Today were going to review part number 8-173-16UC3. This is the Dexter Trailer Hub and Drum Assembly for electric brakes on a 2200 lb axle. This Dexter Trailer Hub and Drum is designed for 2000 lb trailer axles with electric brakes. The drum size is a 7-inch by 1-3/4. This will work with the part number 23-47 and part number 23-48 electric brake assemblies. This hub will only fit with the 1-1/4 inch brake shoes and will not fit with the 1-3/4 inch brake shoes.
It does have a bolt pattern of 4 on 4 inches and this hub and drum does come with the bearings which in this case would use the same inner and outer bearing which is part number L44649. It will come with the part number 10-6 degree seal. It will come with the grease cap that will go on the outer edge of your hub. And it does come with the 1/2-inch cone seat lug nuts to attach the wheel to your hub. The races are also included but they will come pressed into the hub and drum assembly.
Heres the outer race here and right there is the inner race. All of our hub and drum assemblies will come with the races preinstalled into the hubs. This hub and drum assembly has a capacity of 1100 lbs so when used with one on the other side of an axle you would have a weight capacity of 2200 lbs. I just want to give you a couple measurements. This is a 7-inch drum size so if you measure across on the inside it would be 7 inches.
And it does have a bolt pattern of 4 on 4 inches. And basically, when you have a bolt pattern thats usually an even number of bolt lugs you can just measure from the center of one stud to the center of the other to get you the 4-inch bolt pattern. In this case because the hub center stands higher than the lugs its very hard to get an actual reading. So if the other way would be just go to measure from center of this lug to the center of the lug right next to it either way and that would measure 2-3/4 inches and that will determine that this a 4 on 4-inch bolt pattern. And that should do it for our review on part number 8-173-16UC3..
Cleaning and Replacing Hubs and Bearings
First off we will go ahead and take off the dust cap. In this case it is a bearing buddy. Next is taking out the locking pin, the cotter pin that goes through the center here. Once you have that lock washer off, just go ahead and take off the nut and pull your whole hub off. Now we are going to go ahead and inspect the hub and bearings here.
Remove and Reinstall a Trailer Hub Review
First off, we will take off the hub, then take off the nut on the inside, and we will pop the whole hub off and take it to the workbench and clean it up from there. You can see there is a lot of rust in there, there is a lot of condensation. Basically water got in there through either condensation or a seal leak. We definitely need to take it apart and clean it up. This has whats called a tang washer. Instead of a regular cotter pin that goes up and down, it has a little piece of metal that goes between the notches here and you have to push this back, flat, so you can take off the nut. And the whole thing just slides off. Sometimes if it gets caught on the hub here you can beat it to get it to come loose. We will go ahead and clean this spindle off here, and then we will put our hub back on. Give it a test fit first to make sure it all slides on pretty good and then go ahead and take it back off. What is good is to take a thin layer, it doesnt have to be much just a little bit, to kind of help the parts slide on a little bit more than they used to.
Trailer Hub Inspection Demonstration
We get many many questions on how to make sure trailer hubs and brakes are safe for travel. Here Joe addresses some of those questions demonstrating how to thoroughly inspect the hubs, breaks and bearings. I know many of us take the performance of these assemblies for granted but if you are planning a long trip or just make short trips around town you should be aware of their condition. I like to say it is time well spent when it avoids break downs on the side of the highway.
