to think " OH GOODIE THEY ARE ALREADY PACKED "

They are not!


With the time taken to clean them and repack them properly with a good grade of HI temp grease they will last decades with occasional attention.

It is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot and blaming the gun! DUH!

I am curious to know where this Idea came from. Has anyone who believes this notion actually taken a sample of this stuff to a lab and had it tested? Where is the proof that this stuff is not a decent quality grease?
Why would Harbor Freight, an outfit that is trying to get as much profit from its sales as it can, go to the trouble of greasing and assembling its hubs when all they had to do was put all the parts in plastic bags and let the consumer assemble them ? They have done this in the past.
There is nothing in there instructions that states that they must be disassembled, cleaned and re-greased in order to comply with their warranty (unless they are supplied un-assemblied). Where did that rumor come from?

[Metalhead]

I am curious to know where this Idea came from. Has anyone who believes this notion actually taken a sample of this stuff to a lab and had it tested? Where is the proof that this stuff is not a decent quality grease?
Why would Harbor Freight, an outfit that is trying to get as much profit from its sales as it can, go to the trouble of greasing and assembling its hubs when all they had to do was put all the parts in plastic bags and let the consumer assemble them ? They have done this in the past.
There is nothing in there instructions that states that they must be disassembled, cleaned and re-greased in order to comply with their warranty (unless they are supplied un-assemblied). Where did that rumor come from?

RPH,

The version of the manual that came in mine stated that repacking the bearings was required "whenever a hub on a new trailer requires assembly" as you said above.

Technically, one could look at this and assume that the hubs are assembled as the bearings are installed upon opening the box, but my take on it was that since they were not installed on the axle that they "required assembly". The manual is very vague as to what assembled meant.

I was initially planning on repacking anyway and my thoughts were confirmed after reading the comments on some of the other forum topics.

[crpngdth2001]

From my experience (4 HF trailers so far, 3 non-teardrop related), I can tell you NONE of them had any quantity of grease sufficient to do a proper job, and all had the consistency of a mix somewhere between grease and WD-40.

On top of that, 2 of them had a fairly heavy amount of 'grit' present in the 'lube'. These 4 trailers were purchased and assembled over a 2 year period, and were all the "Heavy Duty" model.

There's no way in hell I'd run these bearings without a cleaning and repack, at a minimum. I did replace the bearings for my TD trailer, and have a spare set (including seals) and another hub I will be using to mount my spare.

Just my .02

[bobhenry]

[I am curious to know where this Idea came from.

I'll take partial credit ! ( previous threads 4/2/08, 5/26/09, 6/23/09, 7/29/09, 6/20/13)

4 years in a lubricants lab for E.M. Lubricants.

Thousands of hours of ASTM and MIL spec tests. Everything from rust to destructive testing.

The crap is a bentonite paste with rust inhibitors blended into a light oil.

The Bentonite clay base is a thickening agent to make it a paste thick enough to stay in place.

Right from the HF Manual ( available online "harbor freight trailer manual" )

SPECIFIC PRODUCT WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS
To avoid personal injury and/or property damage, do not exceed the Trailer’s maxi¬1. mum payload capacity of 1,720 pounds (evenly distributed).
WARNING! The wheel bearings must be packed with bearing grease prior to 2. assembly and use of this trailer. See page 11 and 12 of this instruction manual for proper packing of bearing grease instructions.

Exert from page 11
Using a suitable solvent, thoroughly clean the Hub (18), Bearings (20), Castle Nut (M), Dust Cap (21), and the rest of the parts of the Hub Assembly of all grease, dirt, metal shavings, and all other foreign objects. These parts must be cleaned, even if they are new or appear to be clean.

and it goes on to give detailed instruction on how to pack and correctly assemble the hub parts.

[anon1]

The HF 1800# HD nonfolding trailer that I bought in January or 2014 did not have grease in the bearings. If you'd ever even seen grease before it was pretty obvious it wasn't. It also stated in the manual that it was not grease and must be cleaned out prior to greasing.

[RPH]

The point that I tried to make by questioning the notion that Harbor Freight required customers to take apart, clean and repack HUBS that were furnished already assembled. The following is the only requirement printed in all of their manuals addressing these requirements:



“Phase 7: BEARING PACKING
Warning: Read and adhere to the following instructions; failure to read and obey
all of the following instructions COMPLETELY will void the warranty and can
result in damage to the trailer, property damage, or SERIOUS PERSONAL INJURY.
1. IMPORTANT: Whenever a Hub (18) on a new Trailer requires assembly (or if
a Hub is disassembled for maintenance) the following procedures MUST be
followed:”

The key here is the wording that indicates that hubs that are supplied “assembled” do not require the requirements that followed.
“Whenever a Hub (18) on a new Trailer requires assembly” If a HUB is supplied with the bearings greased and inserted and the seals in place why would the “HUB” “require assembling”? Why would they do all this if they didn’t consider the “HUB” assembled? They don't refer here to the axle unit (or anything else) being assembled they only refer to the “HUB”.

I also could not find anything in the manual that states that the substance packed in the assembled hubs was not grease. If someone has found this statement in any manual please tell me where it is located.

I do respect peoples concern about the quality of the grease used in this process and I think if people want to clean and re-grease the new hubs I agree they should definitely do this.

[bobhenry]

I was of the opinion that if they ask you to remove and clean and dry all parts then repack with a good grade of grease they probably wouldn't ask you to if it WAS grease.

Also never add to or mix greases unless you know exactly what was used. There are several families of greases and some will actually attack each other and render the combination useless as a lubricant.

I have that chart somewhere if you need evidence.

[RPH]

Bob, you don't seem to understand that the point that I am trying to make is that they are not asking you to do all that.

Yes, you are correct that you can get into trouble if you mix incompatible lubricants.

[crpngdth2001]

Bob, you don't seem to understand that the point that I am trying to make is that they are not asking you to do all that.

Yes, you are correct that you can get into trouble if you mix incompatible lubricants.

RPH,

My manual does indeed EXACTLY ask you to do that, as Bob pointed out above. Not sure if my previous manuals stated this, but my most current one does. Again, mine is the 1720l lb. trailer - maybe it doesn't state the same in all manuals.

[bobhenry]

Bob, you don't seem to understand that the point that I am trying to make is that they are not asking you to do all that.

Perhaps you missed this................


Right from the HF Manual ( available online "harbor freight trailer manual" )

SPECIFIC PRODUCT WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS
To avoid personal injury and/or property damage, do not exceed the Trailer’s maxi¬1. mum payload capacity of 1,720 pounds (evenly distributed).
WARNING! The wheel bearings must be packed with bearing grease prior to 2. assembly and use of this trailer. See page 11 and 12 of this instruction manual for proper packing of bearing grease instructions.

Exert from page 11
Using a suitable solvent, thoroughly clean the Hub (18), Bearings (20), Castle Nut (M), Dust Cap (21), and the rest of the parts of the Hub Assembly of all grease, dirt, metal shavings, and all other foreign objects. These parts must be cleaned, even if they are new or appear to be clean.

and it goes on to give detailed instruction on how to pack and correctly assemble the hub parts.

[Redneck Teepee]

I'll chime in here on this, throw rocks at me if you wish....It has always been my personal practice on any trailer that I have built, purchased and or prepared for a long trip to completely clean, inspect and repack the wheel bearings to assure myself that I have done my part for a trouble free trip.

I have heard of way to many horror stories simply because of none or lack of maintenance. I know one fellow that lost a whole trailer of antique furniture that he bought at an estate sale to fire that started in a dry trailer bearing, before it was over the hillside of the hwy was also on fire.

I guess my point is that if you perform the required maintenance and checks, you will have one less thing to worry about out on the hwy.
To me this is just common sense practices.