Good for another 50 years- fixing the old wood hauler!

Dad has this old two wheel 4x8 trailer. While up at the home place, I noted one wheel was very loose on the hub. Dad had a local guy put a new floor and some short sides on it, and replace one of the old bias ply tires that had been on it as long as I can recall, but he did nothing about the bearing.

Yep, it was what we call "Shot".  The grease long gone, the outer race split.

Of course, there are no grease caps.  Now dad got this trailer in 1964, when he and mom and my two oldest sibs were moving from California to Minnesota, where dad was from. The rig had been in a grass fire, and was of unknown lineage. Dad got it free, put new tires on it and some lights, built a box and it hauled the family across the country. Used from '64 to '73 when we landed after a few moves in the Gopher state to the 40 they reside at today.

At some point, it became an "off road" trailer. It's last recalled road use was hauling a hog a short distance to the butcher in about 1982 when it had higher sides on it, with a Dodge colt hatchback on a bumper hitch.

Around the same time frame, I extended the hitch and got rid of the ball, putting the standard farm wagon deal so you drop a pin in. Used to pieces of 2" angle to form a box, at least one snowmobile leaf spring, and I think parts from a plow all done up with a Forney stick welder.

Dad and I figured this has hauled about 200 cords of wood in it's lifetime, lots of loads of field rock, sand and gravel for cement when the houses were built, and more than a few sheep and calves depending on what sides etc were on it.

 
  Back to the bearings! I pulled the bad one, took it to the local NAPA, and with a magnifying glass we found a Timken number on it, and matched it up. Now, sure, I would normally change all four bearings, the two on each side. But at 21 bucks each, and considering this will never be towed over five MPH I felt just doing the bad one would do for the next 49 years. :)

So home I went, cleaned out the hub and spindle with gasoline, packed the new bearing and the old with fresh grease, and put it together. Could not find grease caps to fit it either, but it hasn't had any in years. So why spoil it?