Yikes! After I bought my tin rig a few years back I shot bearing/hub temps with my laser pyrometer several times on the highway and figured everything was fine. Fast forward 6 months and I had a catastrophic bearing/hub failure and lost a wheel at 65MPH out in the middle of nowhere. After all hell broke loose I looked in the side mirror and the sparks coming off the axle grinding on the pavement looked like the space shuttle taking off. Feller behind me saw where the wheel rolled into the woods (I would have never found it) and brought it to us. Damage; two inner bearing races still there and the end of the axle and castle nut/washer ground off about 160 degrees of 360 degrees and the outer bearing surface ground off about 120 degrees. I balked at the $250-$300 tow charges to come way out there load us on a flatbed and haul us to the fishcamp.(I'm not cheap, I'm frugal.).I drug the sucker 50' through the grass to a flat area off the easement, threw all the boat gear in the SUV then disconnected and drove the 17 miles into town to the trailer place. Bought a hub kit in a box and a tub of grease. Then to Publix for a 12 pack, windex, scrub brush and paper towels. Got back and hooked back up the rig. Jacked up the good side, removed the wheel and set down the frame on the wheel and SUV spare. Jacked up the bad side and set it down on the broke off wheel and trailer spare. Pulled the 8 nuts on the 4 "U" bolts and spun the axle 180 degrees so the outer bearings inner race would have good axle/spindle surface to ride on and tightened everything back up. I removed what was left of the castle nut/washer, inner races and cleaned it all up then Greased and installed new hub. It was tricky getting the new castle nut started on a little more than half of what was left of the spindle threads. :shock:But it snugged up nicely and no problem with the cotter key. I jacked it up installed the spare, put wheel back on good side and threw everything in the back of the SUV and headed home. Long day.
I've been running it like this for a year and a half. Monitoring hub temps religiously with no issues but I know I'm on borrowed time so I bought a new axle and another new hub kit for the original side last week and I'm installing it tomorrow.
I've blown lots of tires over the years of boat trailering but this is my only hub failure nightmare. Thankfully.