Shoreland'r Trailer Question - Spindle Sleeve Really Required?

[Alexegan88]

We all know that we typically insert a Shorelander spindle sleeve at the most inner part of the spindle where the grease seal sits. Most of the youtube videos I can find show this being replaced when replacing the hub and involves using red locktight to bond it to the spindle.

However, a lot of folks upgrade to galvanized or SS hubs from other brands. I noticed the typical universal hub designed for #84 spindles (1-1/16 to 1-3/8 tapper) has an inner grease seal that's inner diameter (ID) is 1.719. This is smaller than the 1.741 ID on the grease seal found on the stock Shoreland'r hubs.

This lead's me to believe that Shoreland'r accounts for the sleeve by making the inner grease seal on their hubs slightly larger (as opposed to making that portion of the spindle smaller).

So now to my question. If I am using universal hubs with the smaller inner grease seal, do I really need to replace the spindle wear sleeve? Considering the outer diameter of the sleeve is actually 1.749 I'm surprised folks are not breaking the sleeve when putting on the smaller grease seals.

 

[Alexegan88]

It seems nice and flush without sleeves, not sure they are really needed, I guess I'll monitor for grease leaking out the inner seal on the inside of the wheel or breaks. If not, replacing or re-using spindle sleeves when upgrading to hubs from another brand, may be unnecessary, no?

 

[Dixemon]

The spindle sleeve is there to be a sacrificial wear surface, in addition to being a smoother bearing surface for the seal lip to ride on. If other spindle designs do not use this method of preserving the integrity of the seal and spindle, then they must be using a material that can handle the abuse, ie polished stainless or chrome plating in these areas. Otherwise, depending on the type of water you boat in it may or may not mater as much. In salt water, if the seal lip rode on anything other than stainless it would pit and corrode to the point the seal would destroy itself in a short mater of time. IMHO, I would not run a lip seal on a spindle, without a wear sleeve, that was designed to have one. If you are in fresh water you may just get away with it for awhile, let us know how it goes.

 

[dgfreeze]

The spindle sleeve is there to be a sacrificial wear surface, in addition to being a smoother bearing surface for the seal lip to ride on. If other spindle designs do not use this method of preserving the integrity of the seal and spindle, then they must be using a material that can handle the abuse, ie polished stainless or chrome plating in these areas. Otherwise, depending on the type of water you boat in it may or may not mater as much. In salt water, if the seal lip rode on anything other than stainless it would pit and corrode to the point the seal would destroy itself in a short mater of time. IMHO, I would not run a lip seal on a spindle, without a wear sleeve, that was designed to have one. If you are in fresh water you may just get away with it for awhile, let us know how it goes.

Salt water would be my only real concern regarding the sleeves. My trailer (06 MFI) doesn’t have any sleeves, but I’m also not boating in salt water. I’ve been selling and servicing regular non marine trailers for about 25 years now, and the whole sleeve thing was totally new to me when I read about them on here a few years ago. The spindles seem to be the industry standard #84 spindles, normal for pretty much all 3,500 lb axles, and while it’s not impossible for the seal surface to develop fine lines where the seal rides, I honestly don’t recall ever having a surface actually worn out to the point of a seal not sealing. If I were the OP, I’d feel great about a regular seal on the spindle, unless I’d be in salt water. As I mentioned, salt water is a whole other ball game, and it’s something I have no experience with, not do I have any desire to. Lol, that stuff destroys everything on trailers.