Wheel bearing help please

[therealsafetya]

Hello,
General question on wheel bearings. I have a 2017 whitehawk 28dsbh, purchased new in 2017. I have 7000kms in it.

On my last trip I noticed irregular tire wear on driver side rear axle, inside of the tire worn badly, no tread left.

I lifted it and realized I had some play in the wheel (if I grabbed the tire, I can feel play when I push/pull), leading me to wheel bearing issues.

I took the wheel and hub off. When I removed the cotter pin on the crown nut (Lippert 3500lb axle), the nut was finger right.

Inspecting the bearings - they look new , no scoring, discolouring or any sign of damage. Same with the bearing races.

Could this simply be poor assembly? I’m sure I could have indexed the crown nut one more notch tighter and likely remove the play. Is this ever something we need to do as routine maintenance?

Or should I just replace the bearing anyway?

Thanks folks, this is a first for me.

 

[64osby]

An over tight nut on a bearing creates big issues.

If the bearing and spindle all look good and you have repacked it. Then reinstall. Tighten the nut to seat the bearing. Then back it off. Get the nut finger tight and move it as required to get the cotter pin placed.

Tire wear like that is probably more related to alignment.

 

[Marcm157]

I have the same axles as you and I replaced all my bearings as soon as I brought my camper home from the dealer. I pulled each wheel and found 1 bearing so tight I could barely spin the tire and one with almost no grease at all. I bought Timken Bearings and swapped them all.

How does your spindle look?

 

[therealsafetya]

Thanks guys.

Alignment: is there even a means to align a straight axle? I am not cute how you even would?

Spindle: looks fine, like new.

There are no signs of heat at all on any of the components.

 

[norty1]

Alignment: is there even a means to align a straight axle? I am not cute how you even would?

A trailer shop can check the alignment of tandem axles and correct problems.

 

[Route 66 Traveler]

Could also be a bent axle. How do you lift your trailer, by the frame or by the axle?

 

[therealsafetya]

It’s only ever been lifted once, by me, to check this out. I used a 12 ton bottle jack on the frame as close to the axle as possible.

 

[therealsafetya]

I inspected all 4 hubs, seems the two on the drivers side , same side as the slide, had improperly seated/torqued bearings. Repacked and put together properly and play is gone.