Have You Had A Bad Experience While Towing Your Boat?

[Misdirection]

Originally Posted by Skis

Went to Devils Lake 2 weeks ago for 4 days of walleye fishing with my 2 sons in my boat and another boat with 2 father/son combos.



Last day fishing was on a Wednesday and we were done early, so my boys unhooked the trailer from the pickup and took the pickup into town to get some ice cream. They come back and my oldest son hooks up the trailer to the pickup....



We leave Thursday morning from Devils Lake and make it all the way back to Grand Forks and I-29 to head south. We are probably in the first 2 miles of driving south, and as I am passing a semi, we hit a large bump in the road. Before I can react, the boat trailer is swerving like crazy and the front of the boat is hitting the tailgate of the pickup!!



I manage to get everything pulled off to the side of the road. I always cross the safety chains & that helped make a bad situation from becoming worse, but one of the chains was off the boat from trailer rubbing it on the concrete.



We managed to get the trailer hooked up (burned my hand on the tongue he-manning the tongue) & went to next exit. Long story short, trailered 100+ miles & the trailer was locked on top of the ball!!



Lesson learned.....dad is going to double check everything before going down the road in the future!!!

When I was about 16 or 17, my dad let me and a friend take his boat to the lake for the first time. I'm heading to pick up my friend and hit a bump and the next thing I know the trailer tongue is banging the back bumper! I had forgot the lock too! Safety chains caught the trailer. The lock was sitting right on the bumper. That's the last time I ever forgot to lock a trailer. Must be a teenager thing!

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[Husker525]

I am so glad I am not the only one with trailering issues. Trailer is 4 years old. I am religious about keeping bearing buddies greased.

2 years ago, drove 3.5 hours, noticed grease all over inside left side wheel. (Single axle trailer) Inside seal had let go. Refilled with grease, drove home, swapped out to new seal and new bearings. No scoring on axle. Last year, drove about 5 trips, saw grease inside rear wheel once again, seal had let go. Replaced seal, bearings looked good. This happened in October, parked boat in December.

Took boat out this February. Noticed grease inside left side wheel. Seal gone. Removed hub assembly, found scoring on spindle. Replaced bearings, seal, and put a speedy sleeve over gouged spindle.

May 2020, (Covid lockdown) Drove to John Martin Reservoir, got detoured down one lane dirt 2 track whooped out 4wd drive road due to road closure. Broke the right side slipper spring. Broke off the right fender. Due to covid, no springs available. Had to drive 4 hours back to house with frame on axle as everything was closed. Ordered replacement springs that were not for that trailer, as Karavan was shut down. Replaced both side springs, hardware, new aftermarket fenders, and re-adjusted everything, as axle sat 1.5" back from the original position with the new springs.

June 2020- U bolts on left side broke in half from new springs, left me on the side of I-76, 1 hour from home. Frame sitting on axle, spring held on by 1 bolt. No U bolts available that were the correct size. Trailer place technician went home, got an old one he had in his garage, I bought it, installed it on the side of the road, and off I went. Colorado State Patrol rolled up, said 'serves you right, you are only allowed to be 10 miles from your residence' and left.

July 2020- Karavan Trailers reopened, I emailed them, and they sent me updated springs and hardware, a new tire, and 2 new fenders free of charge. Not in warranty, but they wanted excellent customer service. Swapped everything back to original with new design slipper spring.

August 2020. Found left side seal blown again. Time for either a new and different size speedy sleeve or an entire new axle. Not sure where to go from here, but I cannot keep a seal in that side. Everything measures and appears to be straight, but something is definitely not right back there.

As my wife would say, it is not the destination, but the journey.............

[Mojo-NC]

Originally Posted by Husker525

I am so glad I am not the only one with trailering issues. Trailer is 4 years old. I am religious about keeping bearing buddies greased.

2 years ago, drove 3.5 hours, noticed grease all over inside left side wheel. (Single axle trailer) Inside seal had let go. Refilled with grease, drove home, swapped out to new seal and new bearings. No scoring on axle. Last year, drove about 5 trips, saw grease inside rear wheel once again, seal had let go. Replaced seal, bearings looked good. This happened in October, parked boat in December.

Took boat out this February. Noticed grease inside left side wheel. Seal gone. Removed hub assembly, found scoring on spindle. Replaced bearings, seal, and put a speedy sleeve over gouged spindle.

May 2020, (Covid lockdown) Drove to John Martin Reservoir, got detoured down one lane dirt 2 track whooped out 4wd drive road due to road closure. Broke the right side slipper spring. Broke off the right fender. Due to covid, no springs available. Had to drive 4 hours back to house with frame on axle as everything was closed. Ordered replacement springs that were not for that trailer, as Karavan was shut down. Replaced both side springs, hardware, new aftermarket fenders, and re-adjusted everything, as axle sat 1.5" back from the original position with the new springs.

June 2020- U bolts on left side broke in half from new springs, left me on the side of I-76, 1 hour from home. Frame sitting on axle, spring held on by 1 bolt. No U bolts available that were the correct size. Trailer place technician went home, got an old one he had in his garage, I bought it, installed it on the side of the road, and off I went. Colorado State Patrol rolled up, said 'serves you right, you are only allowed to be 10 miles from your residence' and left.

July 2020- Karavan Trailers reopened, I emailed them, and they sent me updated springs and hardware, a new tire, and 2 new fenders free of charge. Not in warranty, but they wanted excellent customer service. Swapped everything back to original with new design slipper spring.

August 2020. Found left side seal blown again. Time for either a new and different size speedy sleeve or an entire new axle. Not sure where to go from here, but I cannot keep a seal in that side. Everything measures and appears to be straight, but something is definitely not right back there.

As my wife would say, it is not the destination, but the journey.............

Husker525, I think we have a winner! I'm not aware of any 10 mile limit in my state as every boat launch that I use is at least 30 minutes to 1 hour away from my home.

Hey Bobby, on your earlier post, was that a crazy autocorrect or is there more to this story? What's a flight tire? "20+ years ago I had a flight tire.....does that count ?"

[Bobby Winds]

Originally Posted by Mojo-NC

Hey Bobby, on your earlier post, was that a crazy autocorrect or is there more to this story? What's a flight tire? "20+ years ago I had a flight tire.....does that count ?"

I must of typed flight instead of flat tire.......DUH ! ! !

[Hot Runr Guy]

Husker,
I'm not seeing where you tried replacing the hubs?

HRG

[Husker525]

Originally Posted by Hot Runr Guy

Husker,
I'm not seeing where you tried replacing the hubs?

HRG

I have entertained that very idea. I am not sure what the issue with a hub might be, except that it may not be centered correctly? I have pictures of casting numbers on the hub, but did not get too far in looking to to see what a suitable replacement might be. I also do not have a direct contact for Karavan Trailer dealers that deal in boat trailers. Karavan trailers are sold with Lowe Boats, so one would think that it may be possible to get trailer parts at a dealership. I have found that to NOT be the case. I found the only Karavan Trailer dealer in Colorado, but all they sell are small utility trailers, to pull behind ATV's. That dealer was able to give me an email address to get my springs replaced. However, the Karavan contact told me that this was a special circumstance, and referred me back to a boat dealer. I will have to go to the aftermarket world for a hub. Trailer repair facilities have told me sourcing Karavan parts through them is difficult as well.

I know that after I put on the Speedy Sleeve, I found a very minute amount of grease leaking between the sleeve and the spindle itself. I wasn't impressed with how it fit when I installed it, but the auto parts store stated that was the closest to the O.D. of the spindle and the I.D. of the inner seal. It was only off by .003, but slid right over the spindle, instead of having to be driven on.

It has been such a point of contention that I looked into buying a different brand of trailer, but that is a big hit in these economic times, and there should be a more simple option.

I did not do any justice to the spindle. I pushed it too far with a bad seal and it ended up grooving the spindle, so I take accountability for that.

[Misdirection]

I replaced the axles on a previous boat trailer. Ordered it online from the Trailer Super Store and had them shipped to my house. It was a pretty easy install. I did have to weld the spring seats into position. You might want to consider doing that.

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[Hot Runr Guy]

Originally Posted by Husker525

I have entertained that very idea. I am not sure what the issue with a hub might be, except that it may not be centered correctly? I have pictures of casting numbers on the hub, but did not get too far in looking to to see what a suitable replacement might be. I also do not have a direct contact for Karavan Trailer dealers that deal in boat trailers. Karavan trailers are sold with Lowe Boats, so one would think that it may be possible to get trailer parts at a dealership. I have found that to NOT be the case. I found the only Karavan Trailer dealer in Colorado, but all they sell are small utility trailers, to pull behind ATV's. That dealer was able to give me an email address to get my springs replaced. However, the Karavan contact told me that this was a special circumstance, and referred me back to a boat dealer. I will have to go to the aftermarket world for a hub. Trailer repair facilities have told me sourcing Karavan parts through them is difficult as well.

I know that after I put on the Speedy Sleeve, I found a very minute amount of grease leaking between the sleeve and the spindle itself. I wasn't impressed with how it fit when I installed it, but the auto parts store stated that was the closest to the O.D. of the spindle and the I.D. of the inner seal. It was only off by .003, but slid right over the spindle, instead of having to be driven on.

It has been such a point of contention that I looked into buying a different brand of trailer, but that is a big hit in these economic times, and there should be a more simple option.

I did not do any justice to the spindle. I pushed it too far with a bad seal and it ended up grooving the spindle, so I take accountability for that.

have you looked at this list, to see if they have a match? Now that you have to run a loose-fitting speedi-seal on one side, maybe it would be best to start with a fresh axle & hubs assembly?

https://www.easternmarine.com/karavan-trailer-axles

HRG

[rwl]

A kid in high school had a very lifted old Ford and was towing his small boat, I think a Baja sweet 16. He saw the boat go into the median of the highway and thought the trailer came off so he stopped quick and started backing up, but the trailer was actually still attached to the truck and he jackknifed the trailer and ran it right over. LOL Good times.

[DW]

Several hours into a 1200 mile tow, cruising at 70mph on an interstate, I felt a vibration and saw smoke and rubber flying off my right rear trailer tire. Pulled off and found the remaining parts of the tire left the wheel holding up the trailer leaving inadequate space under the axle to place a scissor jack. The flying rubber severely damaged the fender so I couldnt remove the wheel. I was helpless! Moments later an off duty state patrol man pulled up and radioed for a wrecker. A wrecker showed up, and with skill and adequate tools reformed the fender and installed my spare. Total down time was 1 hour and I was on my way.