Fit-for Purpose – getting a trailer specified correctly.
When considering a trailer purchase, selecting one that is fit for purpose is crucial. As an extension, ensuring that components are fitted that will perform to expectations is also important. Too often lower cost and sometimes non-complying parts are used on otherwise functional trailers, and in no area is this more prevalent than in axles, hubs, and their components.
The Advantages of Sealed Wheel Bearings.
Sealed unit wheel bearings, long used as a standard component in most automotive applications, are a great option for any trailer application, but offer a distinctive advantage for those in high load and high use environments, and often in commercial use where downtime is expensive, and durability and reliability are paramount.
1. High Kilometre Travel and Heavy Towing:
Designed with durability in mind, sealed wheel bearings excel when it comes to trailers that cover significant distances or frequently tow heavy loads. Compared to traditional low-cost taper roller axle designs, the Unihub sealed bearings used in Trailparts hubs have a high safety margin that withstand shock loads better and make fatigue-induced failure less likely.
2. Less Maintenance, More Value:
While sealed wheel bearings come with a higher initial cost, the long-term benefits offset this investment. Trailparts Unihub range require less maintenance, are less prone to failure, and require less servicing, offering a crucial advantage for trailers that are constantly on the move. Less time spent on maintenance means more time dedicated to productive tasks.
3. Expertly Crafted Axles and Warranty:
Traditionally, trailer components utilize parts from a mix of vehicles of years gone by, (80% of bearings used in trailers in Australasia use bearings from 1960’s Holden and Ford Falcon cars!) Introducing the Unihub range was an opportunity to engineer the whole wheel-end to carry loads safely and reliably, and to develop a system that offered superior performance and warranty.
A Success Story: Sealed Wheel Bearings Transforming Car Transporters:
T.L MacLean are a Dunedin based manufacturer of vehicle carrying transport solutions. One of their products is a trailer that can carry two vehicles behind a light truck on a WoF. These trailers travel significant distances at full 3500kg GVM, and standard procedure was to replace taper-roller bearings every 3 months to be safe. A switch to Uni-hub sealed wheel bearings has so far delivered a maintenance-free 12 months and more than 100,000km travelled – a perfect example of specifying a trailer and its components suited to the application.
Reagan's Perspective
Reagan Boakes is an ex-engineer and now Account Manager at Trailparts. He highlighted the T.L MacLean success as it reflects repeating reports of the positive impact sealed wheel bearings are having in trailers throughout NZ and AU. He highlights TL MacLean's story as a testament to the longevity and durability of Uni-hub sealed wheel bearings. Such real-world successes underline the effectiveness of these bearings in high-performance applications, and specifying those over traditional hubs with taper-roller bearings are one of the best value-for-money extras that should be added to the build sheet when ordering your trailer.
