Forced Laziness
Houston, we have a problem. The hub won’t slide off.
Originally posted 10/28/2012
Today, Sunday, is the kind of day that’s good for relaxing in the shade. That’s because everything around here is closed on Sunday, and nothing worked out for either the solar controllers or the blown wheel bearing.
The solar controller issue was short and sweet. BatteryMinder’s tech guy suggested a tweak to potentiometer R13. The pot is now maxed out and unless there’s a miracle tomorrow morning at sunup, I’ll be adding yet more minutes to my calling plan tally.
I was able to remove the trailer wheel and some bearing bits. The stub axle nut was frozen in place, and only some careful bashing with a hammer and screwdriver rotated it off. Lots of it had been worn from a hex nut to a round one, and I think the ground metal powder was what gummed things up. The bearing outer ring fell out, so worn thin that there is no part number left on it. Many of the little rollers, worn and deformed, tumbled 
out while I was trying to get the hub/brake drum off. No go. Feels quite loose, but it’s hanging up on something I can’t see. Ordinarily it’s the brake shoes. Doesn’t appear that way in this case. I stopped.
Looks like Coach-Net, my emergency road services insurer, is going to have to come through for me with one of their providers tomorrow as my Plan One Scenario. I was originally going to take in the blown bearing(s) and order more over a counter, but this hangup, along with the fact that the mystery-brand hub/drum, nut and washer are now garbage, makes professional intervention a more necessary way to go. Apart from some kind of weird axle dolly that I don’t know exists, I can’t see any safe way to move the trailer to a repair place. Whatever. If this were January, I’d have local RV repair businesses – of which over a dozen are listed in a town populated by just 3,700 people – crawling all over me. They’re all seasonally closed now except one, and I don’t know if they have any association with Coach-Net.
Until then, I’m honing my to-do list for that day while sitting on my vintage lawn chair, slurping a cold beer in the shade.
Strolling Amok 