AL-KO wheel bearings

[Mark Halliday]

Has anyone suffered from AL-KO wheel bearings?
This bearing had done around 1000 miles in 3 years, before it gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon. Luckily no one was hit by the wheel and drum as it shot across the road. The bearing "sealed for life" and can not be re-greased, or so it seems. This was the second axel in 6 years.

[Scary Des]

is the middle of the hub broken?

[Richard B]

Mark - do a search on "AL-KO" here on RIBnet there's some other bad reports.

[Mark Halliday]

Des
Not broken - melted!
I think that the bearing seized and then as the hub detached it ground the thread off at the bottom. I could not find the cover or bearing races along the side of the road. The bearings were rumbling on the way over, 6 miles, bet when I felt them and they were not even very warm. The whole lot gave up half way home.

Richard
I shall have a search. I need an alternative.

The trailer is going to be given a good going over next Sat. New U bolts, loads of wire brushing and Galvafroid. But the weather was just too good yesterday not to go out.

[Suzuki416]

Exactly the same thing happened to me in December. Bearing seizes, then melts then the hub comes off still attacked to the wheel.

I did manage to get a bearing supplier to get some bearing savers for me but will now be checked every 3rd trip......

New hubs are £100!

[Dirk Diggler]

I always specify AL-KO for all of my trailers, and have done thousands of miles with them, but I have suffered an identical problem to you. This resulted in having to buy a complete new crossbeam with suspension units attached!

The only thing I can say in their defence is that they are designed for caravans.

I've tried Peek, Indespension and a few others, but still prefer the Al-Ko system.

[rads]

Bearing savers may be inneffective on these hubs, as bearings are "sealed" thus you will not push much grease into them. They "may" help to keep some of the water out though.

Both our trailers have sealed hubs, and we have in the past had similar failures. I now replace all the bearings as a matter of course every winter. The trailer manufacturers will not just supply a bearing, as the bearing is a press fit into the hub. However the beaings are standard automotive wheel bearings (Mk1 Golf for our indespension axles, 1800 Cavalier for our Alkos) so are easy to obtain, and easy to fit given access to a press.

Bearings work out at somewhere between £15 and £25 a throw, relatively cheap insurance for a trouble free towing season ,IMHO!

David

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally Posted by rads

1800 Cavalier for our Alkos
David

You learn new something everyday, cheers for that, have a credibility point.

[Scary Des]

Looking at the photo’s I can’t see the stub axle, is part of the hub still in place? Or is the stub really rusty? Finding alternative might be difficult because there is very little choice. There are really only two manufactures in the UK.

What annoys me is that trailer manufactures use drum breaks because they are cheap for them, once they are on the trailer the hub manufacturer have a captive market for the spares which are expensive, infact very over priced. What we really need is disc brakes which are very cheap both as original equipment and as spares. It would also be easier to get the salt of disc because they are more open.

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

What we really need is disc brakes which are very cheap both as original equipment and as spares. It would also be easier to get the salt of disc because they are more open.

You need to buy a German or American trailer then.

[Scary Des]

Rapid wer talking about doing a trailer with discs, don't know how far they got.

[rads]

As Dirk seemed to find the previous info. interesting, here is full data for our wheel bearings:

Al-Ko
Bearing Number FLT 581169 OD 72, ID 39, Length 37
Single outer race, double inner race.
This is a 1990 1.8Vauxhall Cavalier Front Wheel Bearing

Avonride (sorry, said Indespension in previous post)
Bearing Number 309726DA OD 64, ID 34, Length 37
Single outer race, double inner race.
As fitted to Mk1 Golf front wheel bearing.

Don't throw money away going to VW or Vauxhall dealers, all independent motor factors should be able to supply these considerable cheaper.

Trailer / axle manufacturers advise that the nut used to hold the hubs onto the stub axles are a one-shot device and should not be re-used.

As a data point, and NOT a recommendation, I do re-use them and have never had one loosen. The tightening torques for these nuts is high approximately 300 Nm from memory.

David

[Mike C]

I had the same problem with alko some years ago on my last boat/trailer combination. You need to spin the alko's every so often to see when they start to 'grumble'. Then they need changing. The best of mine only lasted 18 months! I also managed to find a metal shop that would press the old bearings out and re-do them with a car bearing. On mine I used a BRT680, the same as on a Bedford Van.

I now have old fashioned grease bearings on my new trailer but beware. They are not without problems! My trailer uses a Bradley axel, (as a lot do). The bearings on that went in HALF A SEASON!
The reason? They had used a non-waterproof grease and not much of it!

I rang Bradley who's comment was....."Well you shouldn't really put them in water!"

The moral..... if you do switch to a NEW trailer with grease bearings, take the hub off, clean off the useless grease and replace with a waterproof one.... (I'm using something called Renolit Aqua 2 now).... And have your bearings checked at least once a year.

Mike C

[Mark Halliday]

The trailer was made by West Mersea trailers, who, in the last couple of weeks have sold the boat trailer to Dixon Bate. I have been speaking to Gareth there and he is looking into a Bramber substitute for the beam. He has sugested that Bramber parts are cheaper and more service friendly than AL-KO, and the are what DB now use.
I shall report back as thing progress.

Des
Yes that rusty lump between the shoes is the stub axel with the inner of the inside race.

Dirk
It is a real shame that with these 1 peice axels, if one side goes you have to buy a complete beam.

There is a gert great nut on the back of the stub axel which fixes it to the trailing arm, I asume that you can buy a new stub axel/drum assy. If this is the case I will go for a spare for the new axel. This axel is toast, I would not use it again after it has poughed up a good bit of the A259.

[rads]

I've got a faxed photocopy of an exploded view of the Alko "Euro Axle. The stub axle (and rear stub nut) are listed as "not available as spares".

Also the backplates are not available as spares.

David

[Jono]

I thought that the parts on my Bramber trailer WERE Al-Ko anyay.. or am I being stupid?

[Allen]

Originally Posted by rads

The trailer manufacturers will not just supply a bearing, as the bearing is a press fit into the hub. However the beaings are standard automotive wheel bearings (Mk1 Golf for our indespension axles, 1800 Cavalier for our Alkos) so are easy to obtain, and easy to fit given access to a press.

Are you sure we're all referring to the same type of bearing? The AL-KOs I have had on trailers for some years are not a press fit in the hub. They are tapped in gently and then retained in the hub by two circlips. RM trailers will supply these bearings without hubs.

A rumbling bearing very quickly turns in to a completely failed one, and then it's a real pain to remove the remains from the axle.

Change them regularly is the only answer.

Allen

[rads]

Alko do use both sealed and non-sealed bearings. The sealed bearings, as fitted to their euro axles, are a one piece bearing containing two angular contact races arranged face to face in a one piece outer sleeve. This sleeve is a tight press fit into the hub.

They have rubber wiper seals at either end of the bearing, which are only realy intended to keep the internal lubricant in the bearing, not to keep salt water out.

The design of the bearings means relubrication of the bearings is practically impossible.

These axles are probably a good idea for caravans, but problematical in an application which suffers regular immersion.

The other style of hub has two separate taper roller bearings, and it is easier to replace these bearings, though they should be lubricated regularly (after every immersion) to try to minimise internal corrosion. Bearing savers are highly recommended with this type of bearing.

HTH

David

[Jackwabbit]

Originally Posted by Jono

I thought that the parts on my Bramber trailer WERE Al-Ko anyay.. or am I being stupid?

Well out Bramber trailer also has Al-Ko stamped on the wheel hub.
I have had my suspicions about the quality of Bramber trailers after having two wobble roller spindles break, the winch disintegrate within the first 2 months of having it, & now the handle to clamp the jockey wheel has bent & looks as if it will snap. Now I read these horror stories about these Al-Ko bearings £1500 for this pile of rubbish! I’m getting worried just a lot.
The trailer for our inflatable is a snipe, that has normal taper bearings & every year we re-pack them with grease & its still on the same bearings & winch 7 years later.

[Tim M]

I thought that the parts on my Bramber trailer WERE Al-Ko anyay.. or am I being stupid?

I think I would be right in saying that many trailer manufactuers use ALKO gear; my SBS trailer has ALKO axels, bearings etc and an ALKO hitch. The axle beam has always seemed a bit of a strange shape to me; sort of round but not quite there. Why not just use a square one?!