Trailer buyers beware

Thanks for that info mate, handy to know as I'm in the market.

Let us know what happens with the email. I think that is a rort as they said it was a landcruiser, NOT. Now if they said it was a landcruiser stud pattern..........

I think you'll find that applies across the board .. not with all, but with a lot.Rosco

Another consideration when buying a trailer, is to have the same track width and wheel/tyre size as the vehicle.
The same track means the trailer will follow the vehicle tracks in soft conditions reducing fuel consumption.
The same wheel/tyre combo as the vehicle will give you a few more spare wheels if things get desperate.

My trailer also has Landcruiser stud pattern but is fitted with a "slimline" bearing.

These are readily available. On my trip which covered a heap of corrugated road and no road work I made a tralier wheel bearing check as part of my daily vehicle check. Its easy , just grab the top of the tyre and shake it like crazy. Then it is easy to nip up the bearing if loose.

If I needed to tighten the bearing more than 4 times I would change it. and at only 20 bucks a throw its cheap.

Plus it gives me something to do when the fish are off the bite.

Brett

a common practise Willie.

Heavy duty bearing are quite expensive (even with 50% off) and are still about 3 times the price of 'standard" (holden) bearings.

Was repco's price better than a beraing Co such as CBc or Consolidated Bearing?

Wow! am I cute
If yer ain't fishing, Yer ain't livin
Richard

G'day Willie,

Was advised by a bloke from Bearing Service, to use Falcon bearings, rather than holden, as the ford b'rgs are bigger. Never did as he advised, because you can even get Holden kits at some Kmarts.

Think your case is a real rip-off, the only plus being that replacement bearings would be a lot cheaper than tojo equivalent. Safe travelling...

Hooroo...

Hi Willie,
Allow me to comment: I come from a very strong engineering background where bearing failure diagnostics was a daily event & I understand the problems with bearing overload when only grease packed. High loading, Loose & Over tightening of the bearings as well as mixing different types of greases can lead to premature failure.
Recently I was in a caravan/trailer spare parts store & I was buying some hubs to allow me to have mechanical brakes on my simple box trailer. There was a large choice of stud patterns. Holden 14" Pre HQ, Holden HQ onwards, Ford passenger, 6 stud suit Land Cruiser etc and Un-Drilled Blanks. Ford 14" passenger is the common rim & stud pattern that is universal on most new caravans & commercial basic box trailers.
The hub selection were for 3 catagories, plain hubs, mechanical brakes, electric brakes.
ALL were the same casting/Machining and all used the same bearing designation.
Not sure what bearing combinations were fitted but it was for ease of manufacture that options were generic.
It would be fair to say that they are designed for normal road & highway conditions...not off road or aggresive dirt roads.
I have an off-road trailer similar to you and after every trip in the scrub I find the bearings loose so it is a discipline you must have in maintaing the rig. Even if you had larger bearing load capacity they do take a pounding but granted if they are better designed you can have a longer run between maintenance.
I think there are a lot of assumtions made when the trailer manufacturer asks for hubs to suit a Landcruser etc. The supplier just delivers the generic application off the shelf.
I had bad experiences with trailer design as in my case the suspension failed hence there is little total engineering consideration in some brands of trailers.
Hope it is getting better for all our sakes.
Cheers