Trailers, rust & bearings

[kind_cir]

Have a boat trailer made of blue RHS steel that has never been painted and has a good coat of surface rust covering most of it inc springs and axle.

Also just pulled the wheels and found water, mud, rust, and small traces of grease.

How would you attack such a project to keep the rust at bay and keep the crap out of the bearings.

[Getout]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Strip the trailer, drill a two drain holes in every sealed section and take it to the galvanizers. Don't wasted your time with paint. It costs a fortune in time and paint to end up with an inferior coating which needs constant attention.
Gal isn't perfect but its heaps better than paint. Even my box trailer is galvanized!!
Throw away the wheel bearings and start again!

[indy]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Mate just went through this with my trailer for my 6 metre boat. What a project to say the least.

My trailer is 1988 model and for its age its not to bad but in saying that it needed alot of work. My mates and i spent alot of hours on it replacing cross sections bearing brakes discs etc etc. The worst thing was cleaning the rust of what a shit of a job.

I started the job of by getting a wire brush on the 4 " angle grinder and thats when i started finding holes everywhere and after a while was questioning wether to continue or to outlay big dollars on a new one $5300 i was quoted.
With that figure in mind we continued on fixing it up.

Bearings will cost you about $50 to $55 dollars for a pair also strongly recommend bearing buddies there not all that dear around $35 to $40 from most auto shops will keep water out and most crap because they are under pressure.

I rust convertered everything first and then i painted over that with a product called rust proof made from Septone followed by tins of cold gal provided from work. Rust converter about $20 4litres of rust proof $50 and cold gal you can get that for $12 a can or you can buy it in a tin but not real cheap.

Belco did my brakes and disks and cable assembly with front bearings which cost $650 ish if i didn't have to do this the job would have cost not much at all but can't not have brakes. I also had to buy to lengths of 2 metre box channel which cost another $100 all up my little project cost around the $1000 dollar mark and i should get quiet a few more years out of it yet but when the rust starts coming out again its days will be up.

Hope this helps you out a little

cheers pete...

[tunaticer]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Go the hot dip galv then coat it inside and out with ensis fluid you will have it for many yrs to come.

Replace the bearings, get some bearing buddies and the right submersible seals for trailer bearings. Use a waterproof bearing grease.

Jack.

[stark]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Its a must to wash with fresh water after use to get rid of the salt. I also spray with INOX after the trailer has had several dips in salt water.

Cheers
John

[shano]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

i would hot dip gal it!

[finga]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Strip it and dip it if the rust is just surface.
New bearings and galv. hubs and away you go again

[sharkymark2]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Hey how much does it cost to dip? I have heard that they sand blast first to rid any rust. Any info on this? Anybody has done it? Sharkymark.

[Sandman]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Indy,
In regards to the 2mtr box you had to buy , could you forward some info onto me , i have been wanting to replace a few parts on the trailer and they are 2 components i really want to attack, also was the box graded to take the the load eg 2ton ? For some reason i couldnt send you a pm
Mick

[Noelm]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

if the rust is bad it will need to be blasted, I had my tinny trailer done not so long ago and it cost about $200 inc blasting, but it was quite a heavy trailer (I built it) and after you get it back, cover it in oil/fishoil/tar/paint/grease or anything you can find to keep the rust at bay for a bit longer, one guy I know makes heavy duty trailers and he has a nut welded to any box sections (they must be open to gal it) then when he gets it back, he cleans out the thread, fills the section with old oil, and sticks a gal bolt in to 'plug" the hole, I guess it should help huh!

[kind_cir]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Found this stuff called Penatrol, it's a penitrating oil that seeps into all miute pin holes, pourus rust and steel. Because it draws out the moisture and air and then dries to lock out further air and water, it stops rust from occuring.
I did not even have to sand scrape or clean any rust off, as this product stops it growing. Now I just wait 24hrs for it to penitrate and dry, then I'll just hit it all with some cold galv to make it look good and to protect the penatrol coating from scratches, and this should work if u believe what's written on the can.

I will report back in about 3 months.

[indy]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Sandman there is a place on gympie rd strathpine metal recyclers which i found to be fairly cheap i got one length from them and one length from metalland and the metal recyclers were by far cheaper. I used 3mm gal box tubing which was 75mm by 40mm and 2metres long and got it for $35 dollars brand new. The other place was double. Not sure on the right thickness that should have been used but what come of the trailer was only about 2mm.

cheers pete..

[Sandman]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Thanks Pete i will look into it , i am sure it will be the same stuff i had in mind and possibly what they are selling for tripple that price at trailer parts.
If doesnt work we will both find out the hard way.
Regards Mick

[zigfreed]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Hey how much does it cost to dip? I have heard that they sand blast first to rid any rust. Any info on this? Anybody has done it? Sharkymark.

Sharkymark

HDG costs about $1 per kilo so 200kg = $200. They usually pickle it first in a tank to clean it. Would be interseting to see if a galvaniser would dip a rusty trailer in their pickle as it would probably make a big mess and stuff their chemical balance up. Dunno if it would pull the rust either, sandblasting would probably be the first treatment process.

Mick

[littlejim]

Re: Trailers, rust & bearings

Nobo,

when you do the bearings pack the ribs of the rubber (inner) seal with grease too. This seems to stop or slow down the ingress of water into the bigger bearing.