Les Izmore
Junior Ranger
If you are thinking $1,300 is a bit high for having wheel bearings repacked, I completely agree. The original price was only $85, which included checking and adjusting the brakes. Our camper had north of 60,000 miles on it, and we were headed to Baja, Mexico. We had been advised to get caught up on any maintenance issues ahead of time, because once we got much south of Ensenada, availability of any needed repair parts could be very sketchy.
The place that adjusted the bearings is located in Glendale, AZ, and my friend and former neighbor had used them to work on his trailers, so we didn't worry about the quality of work that was being done for us. I wish we had. We posted about how to check that the bearings are properly tightened a little while back. It is well worth the effort to learn this simple skill - to avoid unnecessary expense and to have peace of mind when venturing off into the unknown.
In case anyone hasn't already heard our story, the bearings were overtightened and eventually failed catastrophically on the outskirts of Todos Santos. So how did it happen that the final bill ended up tallying over $1,300?
Initially, we had thought we got off the hook for an additional $165, for Antonio' s labor, and new bearings and seals. But after de-winterizing our camper earlier in the year, I attempted to adjust the brakes and the brake controller. Only I couldn't get the trailer brakes to lock up, no matter how I adjusted the controller. Initially I thought the brakes must be WAY out of adjustment. But when I crawled under the trailer to check them I found the issue was caused because the streetside brake wires had been severed. That was something that Antonio had done in order to get us back on the road in Todo Santos.
So we took the camper in to Major Tire and Hitch in Garden City to have that corrected. They reconnected the wires, but still no brakes. They took the hub apart and found that it had been cracked. I ordered a replacement hub and had it shipped to them. The labor to have all that done, the brakes on that side replaced and some other minor items came to $235 + $85 for the hub & shipping. That is $505 so far.
We blissfully went off camping for the weekend, content in the knowledge that everything was once again in good working order. Just before getting to the campground, we started to hear an intermittent loud squeal, which became more constant as we rolled into the park. I stopped and checked the hub, and it was scorching hot.
I called M T & H, and they offered some suggestions for possible causes. I backed the brakes off a bit, based upon their advice. We returned to Boise a few days later, but we only made it about 30 miles before it was clear that we still had a problem. We waited in Cambridge for the hub to cool down, then drove to the only auto repair in town. The mechanic confirmed that the bearings were fine, and determined the brakes were the problem. He backed the brakes all the way off, allowing us to get back to the hitch shop, thinking it would be dealt with under warrantee. He charged us $45. Now the total bill is $550.
Back at the hitch shop, they said that they couldn't get our existing brake controller to put out anything put full power. They suspected that might be causing the problem, so I was out another $105 for a replacement. $655 so far.
After driving a few miles down the road, it was clear the issue had not been resolved. Since they had implicated the brake controller, we disconnected the 7 pin. The problem persisted. We returned the following morning.
The owner was insistent that we were causing the problem by providing too much power to the brakes. I related the 7 pin scenario, and we recreated the issue and squealing for him. He didn't know the cause, but it was clear to him where the problem was located in the hub. So we left it with him.
We got a call a bit later that day. The cause had been found: when the bearing failed and the wheel collapsed on the hub, the spindle had been slightly bent. The hub would roll freely when the wheel was jacked up, but the weight of the trailer would put the fresh new brakes in contact with it. They recommended that I call Camp Inn to see about where to get a replacement torsion arm. By the time I called back, they had removed the old torsion arm and discovered that the axle bushings were severely worn (at this point I am imagining a future scenario similar to Bear's frozen axle, which was nearly shorn off his trailer).
The recommendation from the shop was to get a completely new axle, torsion arms, hubs and brakes. The new hub and backing plate had been cooked pretty well by the heat of the dragging brake shoe, one torsion arm needed to be replaced, the axle needed to be replaced, and the backing plate on the opposite side would need to be replaced in another year or so (possibly also the bearings and seals), and that torsion bar should probably be adjusted. Their labor to do all that piecemeal was likely to be nearly as much as a full axle assembly, maybe more. And we would likely be doing more service again in a couple of years, which would clearly be out on the road somewhere, and probably some place and time very inconvenient to our travel plans. The cost for them to bolt the new axle on was just $75. I ordered the replacement axle assembly directly from Camp Inn's source - JTI in Ohio. That set us back $622 - $450 for the axle, $125 for shipping and the rest for crating it up.
So, in the end the total bill was over $1,350. An expense that could have been avoided, had I known how to tell if the bearings had been correctly tightened (as I now do). Hopefully anyone reading this will take the time now to gain this simple knowledge, so that you can save your money for fun and more margaritas...
The place that adjusted the bearings is located in Glendale, AZ, and my friend and former neighbor had used them to work on his trailers, so we didn't worry about the quality of work that was being done for us. I wish we had. We posted about how to check that the bearings are properly tightened a little while back. It is well worth the effort to learn this simple skill - to avoid unnecessary expense and to have peace of mind when venturing off into the unknown.
In case anyone hasn't already heard our story, the bearings were overtightened and eventually failed catastrophically on the outskirts of Todos Santos. So how did it happen that the final bill ended up tallying over $1,300?
Initially, we had thought we got off the hook for an additional $165, for Antonio' s labor, and new bearings and seals. But after de-winterizing our camper earlier in the year, I attempted to adjust the brakes and the brake controller. Only I couldn't get the trailer brakes to lock up, no matter how I adjusted the controller. Initially I thought the brakes must be WAY out of adjustment. But when I crawled under the trailer to check them I found the issue was caused because the streetside brake wires had been severed. That was something that Antonio had done in order to get us back on the road in Todo Santos.
So we took the camper in to Major Tire and Hitch in Garden City to have that corrected. They reconnected the wires, but still no brakes. They took the hub apart and found that it had been cracked. I ordered a replacement hub and had it shipped to them. The labor to have all that done, the brakes on that side replaced and some other minor items came to $235 + $85 for the hub & shipping. That is $505 so far.
We blissfully went off camping for the weekend, content in the knowledge that everything was once again in good working order. Just before getting to the campground, we started to hear an intermittent loud squeal, which became more constant as we rolled into the park. I stopped and checked the hub, and it was scorching hot.
I called M T & H, and they offered some suggestions for possible causes. I backed the brakes off a bit, based upon their advice. We returned to Boise a few days later, but we only made it about 30 miles before it was clear that we still had a problem. We waited in Cambridge for the hub to cool down, then drove to the only auto repair in town. The mechanic confirmed that the bearings were fine, and determined the brakes were the problem. He backed the brakes all the way off, allowing us to get back to the hitch shop, thinking it would be dealt with under warrantee. He charged us $45. Now the total bill is $550.
Back at the hitch shop, they said that they couldn't get our existing brake controller to put out anything put full power. They suspected that might be causing the problem, so I was out another $105 for a replacement. $655 so far.
After driving a few miles down the road, it was clear the issue had not been resolved. Since they had implicated the brake controller, we disconnected the 7 pin. The problem persisted. We returned the following morning.
The owner was insistent that we were causing the problem by providing too much power to the brakes. I related the 7 pin scenario, and we recreated the issue and squealing for him. He didn't know the cause, but it was clear to him where the problem was located in the hub. So we left it with him.
We got a call a bit later that day. The cause had been found: when the bearing failed and the wheel collapsed on the hub, the spindle had been slightly bent. The hub would roll freely when the wheel was jacked up, but the weight of the trailer would put the fresh new brakes in contact with it. They recommended that I call Camp Inn to see about where to get a replacement torsion arm. By the time I called back, they had removed the old torsion arm and discovered that the axle bushings were severely worn (at this point I am imagining a future scenario similar to Bear's frozen axle, which was nearly shorn off his trailer).
The recommendation from the shop was to get a completely new axle, torsion arms, hubs and brakes. The new hub and backing plate had been cooked pretty well by the heat of the dragging brake shoe, one torsion arm needed to be replaced, the axle needed to be replaced, and the backing plate on the opposite side would need to be replaced in another year or so (possibly also the bearings and seals), and that torsion bar should probably be adjusted. Their labor to do all that piecemeal was likely to be nearly as much as a full axle assembly, maybe more. And we would likely be doing more service again in a couple of years, which would clearly be out on the road somewhere, and probably some place and time very inconvenient to our travel plans. The cost for them to bolt the new axle on was just $75. I ordered the replacement axle assembly directly from Camp Inn's source - JTI in Ohio. That set us back $622 - $450 for the axle, $125 for shipping and the rest for crating it up.
So, in the end the total bill was over $1,350. An expense that could have been avoided, had I known how to tell if the bearings had been correctly tightened (as I now do). Hopefully anyone reading this will take the time now to gain this simple knowledge, so that you can save your money for fun and more margaritas...
