The grease on the trailers wheel bearings is old. I mean, OLD.
According to the random people on the interwebs, one should repack the bearings every year or so. Repacking in this context means removing the bearings, cleaning them, the axle and the housing, packing bearing grease into everything, and reassembling.
The grease needed is a NLGI #2 (Rated GC-LB). The one I have my eye on is Lucas “Red ‘n’ Tacky”, which has the viscosity of peanut butter. But red.
The brake cleaner is the standard stuff.
Ever shot brake cleaner in your eye? No? Trust me, you better be wearing safety goggles, even if you think you’re “careful”. I didn’t wear goggles once and thank goodness I acted quickly to irrigate my eye while getting a ride to the emergency room.
In order to get the nut off the first wheel, I had to remove the cotter pin. Despite my best effort, I couldn’t straighten it out enough to pull. Normally, I’d wrench it out and replace the pin, but I didn’t have a replacement handy.
Instead, I shoved a dollop of grease in the outer bearing and hoped for the best. We took surface streets, so we never went above 40 mph. If the wheels had started smoking, we would’ve pulled over and figured something out, but fortunately it didn’t come to that.