"Reliable" Axles.....NOT!!!

[PSG-1]

Sorry if this comes across like a rant, but I really HATE sub-standard procedures and workmanship.

A lot of PWC trailers, particularly the Triton brand, are being sold with axles made by Reliable Axle company. Well, let me tell you, they are NOT reliable. If you have such a trailer, check to see if this is who made the axle, if so, you should consider replacing that POS with something better.

Why? OK, here's my story. My girlfriend has a Yamaha VX110 jet ski, when we bought it brand new in 2008, we also bought a brand new aluminum frame trailer, made by Triton mfg. The ski only has about 75 hours on it, and the longest run the trailer has ever been on was from here to North Myrtle Beach, going up Hwy 31 at 65 MPH, that's only about 40 miles each way. We're always religious about rinsing the trailer every time it's used.

Nevertheless, there was an issue. She was going across the highway to the river, and she heard something fall off the trailer, going down the road. When I started looking, I saw that one of the spring leaves had rusted and snapped off.

OK, so it needs new springs. I ordered a set, along with U-bolts and tie plates.

Well, my springs got here, and I proceeded to dismantle the old springs. Once I had the axle pulled, I inspected it, and noticed heavy rusting in the area where the U-bolts were. I beat it with the chipping hammer, and busted a hole right through! Well, crap, now I gotta make a new axle. No problem, I'll just take the torch, remove the spindles out of the old one, get a new piece of sch 40 pipe, and make a new axle.

The instant I tried to cut through the axle, there was a grease fire. I've never seen this happen before. Dang axle was full of grease. ??? :?: Also, I noticed that the material they used to make the axle was paper thin, about like a shower curtain rod.

But worse than that....when I tried to save the old spindles....I realized there was yet ANOTHER problem. Most spindles have something called a 'stud' which is an extension of the spindle, that is supposed to fit about 3-4 inches into the axle tube. This helps increase strength. Well, apparently, the college-educated idiot designers at Reliable Axle company didn't think they needed to waste extra material by using spindles with studs....they were just butt-welded to the ends of the axle pipe!!! WTF?! I have NEVER seen something like that before.

Then I noticed something else.....the wheel bearings were completely dry. How can this be? The end of the spindles have zerk fittings, and I've been greasing them on a regular basis!!

Well, upon further examination, I had my answer. Seems that the educated idiots didn't do much studying about how to build spindles. I've seen a lot of spindles where they install the zerk fitting in the end, then they cross-drill the spindle, where the hole is between the sets of bearings, so grease will flow into them. I don't like that method very much, as the cross drill is a stress riser, and I have actually seen spindles snap cleanly in two at this point.

But these mental midgets didn't even have that much sense! Wanna take a guess what they did? Instead of the cross-drill, they drilled the hole all the way through the spindle. So, in other words, you can sit there and waste a dozen large tubes of grease in a grease gun, fill the entire axle tube full of grease, and none of it EVER makes its way to the bearings, it's just filling the axle tube.

What a brilliant design! I bet the dumb SOB that thought of this probably went to college for 12 years, with a degree in engineering. In other words, an educated idiot.

Well, I guess when you're a large company, you've got lawyers, so, you're not too worried about being sued when someone's trailer wheel falls off, goes through someone's windshield and kills them.

But as for me, I have never, and would never design such a POS, and I sure wouldn't let it roll out of my shop. I always love it when people want a price to build a trailer, then I tell them, and they gripe and complain "but I can buy a trailer for such-and-such amount at wherever"

My response is always: "Uh-huh. And do you know WHY it's cheaper than my trailer? Because it's assembled with substandard materials, and even more lousy procedures. But if you want to go buy a cheap POS trailer, that's up to you. When it breaks, bring it down here, I'll fix it."

Just like the utility trailers that use 3/4"x 16 ga expanded metal, and I use 3/4"x 11 or even 9 ga. Same thing with axles. You get what you pay for.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[earl60446]

I only have 2+ years of college and I never have designed a trailer or axle so please don't hate me. I don't think I have ever seen a zerk fitting on a spindle, just have caps or "bearing buddies" around here to my knowledge which seem to work ok. In any case, my trailer is 25 years old and working ok (knock on wood) even though it was involved in an accident with some previous owner. You sound like you know what you are doing though so I am sure you will get the girlfriends PWC fixed right. 2008 trailer and the springs have rusted off, that saltwater is vicious.
Tim

 

[earl60446]

I figured this reliable place was chinese originated for sure and when I googled it, sure enough it came back as distributed under the Northern Tool company. I also saw a youtube video of it. Turns out it is American made, oh well, not everybody can bat a 1000.
Tim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sAiyswpdQA

 

[sawmill]

I only have 2+ years of college and I never have designed a trailer or axle so please don't hate me. I don't think I have ever seen a zerk fitting on a spindle, just have caps or "bearing buddies" around here to my knowledge which seem to work ok. In any case, my trailer is 25 years old and working ok (knock on wood) even though it was involved in an accident with some previous owner. You sound like you know what you are doing though so I am sure you will get the girlfriends PWC fixed right. 2008 trailer and the springs have rusted off, that saltwater is vicious.
Tim

I have a trailmaster trailer and a 12 ton equitment trailer and they have the spindles drilled with a grease zert in them. There is a relief built in it so that you don't blow the seals out when adding grease

 

[Stove Iron]

I've only built one homemade trailer axle and it was for a boat. I basically bought 2" heavy wall steel square tubing and lap welded 3500lb. spindles on the ends. The spindles ride on top of the axle so the bottom of the boat trailer is closer to the ground. I poured about a quart of used motor oil inside the tubing before I welded plates on the ends. I know the oil will mainly rest on the bottom, but figured it couldn't hurt. The spindles I used had the "studs" or whatever they're called that usually slide into tubing.

I've seen plenty of axles with the zerk fitting on the end and cross drilled just outboard of the grease seal. I think Dexter makes an axle called the "EZ lube" etc. You can spot them by the grease caps with a removable rubber grommet for easy lubing. I doubt that Reliable drills the grease passages for every spindle in-house. I'm betting whoever does the final machining is responsible for that feat.


As for spindles that have no "studs", maybe those are used to weld onto brake backing plates, then onto an axle?

 

[PSG-1]

I've only built one homemade trailer axle and it was for a boat. I basically bought 2" heavy wall steel square tubing and lap welded 3500lb. spindles on the ends. The spindles ride on top of the axle so the bottom of the boat trailer is closer to the ground. I poured about a quart of used motor oil inside the tubing before I welded plates on the ends. I know the oil will mainly rest on the bottom, but figured it couldn't hurt.

And that is EXACTLY what I do when I build an axle. =D> That's the RIGHT way to do it!
I weld a spindle into one end, then stand the axle on its end, and pour about 8 oz of oil in there, then, while it's standing vertically, I go ahead and install and weld the other spindle in place.

Also, in addition to the seal weld around the spindle where it joins the axle tube, I punch a hole about 2 inches from each end of the axle tube, and I plug weld this to the spindle. This guarantees that if the main weld rusts and breaks, the plug weld will continue to hold.

The oil prevents the axle from rusting from the inside, so the only thing you have to monitor is external rust. Another benefit of the oil is that it helps to dissipate and transfer heat build-up from the bearings and spindles.

One other thing I should note: a lot of manufacturers take the easy route, and simply drill a hole in the axle for the spring stud to fit into. If you build and axle-DO NOT DO THIS! It not only creates a stress riser which can promote cracking, it is the perfect route for water to enter and destroy the axle. Instead, you should always use a spring centering pad (for a square axle) or a spring saddle (for round axles).

I've seen plenty of axles with the zerk fitting on the end and cross drilled just outboard of the grease seal. I think Dexter makes an axle called the "EZ lube" etc. You can spot them by the grease caps with a removable rubber grommet for easy lubing. I doubt that Reliable drills the grease passages for every spindle in-house. I'm betting whoever does the final machining is responsible for that feat.


As for spindles that have no "studs", maybe those are used to weld onto brake backing plates, then onto an axle?

Indeed, there are spindle stubs that weld onto axle plates, but typically, the plate is bored out and the stub will be inset, so both sides can be welded. Any time a spindle is welded to an axle tube, there should ALWAYS be at least a 2 inch stub inside the axle tube. This distributes a lot of the down pressure from the load. Without this extension, you're relying solely on a butt weld between the spindle and the axle tube.

And if it's a thin wall POS axle like the one on my PWC trailer, you can see where that would be a serious issue.