les45 wrote:Many folks on this forum have put thousands of miles on their stock HF and NT trailers without any issues. The main thing is to make sure that a brand new axle has the original grease (or whatever it is) removed, cleaned and packed with a good quality grease. Some people prefer to replace the Chinese bearings with better quality American made bearings. I've built on HF and NT trailers and, even though I don't have thousands of miles of experience, I've never had a problem as long as I keep them properly maintained. The main issue I've had is that I don't trust the stock Chinese 12" trailer tires so I always upgrade to a better brand of 13" passenger car tires. Not only more dependable but really smooths out the ride.
Pmullen503 wrote:I just replaced the bearings on my 30 year old HF trailer. Mostly because the seals wore out and I was spraying grease all over. I have always been fastidious about re-greasing every couple years, making sure the preload is correct and checking the hub temperature every gas fill up when I'm towing.
Proper set up and maintenance is the key. I just got a new HF trailer and immediately ordered an extra set of seals. You'll most likely damage the originals when you have to disassemble the hubs to clean them. Do remove that crappy blue stuff when new (it's hard to get off) and regrease with good grease. (I'd rather they would have given me a bag of unassembled parts.) Check the preload after the first couple hundred miles when the new bearings set.
I had good luck on the 30 Y.O. original tires and eventually replaced them with American made trailer tires. Bigger, better tires and rims is a good idea if you are anywhere near the weight rating of the trailer. I'm only running around 600 lbs on a 1700 lb rated trailer so I'm still on 12" tires.
Sparksalot wrote:Like Burt mentions above, upgrading your hubs completely will mean an axle change, to get bigger bearings. Otherwise, buy the best utility trailer bearings you can find.
For Rose, I'm about to pull the trigger on changing to 14" ford Ranger wheels with matching appropriate tires. That'll get rid of the trailer rated tires and the 65 MPH speed rating. My last big decision will then be when/if to change the axle as well. If I do that, I may as well add brakes too.
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