dodgy wheels!

[Rupert Bear]

Anybody had problems with wheels cracking up? I stopped after hearing a clicking noise last week and found one of the 10" wheels on my trailer had started cracks under the paint around the outside of the stud holes which had almost joined up all the way round. The noise was the disc still solidly bolted to the hub "clicking" back and forth through the rest of the hub going round cornersand and the cracks weren't really apparent from the outside of the wheel. I had to remove them to see the cracks properly.
The trailer is only 18 months old and hasn't been heavily curbed and the tyres are not damaged, the local trailer place was surprised to say the least when I showed them. They said the only time they had seen this was on heavy curbing and the tyre was usually destroyed in the process.
It could have been a lot worse it if it hadn't been noisy before it finally broke

[xpertski]

what brand of trailer was it?

[Andy Gee]

Bruce,
I've not really seen it on small trailers, however I have seen it on lorries and large twin/tri axles. Cause can either be exessive scrud....dont think thats yours, or running heavy with slack nuts . The ones I've seen have all cracked between the holes for the nuts all the way round . Out of interest are you rims of the double pressed type?? or do you perhaps inadvertantly over load her woth all you twins etc.
Andy

[Rupert Bear]

The wheels are branded CLM on a snipe trailer and are the type with two pressings welded together. They are rated to 500kgs each and the whole boat and trailer weighs less than 750kg cos its unbraked (really! I worked it out including all the additions!)
Kit isn't carried in the boat except when launching at the bottom of the hill about a mile from the house, when travelling any further than that it goes in the car and the other wheel looks OK, even with kit it would still be well under the wheel rating as never more than two sets of twins are ever carried or launched in the boat ever, any more gets loaded after launching.
The cracks aren't between the nut holes but about an inch outside with the crack travelling all the way round nearly. If it broke I would have had the whole disc still attached about an inch bigger than the nuts holding the wheel on.
Having problems with Snipe at the moment, they agreed to sell me a pair of wheels for the price of one after seeing the picture then overcharged me enough that for £9 more I could have bought two identical wheels from my local supplier, still waiting for a call back after complaining

[Scary Des]

That is classic failure mode for over loading Have you always owned the trailer are you always bumping along in the gutter Have you checked the wheel alignment Is there excesses rust between each part of the wheel Or are your scales wrong Des

[Rupert Bear]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

That is classic failure mode for over loading Have you always owned the trailer are you always bumping along in the gutter Have you checked the wheel alignment Is there excesses rust between each part of the wheel Or are your scales wrong Des

Not overloaded.
trailer only 18 months old, owned from new.
Nope no heavy bumps and tyre condition bears this out (undamaged)
Wheels have surface rust but and damage seems to be inside the paint layer.
Only one wheel affected, other is fine, any weight difference from my calculations will be minor as even spares were allowed for in the total. The axle and wheels are rated for 1000kg and I am nowhere near that especially as it is unbraked and I want to be able to stop it!

[Scary Des]

Most trailer wheels in the UK are only painted steel and rust forms easily below the paint go to Australia and you can get got dip galvanised ones
Because they are only spot welded in a few places it does allow rust to form between the surfaces that make up different parts of the wheel, but this trailer is too young for that to be an issue The wheel isn’t an old one painted up as new
Have you looked at the alignment You need to consider the alignment of the wheel to wheel not axle to trailer. Axle to trailer will sort itself out on a two wheel set up but it could be that one wheel is more toe in or out than the other Tires can be very forgiving when it comes to scrub so might not show anything unusual
Des

[Rupert Bear]

But surely if axle alignment is out both wheels would be affected as well as marks on the tyres?
Scrubbing usually leaves light scuff marks that can be seen if it is happening for long enough and other alignment problems usually leave their own evidence. Both tyres and fine and evenly worn.
When I get the new wheels I may have a look and measure the front and back rim distances but wouldn't think that was it.

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Rupert Bear

But surely if axle alignment is out both wheels would be affected as well as marks on the tyres? ......

No it could be that one trailing arm is out, this type of failure occurs because the wheel is being excessively flexed beyond the area clamped by the bolts.
Failure occurs because of poor design, materials, construction or abuse you choose I’ve suggested the lot. Des

[jwalker]

I had exactly that problem with two wheels on a six wheel trailer. The two wheels were of different design to the four which were ok. The ok wheels had a flat centre disc, the ones which failed were pressed to have four stiffening ribs but these concentrated the flexing into a narrow area and the crack developed there.

Of course, fhe flexing is greater when using multiple wheels because of the sideways dragging which occurs.

It was interesting to note that the cracked wheels actually looked to be a stronger product.