wheel bearing gone, destroyed hub.

[Brother Les]

Not a very good Spring Break so far. wheel bearing failed and wreaked the hub and spindle. Started trip in Mid Mo, heading for Myrtle Beach. A good Samaritan flagged us down. S Smoke pouring from the left rear wheel. Easy to see that the bearing was gone

[geotex1]

Ugh! Breakdowns... Hope you are close to a location where you can get an axle swapped sooner than later.

[TURBS]

That's to bad les!
Darn the bad luck!

[Brother Les]

Sunday, 1:00 March 22,2015, SpringBreak and on the Interstate going through Spartan burg SC. Just past a Camping World, I think exit 13 or 16. heading east to Myrtle Beach. Man flags us down, rear axle is smoking and tire flopping around. Bearings gone and by the way the tire looked, spindle nut is coming off. Called CW for help... only salesman and parts people, no one to fix camper. Said that we could camp on their lot if we could get unit to it. Called AAA... no one had a flat bed big enough to get it on. One 'service' said he would strap the axle up and drive on one wheel. only charge me 300.00.. At that moment a South Caroline Highway service truck pulled up. Told him what was going on and he said that he would help me get the axle high enough to get a tow strap on it to hold it up. He had a bladder lift to get the axle up. put a tow strap on it, hung down to about a inch and halve from the ground. The SCDOT followed me in his truck (with arrow to divert interstate traffice) for 3 miles up to the next exit and 8 miles back to CW, 11 miles on three tires with an axle tied up. Spent the night at CW (electric and water). Next day (monday)... told, need new axle, only take two weeks. Hub unusable, as where the race runs, most shattered and missing. Spindle egg shaped and threads crossed and burred and flattened from the carter key hole, outward, brakes shattered and backing plate pulled outward at the top and deformed as unusable. Tech said that the carter key on it seemed to be too small and broke and spindle nut backed off and bearings moved and collapsed and flew apart. I thanked God for sending the person to stop us and giving us a place to go..... I will continue this saga story at a later date. My stress level is still very high. We lost another wheel bearing 10 miles from Myrtle Beach. Another person stopped us before the tire fell off,thank God. On Tuesday, a RV service Tech fixed the one set of gone bearing, said it needed a new hub, but none could be found in the area and also replace both sets on the other axle. Said that the spindle nut was too loose and the bearing were moving back and forth smacking the nut/carter key and two of the brakes were too tight and causing friction. Some good it does to grease these things. I am not a happy camper and not at all happy with Lippert Components. Over all cost to me so far 1,100 dollars in repairs and I still need a new axle, and 5 years off my life for the amount of stress. Spent Monday night on the side on the road in Conrad SC. Paid off two panhandlers admiring all the 'nice things' that we had (their words). I asked for advice about the neighborhood, one said, "Don't talk to no one and don't buy drugs form no one". I did not sleep at all on Monday night. Spring Break was a nightmare and I was and am still a nervess wreck thinking about what could have happened if it was at night, mile from no where. There are two Camping Worlds in Myrtle Beach and the one in Spartanburg and neither had the hubs I needed in stock....

[Learjet]

a trailer shop will have all the parts you need. Lawn, utility trailer etc...use the same parts.

Carolina Trailers
307 East Frontage Road
Campobello, SC 29322
(864) 457-3283

[OldCoot]

Sorry for the bad luck, I think the tech that told you the cotter pin was too small was just fishing. There should be little to no pressure on the cotter pin from the nut. The bearing(s) had to go bad. As long as the cotter pin isn't so small it falls out, all it does is keep the nut from moving.

BTW, how did you get from Spartanburg to within 10 miles of the beach without the new axle, etc.?

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by Learjet

a trailer shop will have all the parts you need. Lawn, utility trailer etc...use the same parts.

Carolina Trailers
307 East Frontage Road
Campobello, SC 29322
(864) 457-3283

I went to one of the Camping Worlds at Myrtle Beach and asked for a hub, they said they get their hubs from Farmer Supply. CW gave me their number, called them and they said they do not have six lug hubs.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Sorry for the bad luck, I think the tech that told you the cotter pin was too small was just fishing. There should be little to no pressure on the cotter pin from the nut. The bearing(s) had to go bad. As long as the cotter pin isn't so small it falls out, all it does is keep the nut from moving.

BTW, how did you get from Spartanburg to within 10 miles of the beach without the new axle, etc.?

I told CW at Spartanburg that I do not have two weeks to wait for an axle. The Tech ground and sanded on the egg shape spindle to get the race on and ground most of the outer threads off and took a pipe wrench and hammer and turned and beat until he got to the good threads and past the cotter key hole.
The RV Tech at myrtle beach/Conrad when he changed the other axle bearings said that the spindle nut was not tight enough to the bearings and allowing a lot of bearing movement. Failure was only a matter of time on that axle also.

[donanddona]

Had a bearing burn off once. Took the hub to a RV dealer service dept. Tech told be he couldn't press the old races out. Left pretty upset. A local repair garage replaced the bearing races on both hubs $30 for both. I packed the bearings myself. Can't explain the Lippert failures but I feel for you. I now replace the bearings after the winter traveling. Cost is about $35.00 per set. Includes new dust cap, C-pin, inner and outer bearings/races, and inner bearing seals. Sorry for your hurting head but it will make for good stories around the campfires next year.

[Brother Les]

Still looking into pulling off the sub-par 4,400 'Axles' that are on my Hemisphere and looking to see if the hubs/ brakes and backing would match up to the next higher axle rating of 5,200 pounds. This is something that I came across:

Re: Lippert 4400# Axle Parts
I just got this off RV.NET:

Just got off the phone with the parts guy at Lippert. I was trying to find out what #'s I needed for the bearings and seals for the 4400lb axles I have. Couldn't find any part #'s for 4400lb axles on the Lippert site so I called them. The Axles are rated at 4400lbs, with 10" hubs and have 3500lb axle bearings on them. Same bearing #'s (L68149, L44649) you would use if your buying bearings for any 3500lb axle. Seems weird to me, but just wondering if it's normal to have bearings that fit 3500lb axles on 4400lb axles. I'm not an engineer, so I don't know if the bearings are capable of carrying more if the axle is built to higher standards or what. Any engineers out there?
FWIW my TT has a dry sticker weight of 6189lbs, loaded around 7200lbs and GVW of 8400lbs. I'm hoping this isn't just cheap engineering and is just normal.

Hope this helps some.

Peace
Dave
[/COLOR]
I called Forest River about this and they talked to Lippert..... I was told that the '3 inch around 4,400 axle BEAM' is the only thing that is rated as '4,400'. The rest of the axle assembly, ie. the spindle/hub/bearings is only rated at 3,500 pounds. By this, then with both axles, everyone that has 4,400 pound axles need to subtract from your over all weight of carrying ability 1,800 pounds.

I just don't know what to say on how disappointed that I am with Forest River and Lippert. Did anyone else know about this lax of rating by putting a higher number on the axle than it can really carry?

[Crockett]

being in the industry, i was surprised to hear about 4400 pound axles. i wondered what bearings ect they would have and what size brakes since I hadnt seen one yet. but this makes perfect sense...how to get to a heavier rating without having to go the 12 " brakes and larger bearings...you right though...you only as strong as your weakest link...3500 pound bearings and brakes and even spindle diameter for that matter...

[wyo700]

I have a 3500 pound alko axles under my toy hauler and was looking into putting possibly a bigger one under. I did a ton of research and the only difference in a 3500 pound and 4400 was the outer bearing and a 2 3/8 inch tube compared to a 3 inch. But a 3500 pound axle could be ordered with a 3 inch tube. Even leaf springs were the same. Didn't make sense at all to me either. Even on the 5200 pound axle the spindle diameter was the same as a 3500 but obviously brakes were bigger. So for that matter and reading all this and scratching my head although some probably tell me I'm crazy I typically will run close to max weight and have been slightly over with my toy hauler. I check the heat on my bearings every time I stop and they are still cool. And my tires are overrated so no concern there.


2012 Sandstorm 203SLC
2013 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 5.7
2014 Honda Pioneer 700-4

[Crockett]

the outer(smaller of the 2) bearing on the 5200 pound is the same size as the inner(larger)bearing on the 3500. so, the spindle is heavier through this area(loaded area) till you hit the nut.