M416 brakedrum breakdown

CH10

New member
Thursday night my wife and I decided El Paso on Friday to go camping somewhere in Colorado. We had some errands to run so we didn't get out of town until about 3:00.

A little background on the trailer: I purchased an M416A1 earlier this year and had it loaded up for the trip. I picked the trailer up in Houston from a collector that didn't have room for the project but it was in good shape. He told me that he had inspected and packet the bearings recently. I've now owned the trailer for 7 months and it has made the trip across Texas and have run various errands around town without any issue.

About 200 miles into our trip last night I started thinking I had a little drivetrain vibration, I couldn't hear anything but every once in a while I would hear something. Of course after hearing it I turned off the radio, listened for issues and didn't hear anything. Stopped at a rest area and checked everything out and still no obvious issues. (The drivetrain was a major concern for me as I have new front and rear axles and driveshafts within the last 1000 miles). This phantom noise continued on and off until we got to Albuquerque, now about 300 miles from home. We stopped for food and as I was driving through the parking lot heard an awful squealing noise. I got out and had my wife drive the jeep...no noise. Backed up, drove forward and still nothing. Drove a quarter mile down the road and stopped at a light and as we slowed down there was the noise again. We pulled over and tried again and finally I was able to pinpoint it to the drivers side wheel on the trailer. At this point it is about 7:30 in the evening and starting to rain.

Based on the sound I immediately suspected a bearing had failed at which point I started kicking myself. One of the few things on my list that I didn't do because we were in a hurry to leave was pull the drums and check the bearings. I looked up a part number really quick and headed to the closest Autozone hoping they would have a bearing. They had two of the inner bearings in stock and no outer bearings.

Bearing in hand and now working in the dark with my headlight on I sat in the parking lot and jumped in...bad news. The part of the brakedrum that houses the bearing race came out in pieces, some so small they were missing. Looked like I had running on just the outer bearing for a while. At this point I am scrapping the rest of the trip to Colorado and just trying to figure out how I'll get it home. I ran into Autozone and picked up some quick setting JB Weld and started to put the pieces back together. It was enough for me to set the new race in anyway.

The inner bearing was another issue on its own. The race was split and the bearing itself....it wasn't there. There was literally nothing left except the inner part of the bearing and it was half melted to the axle. Fortunately Autozone had a knockoff dremel for sale, I wasn't impressed with it but it did the job. It took an hour of cutting but I got the rest of the bearing, another 30 minutes of cleaning up the axle so that I could get the new bearing set and it was ready to re-assemble. We decided to head home last night so we could go slow and avoid the daytime traffic. 40-45 mph the whole way, we got home right around 6:00 this morning. By the time we made it home the trailer was squealing again, I just took it apart and found the JB Weld didn't hold (didn't really expect it to) but I made it home and that's all I was hoping for. Here are the pictures I just took of it, unfortunately with it raining my wife didn't want to take pictures while I was working on it so I can't show the disintegrated bearing but it was truly impressive. I work in maintenance in an industrial setting and have seen a lot but very few disappearing bearings.

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CH10

New member
This has now motivated me to start my trailer build so I pulled the tub today to get a good look at everything, only minor surface rust on the frame and almost nothing on the tub this should be easy compared to what some have had to tackle. I'm torn between just replacing the brakedrum and running the existing axle and tires or replacing the axle for something with an electric brake and using wheels/tires that match the jeep. Finances are a bit of an issue since I'm not done building the jeep so I'm thinking about staying with the stock setup unless someone has a good reason to change that maybe I haven't realized.

Forgot to mention things I wish I had brought with.

Spare bearings for the trailer, they take up minimal space I didn't really expect a failure but I guess if you knew something would fail it would always get replaced before the trip.
Chisels - I've never needed one before but they are now officially on my offroad tool list. I broke a couple of screwdrivers using them as chisels when trying to get the melted bearing off. At one point I was alternating between cutting then wailing on that bearing collar with a 3lb hammer. I tried to use my prybar but the angle made it difficult so I had to sacrifice the screwdrivers.
Dremel and extension cord - I had an inverter with for charging small electronics, it was enough to run a dremel for cutting but I still had to buy one and an extension cord.
 
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Hill Bill E.

Oath Keeper
I like the stock set up on mine. For me it has advantages.

1: The wheels are the same as my CJ (I also tow it with my XJ- so I figured I might as well leave it so it fits one of my rigs.)

2: The parking brake. If you run a RTT on the lid, having the parking brake keeps everything from wiggling around when I roll over in the sleeping bag. :elkgrin:
Plus if you end up camping on a hill, it won't roll away.


I never load the trailer heavy enough to really warrant electric brakes.

I would fix it for now, so it can be used, finish building the Jeep, then decide if you want to upgrade the axle.

This will also give you time to look, and you may find a great deal on an axle during the Jeep build!

:coffeedrink:
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
I love my electric brakes but if your current budget is a question then stay with the stock setup. It is also an easy fix that won't require extra wiring and a brake controller.
 

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