Wobble roller replacement?

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watson524

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Joined
Mar 24, 2008
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29669
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322
Hi all,

Our trailer is a 1986 Load Rite with 24 black wobble rollers supporting a 1987 Chap 198XL.

A bunch of the rollers are showing cracking under load so I figured it's time to start replacing them. I was thinking I'd just do them all in a non marking poly type but it might not be so easy.

They're 4-3/4" diameter, 3-1/2" width, 1-1/8" shaft, 1-1/4" bearing length. They are ribbed. Found them on an East Marine site in black (OEM) but not having much luck elsewhere. Now I know the shaft and bearing length is critical, but I'm seeing a lot of 5"D and 3"W rollers. I'd be fine with a larger diameter but I don't think I want less width. I've checked amazon.com, boatfix.com and iboats.com and ebay.com and no luck. Any ideas? Or should I just suck it up and replace only the ones if need of it with black and deal with the marks?
 
I had to replace 2 on my 1988 Load-Rite trailer. I had to get them at a dealer. There are several sizes depending on the trailer. I found wobble rollers at marine supply stores but not my size.
 
That seems to be the issue... getting them in my size. Black doesn't seem to be an issue, but it looks like the non marking "newer" ones are all in sizes that I don't have.
 
I replaced 36 rollers once and it was a miserable job. New ones were different shaft sized, (and width) and EZ Loader did not carry replacements due to the age of the trailer. Searched everywhere for the exact size and couldn't find them.
I ended up putting on a tiny bit smaller shaft sized, maybe 1/8th" on, but they wanted to twist off, scrape the hull and turn sideways. Had to leave the boat in the water, taking a rechargeable drill, make a hole in each shaft and pin each one in place, with washers on both sides.
Shortly thereafter, I sold her, but here's the takeaway: those rollers will hold up much longer than you think, even showing cracking. I watched mine for years before changing them, and probably could have gone a lot longer on them.
But if you find exact, EXACT replacements, by all means go for it.
Buzz
 
Found exact exact replacements here:
http://www.easternmarine.com/LOADRITE-Ribbed-Wobble-Roller-for-1-1/8-shaft-402601/

but the only reason I'd replace ALL of them was to go to non marking which those OEM ones aren't so maybe what I'll do is deal with the marks (they come off easily enough and except for mid season cleaning, the boat is in the water all season from May - September so marks only happen a few times a year on loading/unloading) and just replace the ones that I think look most severe in cracking.
 
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