Trailer Seized Axle

PN14

Hi Guys,

I've an old arch tipper trailer at home which I had planned to bring out of retirement and do up. Old lad had parked it up several years ago when the floor need replacing and it hasn't been moved since. I wanted to do it up as it would be useful around the place moving bits & pieces etc.

To cut a long story short I tackled on to it yesterday but the axle is seized. Is there any way to free it up or is it a case of looking for a replacement one in the breakers. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Jim from Cork

Is it braked? Was the handbrake left on? Are both sides seized?

PN14

Jim,

Its definetely not braked and yes both sides siezed. I didn't spend a whole lot of time looking at it though to investigate yet maybe the weekend. I pulled it out and both wheels were locked so I just abandoned it again.

Jim from Cork

It would be rare for an unbraked hub to seize up, unless the bearing caps were gone and there was little grease inside the hubs/bearings. Still, stranger things have happened
If it is the case that the bearings are shagged it is just a matter of replacing them. Bearing replacement is not that difficult provided the stub axles & hubs are fine.

(You could try liberally spraying inside the hub caps with WD40 or such like just to free them up for moving around before replacing the bearings.)

PN14

Jim thanks for that.

I take off the hubs and go from there. Are the sized bearings the only reason it would be sized up? If that was all it wouldn't be something to put me off.

It was actually always the plan anyway to take the hubs off. The reason the father originally parked it up was the tryes were shagged and he couldn't source replacement ones. He said he tried loads of places but no one had the tyre size. Eventually some guy up in Galway told him that the tyres on the trailer came off a bedford van from the 60's and that he'd never find tyres for it so it was left in a corner.

I was hoping if I got the hubs off I could take them to some tyre guy and he might come up with either a different size tyre to fit the existing hubs or find different hubs & tryes to fit the axle. The big problem with changing the tyres is that there is only about 25mm between the top of the existing tyres and the frame of the trailer so very little room to play with.

Jim from Cork

PN14 wrote: »

Jim thanks for that.

I take off the hubs and go from there. Are the sized bearings the only reason it would be sized up? If that was all it wouldn't be something to put me off

Sounds like a homemade trailer. Pop up a few pictures if you can. Unless it is a rear axle from a van that has the half shafts and diff still in you would imagine only the bearings would be the problem. I was thinking along the line of "normal" axle. Sometimes the bearings can be difficult to locate for older stuff. You will want the bearing numbers off the races or bring the bearings to the likes of Reliance Bearing