Dexter axle upgrade on Harborfreight Trailer.

Swap out your Harbor Freight trailer axle without drilling or welding.

[@RONSPOTZ]

Not to be a REEEEEEE, but you bought a used trailer with as you said without all the paperwork. The instructions clearly states to clean the bearings and repack with suitable bearing grease, something the previous owner probably neglected to do. The grease is for shipping purposes only. Like anything else, buying used is a gamble. I'm sure if you bought it new and read the instructions, the trailer would still be in good shape. I'm not hating on you, I believe you did a wonderful job with what you had to work with.

[@kevinloughman3953]

I've had two. The latest one is 11 or 12. Great trailers and no problems. I use twice per week. I'm replacing the fenders through HF parts. 2 fenders and 2 brackets $18.00 for all.

[@yakbassin7196]

Nice. Mine has been good to me so far.

[@chickenalleyfarm]

Just swapped mine out today thanks for the heads up on the dexter axle.

[@yakbassin7196]

For sure. Glad I could help.

[@DavidBrownSC]

Thank you for this. I have had my 40x48 trailer since 2012. I have repacked the bearings a few times, but this time I can't seem to get the dust cap to stay secure enough to keep grease from spinning out onto the wheel. I also noticed finding parts were hard. never had to replace any until now and it's been all over the place including backing into the water with it. I ordered an axle for my trailer, it's a little shorter than yours and should be here on Wed. Thank you again for this idea and seller. I will say I love my trailer it's been 1000 miles I am sure. I had the tongue replaced and extended when I first got it and now can carry two Jackson kayaks 40" and 35" side by side without issue. I have been told it is straight as an arrow behind the truck.

[@yakbassin7196]

No problem. Glad you are able to get more life out of the trailer. I was close to sending mine to the junkyard. Then I found the seller on ebay. Mine had a bad hub and harborfreight was no help with parts. Now all the parts can easily be found without having to deal with China. I would love to see how you extended your tongue. I am wanting to do it to mine considering my kayak is over 13 feet long and hangs of the back pretty far.

[@DavidBrownSC]

@@yakbassin7196 I can take a photo of the tounge. Its welded to the frame. Someone else did it. But not sure I can post a image here

[@yakbassin7196]

No worries. I was more or less curious if it was bolted or welded. I've seen a couple where they bolted them together.

[@shaufler3114]

Have never had an issue with HF trailers. I use the 1750lb ones and laod them to 1500lb and travel all over.

[@thomaspolley4977]

I had the same problem with the hubs when I bought my folding trailer in 2011. Both hubs were warped. It's like they were welded together cooked. I took just the hubs back to the store and made them open 3 other trailers to find two good hubs that were, at least, visibly straight and true. 11 years later, it's been a good trailer. I'm on my second deck, second set of tires, I've replaced the lights with led, and replaced the 1-7/8 hitch with a 2". When I replaced the deck last summer I built a little dovetail out of 1/4 inch aluminum plate from the scrap tub at work. It made it a little easier to drive my riding lawn mower up onto the trailer.

[@yakbassin7196]

Nice. These trailers are perfect candidates for modifications. I still wanna extend the tongue on mine so my kayak doesn't hang off the back. If I get another 5 to 10 years outta this thing I will be happy.

[@patw9175]

Have the same problem with mine. One of the hubs is clearly not concentric to the axle. Not sure if the bearings weren't machined right or if they actually couldn't drill a hole through the *center* of the hub but either way it's starting to have more and more play and get warmer and warmer after a drive. It's been great so far but this is definitely something I have to look at, I plan on hauling my dirt bike all over the place! Pain in the ass, probably should have just bought one of those trailers that cost around a grand from Northern Tool or Lowes or whatever, but this will work for me for now. And honestly if I do end up replacing the axle and hubs the trailer as a whole will probably last for as long as I could ever hope for it to anyway since that's the weakest link so whatever.

[@jasonbourne314]

Had mine for years, no problems. I bought the super duty version though, comes with a round axel good for 1750lbs

[@qwikz28]

Me too. This is actually my second trailer. First one I got was used and really run down but it was cheap and I didn't take care of it. This one I bought new at the beginning of the pandemic at something to keep me occupied during the lockdown and I keep finding more and more uses for it. Only thing I did was upgrade the wheels and tires to radials and eliminate the hinge and bolted the front rear halves together with the extra hardware to make it a bit more solid. I plan on extending the tongue by about a foot to make it more stable and easier to back up and adding removable walls. It's a good platform to start with and upgrade as needed.

[@FishYourHeartOut]

Yeah the 1750 has a decent axle the other two do not and are trash other then light yard work etc.

[@brianpoli5589]

Hey boss, I commented on your video yesterday I’m not sure if you see these posts but I had ordered my dexter axle from the same company last week and it finally arrived yesterday completely damaged bent in the middle and just a little bit of cardboard and packing tape it around the actual spindles, I’m not sure if this is how yours arrived, but I was expecting it to be created or at least boxed so far not a good experience with this company hopefully they’ll do the right thing. Otherwise I’ve got no choice but to just buy a brand new one from tractor supply.

[@yakbassin7196]

Sorry to hear that. My axle came undamaged but it was missing the u bolts and hardware to mount it. I called them up and the lady was really nice and shipped me the hardware free of charge.

[@ridemfast7625]

Some have welded in a piece of round tubing or boxed the original axle with flat stock to strengthen it. My concern was the tongue and attachment points that were bending and had silly little tack welds holding them. I strengthened the tongue and lengthened it. Trailer pulls a lot better, easier to back up, no rattling down the road and it is a lot stronger.

[@yakbassin7196]

I hope to lengthen my tongue as well this winter. The tac welds are definitely something I will have to keep an eye on. I would definitely be interested to see how you did your trailer.

[@ridemfast7625]

@@yakbassin7196 I posted vids. Not a welder so did it with hand tools only. The trailer no longer twists, even if I stand on a front corner and bounce. It is harder to fold up so I no longer do that. I never liked folding and rolling it even before the mods though. Partially because of the rough cracked asphalt driveway. For hauling a kayak, I think yours is fine stock. I do dump runs, haul oak firewood and mulch in mine.

[@raspucin70]

Had mine since 2010 or so. Yes its flimsy, but what do you want or $300? I had my 600 lbs bike on it for thousands of miles, couple times two sportbikes (definitively over the 1200 lbs!) and never an issue with trailer itself. But yes, I do grease the bearings regularly, and check them pretty much every gas stop. I also always kept it either in the garage or under the carport. For $300, it paid itself over and over again. But I like the option of upgrading the axle, even if I invest another $150 and gain another 10-20 years of use out of it, I'll be happy

[@yakbassin7196]

Absolutely.

[@Franksinatra96]

I have a question how were you able to load a motorcycle on it without a ramp

[@raspucin70]

@@Franksinatra96 I have a foldable HF ramp that fits under the deck. I made carrier for it toward the rear, and then I tie the front part to the spare wheel carrier part.

[@mp-xt2rg]

It's to late now but any bearing you need weather it be imperial or metric is likely in stock at a local auto parts store. Generally there is a size stamped on the side if not they can be measured at the store and looked up in the bearing catalog. Your old axle is fine it just needs $20 worth of bearings.

[@yakbassin7196]

The axle itself was fine. Turns out one of hubs was warped. New axle with brand new hubs and bearings. Problem solved.

[@jasonsinatra9457]

I think i’m going to be going with the higher weight rated folding trailer from harbor freight. It is still a bolt-together design but has a different axle on it. It comes with the cheap cheats only rated for 55mph but I will likely upgrade the wheels to something better. Also a tongue extension as this will be carrying my 17’ touring yak not a fishing set-up. I’ll be building a removable stainless steel unit strut frame to carry the kayaks on and lockable storage containers bolted to the trailer frame on the deck. Goal is for everything to be able to come off so the trailer can folded and be stored between trips. With thi set-up I would have a modular too rack where I could install J-racks to carry up to 4 kayaks with storage below or even 6 total kayak (4 on top two below) I also have a 17ft canoe so that could come along with some kayaks aswell. I Could potentially weld some connection points if I don’t believe the bolts and nuts are sufficient but I’m not practiced at it. That being said my local union has open welding at their weld lab on wednesdays in the summer and there are typically one or two guys there as instructors there that are heavily certed and can stack dimes in the most awkward positions known to man. I can probably take it up there with a pack of beer and $50 since those guys are all my buddies and they could weld that sucker up nice and rigid.

[@yakbassin7196]

Ya. I would definitely go with the 1720 lb version. The axle on the 1195 lb version sucks.

[@damiancunningham96]

Go to tractor supply for new wheels/tires way better quality also in the instructions it says to clean all the grease out of the bearings and repack them because the stuff that’s comes in them is just for corrosion resistances

[@ChronicBongitis420]

The grease that comes prepacked on these harbor freight trailers is shipping grease they even tell you to clean it out and use good grease in the instruction manual

[@yakbassin7196]

What they don't tell you is to get all the grease out you will risk damaging the bearing seal. They do not include extra seals and harborfreight does not sell them. Really stupid concept. If the bearings are such crap that they will rust while being shipped then harborfreight shouldn't be using them in their trailers.

[@seanstrickland4970]

Tractor supply. New axle, new hub lol....

[@Mr201529]

Hey man, do you happen to have a part number for that axel?

[@yakbassin7196]

vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=353676591777&category=25621&pm=1&ds=0&t=1632947442000&ver=0&cspheader=1

[@dp195]

Can you provide a link for what you bought? Which Dexter axle is it?

[@yakbassin7196]

www.ebay.com/itm/292279498868 Hope this helps. Its gone up in price since I bought mine last year.

[@dp195]

@@yakbassin7196 awesome. I ordered the wrong one just by searching eBay. I cancelled it like 10 minutes later so no harm done. Much appreciated.

[@yakbassin7196]

@@dp195 No problem. I was a little upset to hear Harborfreight has all the parts available now that I needed over a year ago. What can you do. I guess my trailer is much stronger and more reliable now.

[@dp195]

@@yakbassin7196 I've had mine for a few years and just had the lugs shear off on one hub. All 4 sheared off at once and I watched my wheel come off at 65mph. After doing a lot of digging for a new hub, I started looking at axles. I think you had the right idea to just replace it with a beefy, more standard, setup. I just wish I had done that sooner. So glad you made the video and pointed me in the right direction.

[@mp-xt2rg]

Your boat is light weight so the standard hf hubs and bearings are fine. As long as you put real grease in them and keep the hub nuts loose there good. Most people over torque the hub nuts and the bearings fail. They should be finger tight only.

[@yakbassin7196]

The HF hubs and bearings would be fine if they readily available.

[@mp-xt2rg]

@@yakbassin7196 you can get 30205 bearings pretty easily. If the hubs are greased and torqued correctly the factory bearings should last the life of the trailer.

[@ridemfast7625]

@@yakbassin7196 You can order parts from Harbor Freight. Look in the manual for phone number. I ordered parts and they were cheap with free shipping. That being said, your hubs are much better and stronger then the stock hubs.

[@gcnphilly]

Good tip! Thanks. Any thought on changing the springs when you changed the axle?

[@yakbassin7196]

I thought about it. I didn't want to put anymore money in to such a cheaply made trailer. I only haul my kayak on it so stock springs should be fine.

[@nmfishingstudios2969]

I like how you say pandemic garbage lol.

[@FishYourHeartOut]

What is the standard hub size? I have the 1720lb trailer.

[@yakbassin7196]

tventuring.com/replacement-hubs-bearings-for-harbor-freight-trail-t310.html

[@luigiprovencher]

What do you expect for a $549.99 Trailer? And you didn't even buy it new. Tractor Supply probably sells the same axle.

[@yakbassin7196]

I had hoped to be able to get my kayak to the lake. I didn't have a choice considering there were no good trailers for a reasonable price in my area back in 2020. I checked tractor supply with no luck at the time.

[@jeffreyengle2762]

Feel your pain man….

[@markgriffith1983]

I like mine

[@thatdudeonyoutube]

Can you take it on the freeway?

[@yakbassin7196]

Absolutely. The bearings and axle are fine for that. I've gone 80 mph with no problems. Just make sure the tires you are using are designed for that.

[@thatdudeonyoutube]

@@yakbassin7196 thanks man. I was thinking of getting this kayak and wasn’t sure if I can throw it on the roof rack so I’ll probably do this 🤙

[@jpcia260]

4x8 trailer? What size axle did your order?

[@yakbassin7196]

I ordered the 56.5 inch axle. The spring center to center is 46.5 inches

[@jpcia260]

@@yakbassin7196 56.5 hub face to hub face?

[@yakbassin7196]

Yes. That's correct. 56.5 inches hub face to hub face.