evidently ...u all cant read instructions very well....i looked up trailer intructions....sais for bearing snugly tighten castle nut thn add cotter key...no where in instructions of bearing install does it state 90 foot pounds .........when u put wheel on with lug nuts tighten to 90 very tight ........read intructions better shisshhhh

 

Um this thread is a few years old.......

 

I bought one of them cheapos back in 2000 and dragged it around for years without problem actually sold it to my buddy and he still uses it to haul his atv around up north with. deffinatly not heavy duty but did the job.

 

I've put thousands of miles on my HF 4x8 trailer, all without any problems. I did purchase the 12" wheel/tire trailer.

BTW, Sears will be selling their Craftsman 3/8" & 1/2" drive click type torque wrenches for $40 on "Black Friday" Nov27th. Unfortunately, Sears no longer sells a 1/4" drive torque wrench--had to buy it HF.

 

I bought their little atv trailer for 199.00 and repacked the bearing
before I took it out works great and have turned down offers to
people wanting to buy pretty nice little trailer!

 

I have a 4x8 folding trailer from Northern Tool (with the 12" wheels). I got it on sale for like $375 (with free shipping, if I'm not mistaken) and it's been great. When I put it together, I used all better grade hardware (with lock washers) and I re-packed the wheel bearings with Amsoil high-temp synthetic grease. I towed my quad 1,200 miles r/t three weeks ago......doing 75+ mph most of the time...and the trailer was rock solid. I checked the hubs a few times and they never got hot.

 

I have said this before, and I'll say it again.... please do not take any offense... But anyone buying a trailer, whether it is new or used, should grease the wheel bearings before you pull the trailer. Chances are, they need it. Even the new ones. Used ones may have sat there for years too.
As for cheap trailers... I don't get it. People spend a lot of money for their quad, then look for the cheapest trailer they can find. What does that say about your investment?

I for one can't afford to replace my ATV's, so get a decent trailer the first time and not worry about it. Also, but bigger than what you need today if you can afford it. No matter how big I have bought, I always seem to need something bigger in a year or two.

 

dragginbutt i agree 100% with you. i dropped $9000 for my atv i will not trust a trailer with a mesh floor or that folds up for storage. i bought a 5x8 sure-trac trailer off of a friend for $750 that had 60 miles on it. the trailer was $1200 new and all it needed was to have a wood treater put on the floor. i wanted a 5x10 but couldn't pass up on this deal.

 

Ayup. I have been telling people for years that I don't care what anyone tells you or what you paid for it, you need to grease the wheel bearings on any trailer you buy before you pull it anywhere.

You seem to have learned the hard way. The really sad thing is replacement wheels/tires/hubs etc, will cost more than the trailer did originally.

Please do not take this the wrong way, but after spending a lot of money for an ATV, does it make sense to go cheap on the trailer? Just be thankful your ATV wasn't on board.

I can't blame the manufacturer in this case. You should have known better. Sorry. I wish you had not had this problem, but I have to say, everyone who has come on this website and said they had bought one of these has had the same issue. Either that, or because it is a bolt together trailer, it rattles apart when on the road.

Get yourself a welded trailer with ez-lube wheel bearings and use them religously.

 

..but I'm still reading people having similar issues and I thought I might chime in as I found this thread while searching for cotter pin sizes on the hf trailer..
All these years later and those instructions are still the same. They still have the confusing greasing steps described for the bearings and hub assemblies.

This guy did two things wrong.. He confused the lug nuts with the castle nuts on the bearings and torqued them at all. As others mentioned, they (the castle hub nuts) only need to be tight enough to stop lateral play in the wheels and allow the cotter pin to find the hole in the thread.

Mistake two is still current. The instructions say you should grease and assemble the bearings/races in the hubs, yet the hubs now come fully assembled. This has lead many to believe that the stuff in the bearings is grease and they're good to go once you take the cotter pin out of the cover.
It isn't. They aren't. It's cosmoline-a packaging rust inhibitor.
I contacted harbor freight and asked them directly. They confirmed you do need to dissassemble. It isn't grease.
You don't have to dissassemble the races. They're usually fine.. but a half dissassembly you would do if swapping out bearings.

Their method doesn't make much sense, because they're fully assembling hubs without grease. They're even installing the locking grease gasket, and while taking these off generally breaks the spring seal, you have to remove them to get the bearings out to clean and repack with real bearing grease.
When buying this kit, purchase some good grease and two new gaskets.

So not only did he torque the crown nut, he didn't have real grease in there.

This trailer is like a kit. It can be assembled well, or very badly.
Like I said, I know this thread is old, but man there is some confusing advice out there regarding these steps. I figured if I could stumble on this thread, then someone else might too..

Rob.