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The trip back from Lake Powell was pretty eventful. It should have taken about 6.5 hours to make, but pulling the boat required slower speeds than normal. Everything was going just fine until we arrived in Flagstaff. We stopped and fueled up the vehicle and then left town on I-17. Just as we were coming into Munds Park someone signaled that we had an issue with the trailer. We slowed down and exited then tried to assess the issue. As it turns out, the left tail light had broken off its mount and was bouncing on the pavement held on by the wires. This light was held in place by two 3/8" diameter screws. One screw had come out and the other had broken off the plastic that held the light in place. Luckily the last bolt didn't come off as well, as this would have let the license plate loose on the road. We found some fishing line (from Terra's dad's fising pole) and tied it back in place.
The trip resumed until we left Camp Verde. As we were climbing up the hill south of Camp Verde, again someone signaled that we had an issue with our trailer. I checked the mirrors and sure enough, on of the tires was coming off. The passenger tire was not long for the trailer so we pulled over into the shoulder. I decided that perhaps we should get all the way off the interstate and just as the tire hit the dirt the bearing gave up the ghost, and the tire fell off. This strap was just sitting in the dirt so we tied it on the trailer - no idea why.
This is the second time a bearing on this trailer has given up and the tire has come off. I have pondered why and have come up with two different reasons. #1-the trailer is to heavy for this single axle & #2-the axle is bent and the wheels put too much force on the bearings causing them to prematurely fail. Let me give you some background on this issue; the first time I lost a tire was just after we purchased the Suburban. It was the first time the suburban towed the trailer. I took it to the Thing and back, and on the way back I lost the drive side tire. In addition to loosing wheel bearings, I have lost the tread on 3 different tires. They were all on the driver's side. Each time I would look back in the mirror and the tire looked like there was an issue, I pulled over and sure enough the tread was coming off the tire. I solved this by simply changing the tire.
I have also noticed that the hardware that holds the trailer and the boat together keeps backing out. The screws that hold the bunk boards keep coming out and the screws that hold the interior pieces of the boat together also keep coming out. Perhaps there is too much vibration transfered into the trailer. The way I solved the tire issue, is I went to 12 ply tires. These tires are very stiff. They recommend to be inflated to 95 psi. I have been running them at 80 psi. Perhaps this is still too much air pressure and the road vibration is being transfered into the boat. Or, perhaps the axle is bent and this is inducing a vibration? Either way the design as it stands is unacceptable.
I unhooked the trailer and we headed home. I called AJ and wanted to know what his plans were for the evening. I asked him to go get the donkey (it was at my house) and I would meet him somewhere on the way. He retrieved the donkey and headed by to my location (mile post 82 on I-17). I met him in Tucson and Terra took the kids home while I and AJ went to retrieve the boat with the donkey.
We arrived at the boat at 7:30 in the evening. We had about 1 hour of daylight (twilight) to get the boat trailer onto the donkey. This proved more difficult than I anticipated as we were parked on 25-30 degree slope. A DPS officer soon stopped to offer his advice. Soon he had another officer with him and they both were giving us advice how to get the trailer off the road. We decided that we needed a flatter surface to work with and we unhooked the donkey from the truck and hooked up the trailer. We drug the trailer off the road into the dirt. After this the officers were satisfied with how far off the road we were and they left.
AJ and I spent 5 hours trying to get the trailer onto the other trailer. The axle wouldn't fit on the donkey so we needed to remove the other tire and slide the axle up the bed on boards with the winch all while placing a chain from the donkey to the boat trailer to keep it from drifting down slope while being loaded on the donkey. This was a very slow process. Once we had it loaded we drove up to the top of the hill to finish tying it down. It was then that we discovered we left the wheel chock and the cresent moon double trailer jack on the side of the road. We decided it wasn't worth trying to go back and get them due to the lateness of the hour (12:30) and we started to drive home. At about 35 mph the trailer would start to fish tail, so we stopped and tried to solve this issue.
Most of the boat weight is behind the boat trailer axle. The boat trailer axle is behind the donkey axles so there is very little weight on the tounge. We moved all of the luggage inside of the boat up to the bow, we placed the ramps and both spare tires on the donkey tool box, and moved the boat trailer tie down location to the front of the tool box and tried to venture on. We improved the situation as now the fish tailing began at 42 mph. This was good enough and we drove this speed home.
It was a long drive home. We decided that with our slow speed on the interstate that night driving would be better than trying to do it the next day (due to little traffic) and we kept going as oppoes to staying at AJ's. We arrived back in Benson just after 6:00 in the morning. After arriving, we ate some breakfast and went to sleep.
After 3 hours of sleep we proceeded to unload the boat trailer. We backed up the donkey into the shop and then positioned my truck on the other door. We tied chains between my truck and used come-a-longs to move the boat trailer off the donkey. As the axle was approaching its resting location in the shop we put it on jack stands and then drove AJ's truck forward leaving the boat trailer in the shop. This unloading process took 3 horus.
I am grateful for AJ's help. I don't think I could have done this alone. Or perhaps I could have but it would have taken quite a bit longer than it did. After all of the excitement has ended, I am left with the decesion as to how to correct the issue for good. I can put new bearings on it, but this will not fix the root cause of the problems. I either replace the axle hoping that it is bent, or I replace the trailer for a double axle trailer. The trailer seems like a better solution (although a more expensive one) as if this ever happens again, I can still limp the trailer home.
In the process of replacing the bearings (hoping to sell this eventually) the outboard bearing was failing on the driver side. Both of these bearings were repalced at the same time (the first wheel bearing failure) and both were failing together. I need to address this issue before I head back to the lake again. I plan to replace the trailer, but still need to go to patagonia lake to make the sway, thus I need to get this rolling again.
As a side note, this is a 6,000 pound axle with a 4,000 boat on it. It should work, but obviously doesn't.
| The trip back from Lake Powell was pretty eventful. It should have taken about 6.5 hours to make, but pulling the boat required slower speeds than normal. Everything was going just fine until we arrived in Flagstaff. We stopped and fueled up the vehicle and then left town on I-17. Just as we were coming into Munds Park someone signaled that we had an issue with the trailer. We slowed down and exited then tried to assess the issue. As it turns out, the left tail light had broken off its mount and was bouncing on the pavement held on by the wires. This light was held in place by two 3/8" diameter screws. One screw had come out and the other had broken off the plastic that held the light in place. Luckily the last bolt didn't come off as well, as this would have let the license plate loose on the road. We found some fishing line (from Terra's dad's fising pole) and tied it back in place. |
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The trip resumed until we left Camp Verde. As we were climbing up the hill south of Camp Verde, again someone signaled that we had an issue with our trailer. I checked the mirrors and sure enough, on of the tires was coming off. The passenger tire was not long for the trailer so we pulled over into the shoulder. I decided that perhaps we should get all the way off the interstate and just as the tire hit the dirt the bearing gave up the ghost, and the tire fell off. This strap was just sitting in the dirt so we tied it on the trailer - no idea why. |
| This is the second time a bearing on this trailer has given up and the tire has come off. I have pondered why and have come up with two different reasons. #1-the trailer is to heavy for this single axle & #2-the axle is bent and the wheels put too much force on the bearings causing them to prematurely fail. Let me give you some background on this issue; the first time I lost a tire was just after we purchased the Suburban. It was the first time the suburban towed the trailer. I took it to the Thing and back, and on the way back I lost the drive side tire. In addition to loosing wheel bearings, I have lost the tread on 3 different tires. They were all on the driver's side. Each time I would look back in the mirror and the tire looked like there was an issue, I pulled over and sure enough the tread was coming off the tire. I solved this by simply changing the tire. |
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I have also noticed that the hardware that holds the trailer and the boat together keeps backing out. The screws that hold the bunk boards keep coming out and the screws that hold the interior pieces of the boat together also keep coming out. Perhaps there is too much vibration transfered into the trailer. The way I solved the tire issue, is I went to 12 ply tires. These tires are very stiff. They recommend to be inflated to 95 psi. I have been running them at 80 psi. Perhaps this is still too much air pressure and the road vibration is being transfered into the boat. Or, perhaps the axle is bent and this is inducing a vibration? Either way the design as it stands is unacceptable. |
| I unhooked the trailer and we headed home. I called AJ and wanted to know what his plans were for the evening. I asked him to go get the donkey (it was at my house) and I would meet him somewhere on the way. He retrieved the donkey and headed by to my location (mile post 82 on I-17). I met him in Tucson and Terra took the kids home while I and AJ went to retrieve the boat with the donkey. |
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We arrived at the boat at 7:30 in the evening. We had about 1 hour of daylight (twilight) to get the boat trailer onto the donkey. This proved more difficult than I anticipated as we were parked on 25-30 degree slope. A DPS officer soon stopped to offer his advice. Soon he had another officer with him and they both were giving us advice how to get the trailer off the road. We decided that we needed a flatter surface to work with and we unhooked the donkey from the truck and hooked up the trailer. We drug the trailer off the road into the dirt. After this the officers were satisfied with how far off the road we were and they left. |
| AJ and I spent 5 hours trying to get the trailer onto the other trailer. The axle wouldn't fit on the donkey so we needed to remove the other tire and slide the axle up the bed on boards with the winch all while placing a chain from the donkey to the boat trailer to keep it from drifting down slope while being loaded on the donkey. This was a very slow process. Once we had it loaded we drove up to the top of the hill to finish tying it down. It was then that we discovered we left the wheel chock and the cresent moon double trailer jack on the side of the road. We decided it wasn't worth trying to go back and get them due to the lateness of the hour (12:30) and we started to drive home. At about 35 mph the trailer would start to fish tail, so we stopped and tried to solve this issue. |
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Most of the boat weight is behind the boat trailer axle. The boat trailer axle is behind the donkey axles so there is very little weight on the tounge. We moved all of the luggage inside of the boat up to the bow, we placed the ramps and both spare tires on the donkey tool box, and moved the boat trailer tie down location to the front of the tool box and tried to venture on. We improved the situation as now the fish tailing began at 42 mph. This was good enough and we drove this speed home. |
| It was a long drive home. We decided that with our slow speed on the interstate that night driving would be better than trying to do it the next day (due to little traffic) and we kept going as oppoes to staying at AJ's. We arrived back in Benson just after 6:00 in the morning. After arriving, we ate some breakfast and went to sleep. |
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After 3 hours of sleep we proceeded to unload the boat trailer. We backed up the donkey into the shop and then positioned my truck on the other door. We tied chains between my truck and used come-a-longs to move the boat trailer off the donkey. As the axle was approaching its resting location in the shop we put it on jack stands and then drove AJ's truck forward leaving the boat trailer in the shop. This unloading process took 3 horus.
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| I am grateful for AJ's help. I don't think I could have done this alone. Or perhaps I could have but it would have taken quite a bit longer than it did. After all of the excitement has ended, I am left with the decesion as to how to correct the issue for good. I can put new bearings on it, but this will not fix the root cause of the problems. I either replace the axle hoping that it is bent, or I replace the trailer for a double axle trailer. The trailer seems like a better solution (although a more expensive one) as if this ever happens again, I can still limp the trailer home. |
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In the process of replacing the bearings (hoping to sell this eventually) the outboard bearing was failing on the driver side. Both of these bearings were repalced at the same time (the first wheel bearing failure) and both were failing together. I need to address this issue before I head back to the lake again. I plan to replace the trailer, but still need to go to patagonia lake to make the sway, thus I need to get this rolling again. As a side note, this is a 6,000 pound axle with a 4,000 boat on it. It should work, but obviously doesn't. |