Bearings!!!!!

[Steve Hammel]

Last weekend when I was coming home from Quartzite I heard a slight click click click. I pulled up next to a wall, rolled my windows down and slowly pulled forward, click click click. I got out and felt the bearing caps and they were cold. Fortunately I was less than 50 miles from Vegas so went for it. I got home unhooked the camper and went to another wall listened carefully but no click. What do you think?
The axle had been replaced with a leaf spring style (who knows how long ago) and I know the camper sat for several years without being used. I have not yet had the opportunity to pull the hubs and look.

[Joe MacDonald]

could be your brakes rubbing as well.
did you disconnect from trailer and make sure it wasn't tow vehicle? sometimes its really hard to track down where a noise is coming from

Joe

[Donna D.]

Since you were parked in the dirt at Quartzite... maybe a rock in a tire?

[Ian-Vicki]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Since you were parked in the dirt at Quartzite... maybe a rock in a tire?

An analogue solution in a digital world. I love it.
cheers
Ian

[samcrimm]

why not just repack the bearing and ck there condition while your at it?
And with the hub off you can inspect the brakes too.
Sam

[mary and bob]

Rock in tire is a good idea, stone in hubcap used to be a problem, more so when cars actually had metal hubcaps. My first thought was a CV joint starting to go bad as they will make click noise, first noticeable when turning, but you say it didn't do it when not pulling the trailer so that rules out that idea. Jacking up a trailer wheel and spinning it should determine if that's where the problem is. If you could hear a bearing noise, it's serious.

[MCDenny]

Bearings that are failing don't get better. If the click was gone when you got home I bet it was a stone in your tire too.

[Steve Hammel]

I suppose "click click click" was to non-descriptive. It was a definite mechanical noise but I don't really know what a bad bearing sounds like. I bet one that totally failed would make an awful screeching sound.

[Steve Hammel]

Originally Posted by MCDenny

Bearings that are failing don't get better. If the click was gone when you got home I bet it was a stone in your tire too.

Actually didn't say that it got better, only that after I unhooked and checked the TV the sound wasn't there. Must have been the camper.

[Glenn Baglo]

I experienced the click, click, click when towing my tent trailer with a 94 Ford Explorer. The route was over a lot of big hills and I'd been driving for almost 5 hours. Drove back and forth in a parking lot after inspecting the treads. Couldn't find the source, but it sounded like a rock in the tire.
Buy the time I got to the camp ground about an hour later, it was loud enough that we attracted attention from other campers.
Next day, I took the vehicle ( no longer making noise ) to a mechanic who said that I had likely very nearly blown up my torque converter by towing in overdrive. ( a $4,000 repair ).
And, my daughter pointed out that the Ford instruction manual said not to tow in overdrive, and I should know that, since I had told her that.

Just a thought.

[MCDenny]

Failing bearings make a grinding or growling noise. Bits of metal fall out of the raceways, exactly the same mechanism the causes potholes in roads.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Since you were parked in the dirt at Quartzite... maybe a rock in a tire?

Or in a brake drum.

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

I suppose "click click click" was to non-descriptive. It was a definite mechanical noise but I don't really know what a bad bearing sounds like. I bet one that totally failed would make an awful screeching sound.

It's possible. The few bearings I've been around haven't screeched, they just welded themselves.

I repack my bearings the first trailer use of the year, every year. It only takes 15 minutes or so a wheel, and it's cheap insurance. Tip: don't even take the wheel off, just pull the dust cap, pull the cotter pin and nut, and yank the wheel/brake drum off together. Knock the rear bearing/seal out, wash them in solvent, slap some synthetic grease in, and a few new wheel seals, good to go again.

I almost broke this rule the beginning of this year with my little 4x8 trailer. At the last minute, I decided to do it. THANK GOD! There was dirt and grit in the grease, no idea how or why. I wouldn't have made it 100 miles. Lesson learned, I will never think about breaking my rule again.

[Carol H]

I had a click click come from one of my car wheels last year. Came and went and didnt happen when the brakes were on. Turned out it was new brake pads put on the car a couple of month earlier. Replaced the pads and the problem gone.

[Gr8WhtHunter]

A quick way to check if it is the bearings is to jack the wheel off the ground and push and pull on it. If there is any play in or out you have a bad bearing. Also if it is the bearing don't just replace the bearing! Even if the race looks good it is not. Stay away from the anything that says china. You can not go wrong if they say Timken on them!

[Jared J]

Timken manufactures some of their bearings in china, also.

[Daniel A.]

If it were a bearing problem it would have been hot when you touched it.
I had a problem last summer one side was to hot to touch turned out that it was the brake on one side.

When I replaced the brakes I also replaced the bearings as the dust seals were gone anyway.

[Gr8WhtHunter]

Timken does not make any of there tapered roller bearings in china. The only bearing the MFG in china are there sperical plain bearing

[Thomas G.]

China makes good stuff and bad. If they are held to a tight quality specification (think iphones), their products are fine.

[Thinh]

I suspect one of your trailer' wheel has it's nuts/bolts loose. Re-tighten them and torque as spec. The next thing is checking brakes if trailer is equipped with brakes..

[Bob Miller]

And there is always the exciting possibility of a cracked wheel, usually where the wheel center is attached to the rim.

Let us know what you found.