E
El Pescador
Guest
Dohboy, I was under the impression that Mike Malo was the owner of RoadRunner, but I could be wrong. Do you know if there is somone above him in that company to whom I could address my concerns?
I am not too worried (for now) about the leaf springs, as they look pretty strong albeit ugly. I am more concerned about the "state of the art" bits holding the brakes together. This is why I am in the process of spraying all those parts with Fluid Film and hopefully that should stop the corrosion. The flushing kit does not seem to do the job, and I leave it several minutes flushing with a garden hose attached whenever I have used the trailer in salt water.
Thank you for your encouragement.
E
El Pescador
Guest
quote:Originally posted by Gypseas
Since we're on trailer maintenance can anyone advise on how do you tighten the nut against the bearings after a repack (how tight ?)
Don't mean to hijack
cheers
vic
I found this on the web some time ago:
PRELOADING THE BEARINGS
1) Tighten the axle nut by hand until it is tight. Tighten another 1/4 with a spanner.
2) Spin the drum several times to distribute the grease evenly in the bearings.
3) Back off the nut with the spanner until loose & retighten finger tight.
4) Insert a new cotter pin to lock the nut in place & bend it over the spindle.
5) Re-install the dust cap, wheel & tire.
The first thing my dealer told me to do when I took possession of the trailer is to add a bit of grease to the bearings after the first trip. That is the whole point of BB's, they allow you to theorectically keep the bearings packed with grease. This is an ongoing thing you should be doing regularly. That is the whole point of BB's, they allow you to keep grease packed in the bearing. How much grease the actually makes it to the rear bearing is the question. This is not repacking this is a simple step with a grease gun, and the BB cover comes off without any effort.
I check them at least every second trip and like other guys, check them after the first 1/2 hour into a long trip to see if they are hot. Why did you get the BB's if you were never going to use them?
As a lot of people point out though, your trailer shows a lot more than 2 uses over 2 years. The pictures are kind of focused on your bearings and they do look terrible, but the parts of the trailer we are seeing do as well.
I check them at least every second trip and like other guys, check them after the first 1/2 hour into a long trip to see if they are hot. Why did you get the BB's if you were never going to use them?
As a lot of people point out though, your trailer shows a lot more than 2 uses over 2 years. The pictures are kind of focused on your bearings and they do look terrible, but the parts of the trailer we are seeing do as well.
E
El Pescador
Guest
Seawolf, "my dealer" did not tell me anything of the sort (at least, I don't recall hearing it), but if you read my response to Red Monster you will see that years ago I had a RoadRunner single axle with bearing buddies and greasing them once per year (after about 4000 Km) was proven sufficient. And again, I am convinced that if the trailer had been delivered with the bearings properly packed and the buddys filled with grease, this problem would have never happened; not with the low number of Km I put on it and with the low number of times it was on the water.
The bearings are not the only parts that look terrible, but lots of the bits holding the brakes together do look terrible as well. I wanted to replace the Fulton Bearing Protectors with genuine Bearing Buddys, but nobody seems to carry them around here, so I guess I will have to stick to the "clones". I have no complaints about the rest of the trailer, except for one of the bunks where the fabric (or carpeting or whatever that is) has already split and exposed the wood.
westcoast advneture
Member
In response to gypseas question on how tight to tighten a bearing nut: tighten the nut WHILE ROTATING THE WHEEL until there is zero freeplay in the bearing and then back off the nut until you are able to insert the cotter pin in the first available slot. Bearings fail mostly from lack of maintainence and impropper installation. I pack a spare set of bearings in a ziplock back inside a coffee can just incase of a failure but have never lost a set. For the time it takes to repack a bearing a couple of times per season it is in my opinion worth the peace of mind. Most trailers use standard size bearings and seals that are fairly cheap.
No, looks like another one. We didn't have a pod to stand on (I'm sure there's something funny there?) Those 9.9's are a whole lot heavier trying to lift straight up bent over in a sea and we ended up trolling in out of the swell and jumping in up to our waist. Fortunately not brand-new. The motor got a good freshwater wash-out ($500 later) and ran as good as ever. It's good to know you would have been there for help.
E
El Pescador
Guest
Morning all,
The comments made by some of you yesterday made me think that I may have a brigger problem with my trailer than initially thought, namely premature corrosion in the "state of the art corrosion resistant components". With this in mind, I decided to approach (again) Fulton by e-mail with copy to Road Runner. Here is the text of the e-mail I just sent:
Greetings.
Thank you for your reply to my earlier e-mail back in September 2007. I have another couple of questions for you regarding two Fulton products that may be warranty related. Those products are installed on a RoadRunner boat trailer I bought at the end of February 2005, and at the time the pictures were taken it had been between 8 and 16 times in the water:
1) I am attaching some pictures of the three Fulton bearing protectors remaining in my trailer after the mishap I had in June 2007, and those pictures were taken at the end of August last year (just over two months after new bearings were installed and the hubs repacked with fresh grease). It didn't escape to my attention the amount of corrosion that built-up around one of the bearing protectors circlip and spring. While it seems to me that the bearing protector was still doing its job (the spring can be seen under tension) it seems to me that some components are inadequate for the intended use (boat trailer to be used in salt water). Is this the adequate quality of bearing protector or the intended use. If yes, why did it deteriorate so fast?
As a precautionary measure, I intend to install genuine Bearing Buddys, as they are all stainless and I believe they are more suited for the intended use. Nevertheless, I still would like to know why the Fultons do deteriorate so fast and if they are indeed fit for the intended use.
2) I have attached some pictures of the trailer brakes taken in June 2007 . At that time, the boat had been in the water about 8 times in a two-year period. I further took pictures of one of the brakes (front left) on November 2, 2007, less than 5 months after a shop repacked the bearings and freed the brakes, and after putting the boat in the water another 6-8 times (about three of them in the Port Alberni Clutesi Haven ramp, which is fresh water). I have had a look at your website
http://www.fultonperformance.com/Brakes/PDF/Ceq-Brakes-pgs12-23.pdf
and I see your claim of having "state of the art corrosion resistant components" installed in your brakes. Well. the pictures seem to indicate that your claim is exaggerated. Further, the boat comes equipped with a brake-flushing kit, and I have always flushed the bearings for a few minutes after returning home from every fishing trip.
Is this the way Fulton electric brakes are supposed to look in about 2 years, especially after so little use?????
Moreover, I have noticed that the brake lever to which the magnet is attached does rock around a fulcrum pin. All four on my trailer were found seized in June and freed and sprayed with lubricant. I opened again the front left brake in November and I found the lever seized again. I further opened the front left brake on February 3 and also found the components rusted-up and the lever seized around the pin (freed it, sprayed it with lubricant, etc). To me, yours is a substandard design that could be easily corrected by pressing-in a brass bushing in the lever.
I would appreciate your answer as soon as possible. I would also like to know if your warranty covers the above items, because their condition is, in my view, completely unacceptable.
Sincerely,
Here is a link to the pictures I attached to the e-mail:
http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii217/El_Pescador_2008/Bearing Buddy/
Will keep all posted of further developments.
The comments made by some of you yesterday made me think that I may have a brigger problem with my trailer than initially thought, namely premature corrosion in the "state of the art corrosion resistant components". With this in mind, I decided to approach (again) Fulton by e-mail with copy to Road Runner. Here is the text of the e-mail I just sent:
Greetings.
Thank you for your reply to my earlier e-mail back in September 2007. I have another couple of questions for you regarding two Fulton products that may be warranty related. Those products are installed on a RoadRunner boat trailer I bought at the end of February 2005, and at the time the pictures were taken it had been between 8 and 16 times in the water:
1) I am attaching some pictures of the three Fulton bearing protectors remaining in my trailer after the mishap I had in June 2007, and those pictures were taken at the end of August last year (just over two months after new bearings were installed and the hubs repacked with fresh grease). It didn't escape to my attention the amount of corrosion that built-up around one of the bearing protectors circlip and spring. While it seems to me that the bearing protector was still doing its job (the spring can be seen under tension) it seems to me that some components are inadequate for the intended use (boat trailer to be used in salt water). Is this the adequate quality of bearing protector or the intended use. If yes, why did it deteriorate so fast?
As a precautionary measure, I intend to install genuine Bearing Buddys, as they are all stainless and I believe they are more suited for the intended use. Nevertheless, I still would like to know why the Fultons do deteriorate so fast and if they are indeed fit for the intended use.
2) I have attached some pictures of the trailer brakes taken in June 2007 . At that time, the boat had been in the water about 8 times in a two-year period. I further took pictures of one of the brakes (front left) on November 2, 2007, less than 5 months after a shop repacked the bearings and freed the brakes, and after putting the boat in the water another 6-8 times (about three of them in the Port Alberni Clutesi Haven ramp, which is fresh water). I have had a look at your website
http://www.fultonperformance.com/Brakes/PDF/Ceq-Brakes-pgs12-23.pdf
and I see your claim of having "state of the art corrosion resistant components" installed in your brakes. Well. the pictures seem to indicate that your claim is exaggerated. Further, the boat comes equipped with a brake-flushing kit, and I have always flushed the bearings for a few minutes after returning home from every fishing trip.
Is this the way Fulton electric brakes are supposed to look in about 2 years, especially after so little use?????
Moreover, I have noticed that the brake lever to which the magnet is attached does rock around a fulcrum pin. All four on my trailer were found seized in June and freed and sprayed with lubricant. I opened again the front left brake in November and I found the lever seized again. I further opened the front left brake on February 3 and also found the components rusted-up and the lever seized around the pin (freed it, sprayed it with lubricant, etc). To me, yours is a substandard design that could be easily corrected by pressing-in a brass bushing in the lever.
I would appreciate your answer as soon as possible. I would also like to know if your warranty covers the above items, because their condition is, in my view, completely unacceptable.
Sincerely,
Here is a link to the pictures I attached to the e-mail:
http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii217/El_Pescador_2008/Bearing Buddy/
Will keep all posted of further developments.
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