fatrap
Well-Known Member
Once again my Tracker product has let me down. I'm starting to sound like a broken record. Arriving at the boat ramp Sunday in a cloud of smoke. Port side bearing failed catastrophically. Apparently having bearings serviced annually doesn't exempt me from equipment failure. Second short trip of the year and bam. The good side of the story is the "Ranger at the park said I could leave it with him at his office and he'd call a mechanic to come out and take a look. What's weird is I stopped for a piss stop fifty miles from the ramp and instinctively I put my hands on each hub before getting back in the truck. Nice and cool.
Now for my question. Can drum breaks fail in a way that they'd build friction in the hub melting out the grease? I've had several buddies tell me I should have disc brakes installed and that drum brakes are bad. My brakes kind of make a popping noise when I'm stopping. I checked and seen nothing wrong with them. At first I thought that it was the swing tongue. It failed last fall and needed welding.(the list of bad $#it is now on its third page.) But welding the tongue didn't stop the popping crunching sound. Like metal on metal.
Question two. I quenched the spindle and hub with water. I was afraid a slow cool down would anneal the metal making it soft. Good Idea or bad?
This ominous late start of the season follows last year's disastrous electrical short that left me without a boat from April to Sept. Finally took it to a non tracker boat dealer and they found it in three hours.
I almost traded for a Ranger 1880 last Winter but talked myself out of it as I'm retired and don't have the income for a big boat payment.
Thoughts on what path I should follow would be appreciated. New axle/spindles with disc brakes????
Mike Grandick
Now for my question. Can drum breaks fail in a way that they'd build friction in the hub melting out the grease? I've had several buddies tell me I should have disc brakes installed and that drum brakes are bad. My brakes kind of make a popping noise when I'm stopping. I checked and seen nothing wrong with them. At first I thought that it was the swing tongue. It failed last fall and needed welding.(the list of bad $#it is now on its third page.) But welding the tongue didn't stop the popping crunching sound. Like metal on metal.
Question two. I quenched the spindle and hub with water. I was afraid a slow cool down would anneal the metal making it soft. Good Idea or bad?
This ominous late start of the season follows last year's disastrous electrical short that left me without a boat from April to Sept. Finally took it to a non tracker boat dealer and they found it in three hours.
I almost traded for a Ranger 1880 last Winter but talked myself out of it as I'm retired and don't have the income for a big boat payment.
Thoughts on what path I should follow would be appreciated. New axle/spindles with disc brakes????
Mike Grandick