Trailer woes...

Yes I probably deserve SOME of this but man- I am dropping alomst 2K on Fixing my Extreme trailer. Last weekend I lost a bearing coming home from the lake- I push a lot of grease throught the Bearing buddies all of the time, but I didn't know I still needed to have the bearing re-packed every 2-3 years ( that's what I was told on Monday). So i lost the bearing, destroyed the hub and spindle, had to have the spindle re-cut/welded to the axle, and all of the bearings repacked.

Now for the fun part... As they took apart the trailer I learned that 3 of the 4 leaf springs are cracked! The lake I go to has a terrible ramp and I am betting that has a lot to do with it. So after overnighting parts from Extreme- which I will say has the WORST customer service ever- ( I called there no less than 3 times and my shop called there 3-4 times and never got a response until he said "listen, I don't know how you run a business, but not calling your customers doesn't work" and waiting on hold for 20 minutes) he finally got the stuff overnighted to repair. I hope no one ever has to go through this- so PLEASE check your bearings- and watch out for Extreme trailers if you need help. They're very well built trailers- but like I said Customer Service blows....

The trailer will be fixed tomorrow for only $ 1800!!! yikes.

That blows. I also have a Extreme trailer that I don't like.

x 3 on no extreme love.

Lots of issues on a 1 yr old trailer

x4 for Extreme... Their Customer service does suck.. I had the same experience as you trying to get ahold of them for parts and then when I did they were totally Rude and you could tell they were just trying to get me off the phone...

I have torson axles on mine so no spring problems but I did have a brake rotor completely desintegrate... Oil Bath Hubs suck as well...

There are such better bearing protectors out ther than bearing buddy. IMO bearing buddy's suck. Ther's a reasin why all RV, heavy load trailers use oil bath bearings.You should swap to oil bath. You'll knwo instantly if you haev a problem and they are much eaier to work with, and you'll never "overpack" your bearings.

X2 on the oil bath on my Boatmate, love 'em!

I actually had the opposite experience with their customer service department a couple years ago on a couple of issues. Maybe I just got lucky.

How do the oil bath bearings react to being in and out of the water so much? I have no experience with them, and the Bearing Buddies always seem to leak- so something different would be good. NuBu< i think you got lucky. I actually tried to call Extreme a few years ago about getting fenders- i had a blowout that tore the fender apart, and WOW did i inconvenience them! Plus they wanted like 3X what I was able to get a set for at Northern Tool. This really baffles me- how do businesses survive like this?

you just have to be careful with oil bath and the "set screw". Sometimes these come loose and while the trailer is sitting, the oil could have a slow leak. It's super easy to replace the oil in bath hubs: Take wheel off, turn hub till the set screw is on top, unscrew, turn hub down so the old oil comes out, then put 50 weight racing oil back in, add Orange RTV sealant on the set screw and voilaaaa. If you don't put the ATV sealant back on the set screw, it can come loose or leak sometimes.

I never had any problems with my extreme trailer on my 04 malibu. However, I now have a Mastercraft with a Sport Boat trailer and it has buddy bearings. I'm looking to switch the hubs out eventually (to oil bath). I thought I heard it's about $120 per axle, but not sure exactly.

Sorry about your extreme problems. Can it be claimed as a Lemon? Then buy a DHM or something else??

(Message edited by hawaiianstiln on July 10, 2009)

(Message edited by hawaiianstiln on July 10, 2009)

SCREW Extreme Trailers...their customer service is by far the worst of any company I have ever dealt with. I have had to replace my brake axle, acuator, brake assemblies and springs. I couldn't even get a call back from Extreme or when I did, it was always someone new who didn't really have an idea of what they were talking about. So instead, I went directly to UFP for the parts. They make everything for Extreme as well as a bunch of other trailer manufacturers. In all, I think I only spent about 600 bucks. I spoke with Lynn who is the warranty manager over there and he is a stand up guy. He answered EVERY call promptly and listened patiently to all my dumb questions...check their website: http://www.ufpnet.com I only dealt with their west coast office and I was lucky enough to be able to pick everything up so no shipping. It was a lot of work doing it myself...but it looks like I saved quite a bit of $ not paying Extreme to do it...

I would only deal with Extreme directly if it was a warranty issue that I had to take to them. Otherwise, they would never see one dime from me...

That was a couple of years ago, now with the economy he might me running a one man show with the service. He always calls me back but it is normally at the end of the day or end of the week. I really don’t like my bearing buddies either three weeks ago I was coming back from have the trailer serviced and when I got home the caps on the bearing buddies fell off and grease was all over the wheels. We had just had the seals and bearings repacked I can’t figure it out any ideas.

While we are on this topic... I had one of the Checkerplate step pads fly off the trailer.. I have looked all around my area for that specific type of Checker plate (not the normal check plate tread pattern) does anyone know where I can get some of that style.. I can cut it myself but I have looked everywhere..

Thanks for the tip on UFPnet- I actually called there first- they refered me to a distributor in Indianapolis- which is OK, but they were out of stock on the hubs. I will keep it in mind though- I think this re-packing thing might become an annual event for me- I will NEVER and I mean NEVER go through this again. I am shocked at the number of negative comments RE Extreme- I hope they watch these boards ( like some of the boat companies do) and take note. For that matter, I hope the boat companies take note and offer other trailer options. You can't afford to have poor customer service these days- the market is way too tight to be F'ing with your customers like this.

That is an expensive lesson on bearing maintenance, but you really should take the time to learn (if you don't already know how) how to "re-pack" your bearings annually. It is very easy and inexpensive.

Trailer springs are cheaply made for the most part, if this happens again go to an aftermarket trailer shop as all of these springs are cheap and have huge mark-ups from the dealer/manuf. You just need to know the leaf count, height of the stack and distance eye to eye.

Agreed^^ If I had the luxury of time/tools/space to be able to do this at my leisure, I think I could do this- I DEFINITELY will be re-packing annually moving forward- That's Easy enough!

and I got bagged on for having my Extreme rebuilt by Shadow Trailers................

+1,000,000 for Extremes poor customer service.

Sounds like you got taken for a ride, big time.

You can buy an entire new hub with bearings packed and ready to go for $30 - $40 bucks. Unless a spindle is severely scored/damaged, it can often times be fine to use it even after a bearing race fails. Having a spindle cut/welded should not be ANYwhere close to $1800?! Considering you could have replaced not just the bearings, but also the hubs for $160 on a tandem trailer... ouch... Springs, not that big of a deal either. Springs run $25-$50 per leaf and are relatively easy to change out.

Learning to do your own maintenance on a trailer will save you big money, and it really isn't that hard (unless you start having to mess with drum brake issues). I've done springs, rockers, disc brakes, hydraulic lines, joint welds, bearings/hubs, actuators and then some on my 24 year old trailer (finding the proper 'how to's' when I need them). Not only can I work on my own trailer now, but I am also FULLY prepared if something happens on the highway. Trailers are definitely a PITA, but @ $2k it sounds like it's time to look at a new trailer rather than giving money to a company that is just ripping you off...

^^^^^^Here we go again.............

For those looking to pack on your own (per some emails I've gotten):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC47gW5AUwQ

Packing bearings is simply 'squishing grease back into the bearing race'. You can do this with your fingers or use a cheap packing tool.