Warning about Harbor Freight trailers.

[DanD]

I recently completed my Cubby build and before I took it out for a low flying test run, I jacked it up and pulled the axle hubs, as everyone should do with a new trailer.

To my surprise and dismay, the hub was full of metal shavings and the inner bearing had ZERO grease in it. The metal shavings were coming from the improperly installed cotter pin for the axle nut. It was bent in such a way that it was rubbing on the inside of the dust cap and shaving the metal from the inside of the cap. It had completely contaminated the grease in the outer bearing and that was just from rolling it around in the shop. Both sides were the same. Towing a trailer with these problems would cause serious axle damage and could cause the hub to seperate from the axle, which would be a major bummer. So, if anyone has a Harbor Freight trailer, pull your hubs and check them out.

Anyway, I cleaned and repacked the bearings, installed the cotter pin correctly, and hit the road. Pulls straight as an arrow at 85 mph.( behind my diesel truck)

Here is my Cubby



My Galley: All oak cabinets with aluminum trim

[GeorgeT]

Gorgeous trailer. Nice piece o' work. I especially like that rear bumper. My HF trailer had pretty much dry bearings too. One cotter pin was almost rubbing as yours. As you say, good to check it out before road testing.

[mikeschn]

Looks really good DanD. Do you have a collection of photos out there somewhere?

Mike...

[Geron]

Great work. The galley is very near to what I had in mind. I'll have aluminum left over and plan to use it in the galley. The sliding doors are excellent. Use them or take them out and use the space as a shelf. I'm assuming those are aluminum knobs as well.

Oh, about the warning. I've never like the way the hubs spin (or don't spin) on my HF Trailer. I'll definitely do a maintenance on it before it travels.

Thanks for the heads up.

Geron

[TomS]

Nice lookin' trailer. Congratulations on completing your build.

Also, thanks for the heads-up on the bearings.

[DanD]

Looks really good DanD. Do you have a collection of photos out there somewhere?

Mike...

Hi Mike,

I had to update the photo album and it is located here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dandunnit/album?.dir=ae20&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dandunnit/my_photos

I guess I am going to build another one because after getting this one done, it generated allot of interest in the neighborhood. It is a little too small for me so I am going to start a larger one soon. I am building a cnc flatbed router in the shop( much bigger than the last one-6' x 12') so I need to get that finished first. I want to cut the profile, doors, inside skin, hatch and cabinets with the cnc mrouter so there will much less time in the fitting of the hatch and doors. I hope to get the CNC router built by the end of this month and start on the new trailer directly after.
Dan