Solution for Trailer Hub Replacement When Hub Uses Non Standard Bearings

Published 06/18/2015

Question:

I have inherited a travel trailer rebuilt by my father-in-law it was originally built in 1972, and has Hadco brake drums and electric brakes, all of which are now obsolete, according to Hadco. The brakes are of a configuration I have never seen before, and they are in poor condition. It appears that my best path is to buy new backing place / electric brake assemblies and new hub assemblies, but due to my ignorance of trailer brakes I am contacting you for help. The Hadco drums are 10inch with an L68149 inner bearing and an LM12749 outer bearing. I dont know if that is enough to search for a replacement, because I did not have calipers with me the trailer is on my desert wasteland 75 miles away to measure the distance between the inner and outer bearings. Is it possible that there are standard bearing spacings for 10inch drums? That might be too much to hope.... Presuming that drums are available, what restrictions are there on which electric brake backing place assemblies will work with them? i.e. are they fairly interchangeable? I measured the spacing of the four bolts which secure the backing plate, but I dont have it at hand as I write this I want to say 2 7/8inch but Im not sure - I will measure it tomorrow when I unload the truck. I have this sinking feeling that I may be dealing with an incompatible mess I hope you can provide some guidance and maybe even some good news.

asked by: Thomas W

Expert Reply:

Your outer bearing, LM12749, is not a trailer bearing that we carry at this time. I checked online and found that the outer bearing you need will have a 0.8656 inch inside diameter for your spindle.

Because of that we aren't going to be able to provide you with a solution that will fit your current axles. The spindle you have won't fit anything we have. The best solution I can provide would be to recommend to you with new axles on your trailer. You can order them with new hub/drums and assemblies installed already so that would be your best option.

You will need to know the capacity you need, the hub face to hub face dimension, and the spring seat to seat dimension to get the right ones. We carry a few axles (see link), but if you need different dimensions you would need to custom order them at a trailer shop near you.

expert reply by: Jameson C