UHaul Wheel Bearings / Hub

[Thomas G.]

Newbie here with lots of questions. When I bought my UHaul CT13 it came with an spare hub, purchased in 1992 (receipt was in the box for $75). It feels like it has a rust spot as I turn it slowly, so I'm thinking it might not be a reliable spare.

My questions:

• Can the hub be rebuilt with new sealed bearings? It appears to be swedged under the cap.

• Would I be better off just buying one or two hubs for $55 from UHaul and keeping the best one as a spare?

• What has been the failure rate for UHaul bearing, anecdotally, here

[CindyL]

We had one fail on a trip. We took it to an RV shop who sent us to a place that would have rebuilt it although we then were able to find a dealer who happened to have 2 new ones that fit still on his shelf. The place that would have repaired it said that it appeared to have been repaired badly in the first place.

CindyL

[Thomas G.]

Thanks Cindy. I decided to buy one new one, as there is free shipping over $25 and they are $55. I'll just carry the new-new one and the old-new one. That should cover me.

Interesting that you did have a failure. On the UHaul site, I could not find any documentation of a failure, though I know their archives got dumped.

[Roger Kimble]

Rims and Tires, Axles items in Johnson's Surplus store on eBay!

Check with these guys, you will like there site

[CindyL]

@Thomas - They are not supposed to have a blow-out, but one of ours did and while I was driving! Happily, nothing happened and a quick-eyed hubby caught the cock-eyed wheel. The Motel 6 let us leave our trailer there overnight (We found it next morning next to its cousin, the dual-axel Uhaul trailer.), and we found, by a miracle, a Uhaul dealer with 2 left on his shelf. Uhaul does not let dealers keep parts in stock anymore. He was gone when we first drove the 90 miles back to a larger town to find an RV place, but one last call found him in. He has been in the business for 30 years and rented all kinds of things for Uhaul but has never seen the campers. And I think your decision was a wise one.


@Roger, do remember, you can buy regular parts. The rest of us can't. Lucky you! One of my goals is to get rid of proprietary Uhaul parts.

CindyL

[Roger Kimble]

I think what they did was not changing the axle but to put new hubs on that axle

[Kevin A]

As CindyL said, we bought two new (old stock) hubs and replaced the broken one and the OK one. I carry the OK one just in case for the future. I think the reason our hub failed was because it became very overheated due to a tire blowout on the interstate. It sounded like it was filled with gravel after that overheating. I may have cooked the grease! It then fell apart about 1,500 miles later.

[Thomas G.]

Just as a follow up, I got my new hub from UHaul yesterday. It looks perfect and doesn't have the slight "catch" to it that the 1992 "new" one has. I'll carry this as a spare. I thought at $55 it was an outstanding deal. Any tips on how to store it?

UHaul also has side clearance lights for $2 or just the lenses for 75 cents. I picked up a red and an amber just because shipping was free at that point..

[goosler]

I picked up a bunch of spares from them a few months ago too, just to be on the safe side....2 new hub assemblies, 2 sets of the metal tail light housings, with the 4" tail lights, more running lights & lenses & a few new rubber door stops.....got everything for about $150 or so shipped.....

[Kevin A]

Regarding how to store your spare: I sealed our good used hub in the same plastic bag the new ones came in since it seemed to have some spray preservative in the bag that was kind of greasy feeling. I don't know if they still come the same way now, though, since our "new" one was from the dealer in Cheyenne, WY and may have been 25 years old. It certainly didn't have any tarnish on it, so the lubricant coating must have helped! We just carry it in the storage area under the rear seat of our VW Eurovan along with my tools and lug wrench.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Kevin A

Regarding how to store your spare: I sealed our good used hub in the same plastic bag the new ones came in since it seemed to have some spray preservative in the bag that was kind of greasy feeling. I don't know if they still come the same way now, though, since our "new" one was from the dealer in Cheyenne, WY and may have been 25 years old. It certainly didn't have any tarnish on it, so the lubricant coating must have helped! We just carry it in the storage area under the rear seat of our VW Eurovan along with my tools and lug wrench.

Thanks. Mine came in a cardboard box. I'm going to put it in a plastic zip bag with a container of desiccant.

[Kevin A]

It probably wouldn't hurt to spray it with WD40, too, to keep the moisture off. Maybe the desiccant would do the same thing, though.

[RICK H.]

I made a mount for my rear bumper and then mounted my spare tire to my spare hub. As you drive the tire will rotate, kinda freakes people out.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by RICK H.

I made a mount for my rear bumper and then mounted my spare tire to my spare hub. As you drive the tire will rotate, kinda freaks people out.

Good idea, I was actually thinking of doing this as well. The rotation of the tire would keep the bearings from getting a rust spot from sitting in one pace.

[RICK H.]

I didn't think of that, just saving space and messin' with passer-bys.