how do I know what bearings to get?

[crankbait09]

I have an old jon boat with a flat bottom. the trailer is nothing but steel and wheels. I bought the boat/trailer over the winter and have not removed the wheel to check out the condition of the bearings or any details about it.

Let's say, I were to replace the bearings and all inner wheel parts......Is there a way to tell what kind of bearings I will need? If this were just a maintenance thing and wanted to replace them so I KNOW the history of the parts, what will be needed?

do i need to provide pictures?

If there is a link to this already, please advise

thank you

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Bearings, races and seals have numbers on them so take them with you to get replacements. There only a few sizes used on small trailers so it's not too hard to get the correct ones.

 

[crankbait09]

ok thank you..........

was hoping there was some kind of nomenclature that would spell this out for me. I will see what I can find when I break in to it.

thanks for the info

is this very similar to wheel bearings for a car?

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Yes it works the same as a car.
If it an much older trailer it could have 3/4" spindles a little newer 1" spindles. If it's a new trailer might have 1-1/16" spindles or tapered spindles that use 2 different size bearing. You really won't know until you get them apart.

 

[BassBlaster]

If it has 3/4" spindles, good luck!!!!

I was able to finally locate the bearings here locally but never did find the seals. I just reused the old ones that were still in pretty good shape. When they finally go, I'll just replace the axle or the trailer all together.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

My present trailer has 3/4" spindles. I found the seals as part of a bearing kit by Timkin at the local farm and fleet.

 

[BassBlaster]

I found 3/4" kits with seals as well but they didnt fit my trailer. It had a weird seal that had an ID of roughly 1 1/4" and it had a spacer that rode inside of there and rode on the spindle, if that makes sence, lol. Basically it wasnt your everyday run of the mill seal. I even went to a place that only deals in seals and they mic'ed every dimension of them and were still unable to match them. The numbers printed on the seal also turned up no match.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

Just take your old bearings and seals to a parts store like napa. They will measure them for you if the part numbers are gone. Lots of different size bearings that you cannot eyeball the size.

It's the exact same as front bearings on s truck, just smaller

 

[Stove Iron]

Like others have said, the easiest way to get replacements is to ID the part numbers on the bearings (the parts with the cylinders), races (also called cups), and seals. Part numbers will either be stamped or etched on the outside circumference of the bearings/races. Always replace bearings and races together. No sense in using new bearings with old, worn races. I use Timken bearings. Timken bearings and races come in "sets". I would shy away from anything made in China.

Or when you get your hubs off the spindle, you could measure the spindle diameter with a caliper or micrometer. I think for my boat trailer spindles, they measured 1-1/16" and 1-3/8" and used Timken SET4 and SET17 bearings.