Airstream Wheel, Hub, and Tire Totally Destroyed Gone!

[@Matthew-ei2ou]

That’s incredible!! Thankfully your safe & no one was hurt…

[@rw7600]

Wow, rv nightmare pulling into a site to see a tire missing. Like you, I’m scratching my head on “why “ the castle nut is still on. This could have been so much worse. Glad there was minimal damage and you were Abe get it repaired. Thanks for sharing!!

[@kedrevs4037]

My wife says she wishes she had a picture of my face when I got out to disconnect.

[@bubba4072]

My goodness, I'm glad that wasn't worse. Thanks, for sharing the details of that.

[@kedrevs4037]

Thank you for the good wishes.

[@sixfivefishing1528]

Sorry about the bearing failure. In my experience, it’s better to replace rather than repack. And that includes the race too. I had this some failure on my boat trailer and I was shocked. And if I did have disc brakes, I concluded that my tire would have flown off the spindle. $100 to replace bearings in four wheel a year or two, not a bad deal comparing to the potential damage they do when they fail.

[@kedrevs4037]

Appreciate the advice, that's going to become part of standard maintenance going forward.

[@BigTex713]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple hours ago… Never touched the wheel that mine flew off and somehow my wheel and my hub is gone.

[@shekharmoona544]

I think the Dexter factory is in SC. I'm really considering one day getting a new low maintenance axle.

[@kedrevs4037]

Hmmm, I like the sound of that. Don't know why they are not like car/truck axles that don't require this type of maintenance.

[@somedayistodayrv]

I noticed you repacked the bearings. Do Dexter Nevrlube bearings need to be lubed? Looking for info on that. Thanks. Dave.

[@kedrevs4037]

I think the Nev-R-lubes are just that, but I recall hearing they had some problems, and weren't being made anymore. Can't verify that. Safe travels.

[@somedayistodayrv]

Wow, that is horrible! What did Dexter and Airstream say about this, if anything? I have a very similar rig but a couple year older. Those bearings are supposed to be good up to 100K. Thank goodness for TPMS. Thanks for sharing. Take care and safe travels. Dave.

[@kedrevs4037]

Airstream mechanics can't figure out what happened. Didn't talk with Dexter, as I am the third owner of this rig, and it was nearly 16 y.o., felt it wasn't going to fall under their umbrella. Insurance is taking care of it.

[@somedayistodayrv]

@@kedrevs4037 True, but they should maybe know about the situation, just a thought. Dave.

[@Rod-db8tt]

Looks like whoever last worked on the hub failed to put the washer on before the nut?

[@kedrevs4037]

Nope, it was definitely there.

[@MajTom-wd2yt]

Looks like the bearings failed, the wheel disappeared and you lost the signal. Was the cotter pin missing? The nut loosened, the bearings pooped the bed and you lost the wheel. Maybe a better pack job would have prevented it.

[@kedrevs4037]

I would think the same thing, except. I packed the bearings mid september. !st week of October, ?I took it 6k miles across country, no issue. Back to back 16 hour, 1000 mile days at 70-75 on the way home. Stored it until first week of December and took it less than 150 miles at 55-60. Never got a hot reading from TPMS

[@rjahn3000]

I believe most trailer tires are rated at 65 MPH maximum, wondering if you were exceeding this speed?

[@kedrevs4037]

Many are, but the Endurance that I use are rated to 87 mph. Tire Blowout wouldn't explain everything missing. This was all back road driving, never above 65 mph.

[@alphakilo9066]

Is it possible that the actual wheel structurally failed? It is the only thing I can think of as to why the castle nut is still intact.

[@kedrevs4037]

As good a theory as nay I heard, never felt any sway or wobble in the trailer.

[@calevel]

Definitely bearing failure, probably not just grease but wrong torque specs resulting in the overheating and catastrophic failure. Human error, always tight the castle nut to 50lbs the back up from 3 to 12 ( clock face) and that should be a good tolerance for the bearings.

[@kedrevs4037]

After I greased the bearings, I did a 6K mile trip in 11 days. On the way home to eastern GA, I did exactly 1k miles in back to back days going 70-75. No failure. Two months later, it failed to do 150 miles at 55-60 across SC to the coast. Maybe it was just time. Tire never read hot. Something failed, that is for certain.