Seals and bearings specs

[BoarX]

Hi everyone,

What are the specs/sizes for T28 Venture trailer bearings and seals? Would like to get spares for upcoming trips. Any info anyone?
Thanks in advance!
Alex

[BoarX]

Well, I called Venture with my question, gave them my trailer VIN umber and got their parts department really confused. According to them the trailer with our specs should have 15" wheels with 5 lugs, but mine are 13" with 4 lugs. Their best guess was 1 1/16" bearing, but only actual disassembly can confirm this. On the other hand, if nobody recalls replacing those, I take it as a good sign

Cheers,
Alex

[wooden]

My trailer is well-worn. After sitting under saltwater for a few days during a hurricane and very little maintenance over ten years, I needed to haul the boat from the Florida Keys to Texas. I replaced the tires and inspected/lubricated the barring for the first time since I bought the boat in 2011. The barrings looked good. The trailer and boat made the 23hrs trip without any trouble. So, I think the trailer is pretty tough and well built but I will not ignore regular maintenance in the future. I think I was pretty lucky considering.

[BoarX]

Wheel bearings must be pretty good these days (how often do they fail on your vehicle?), but the real weak point of boat trailers are the hub seals (ask me how I know...). Once the seal fails, the water seeps in, mixes with grease and then the bearing fails in pretty short order. Failing seal is relatively easy to catch on the axle without breaks - there the bearing will spit the grease all over the inner surface of the wheel rim, one just need to know where to look, it is the easiest if the rim is painted white. On a trailer like our Venture which has brakes it is really difficult since the seal is hiding under the brake drum. In addition, failing bearing will typically start making noises way before it falls apart and it is easy to hear those noises in a vehicle - but not on a trailer. This explains the paranoia of many boat and RV owners who examine, replace the seals and lubricate the bearings annually. I used to shrug at that practice, but considering all the above I no longer think they should be ridiculed.

Just yesterday I have almost broke my jack but finally disassembled one of the trailer hubs and measured three spindle diameters - under the seal, inner and outer bearings. My hope is to talk to e-trailer and figure out what we got there. Will report the findings.

Cheers,
Alex

[BoarX]

OK, searching over the internet reveals that what we have on our Venture trailers is 1,750lb 5 lug hub, which is one of the four most widespread trailer hubs. It is also comforting that our axles can each carry 3,500lbs for a total of 7,000lbs - marginal, but OK. Last time I weighted my rig I saw 6,900lbs. The hub rides on 1 3/8 x 1 1/16 spindle - inner and outer bearing mounting sizes, respectively. Given the load capacity this must be pretty universal for all T28 trailers. The bearing seal sizes are 1.719 ID x 2.56 OD. Here is the seal part number cross reference as reported on https://www.championtrailers.com/traile ... x-2-56-od/:

Transcom 17255
National 473336
NOK AD2548E
Dexter 010-019-00
Tru-Ryde RG06-050

In my case the spindle is EZ-lube or similar style with zerk grease fitting in front:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mosee6rr6ZFRAtcY7

This presumably allows for lubrication without disassembly by pumping in the fresh grease while displacing the old one - just don't use power grease gun, go slowly and keep spinning the wheel. The danger here is to press out the seal by forcing the grease in with too much pressure.

Venture does have the replacement bearing kit, https://www.venturetrailers.com/product ... -8-1-1-16/, but in my case not all the parts in it are useful - my spindle uses a tang washer instead of a cotter pin and the grease cup has a rubber insert in it.

If you can spot something inaccurate in all this, please correct me!

Cheers,
Alex