Unit Bearing for trailer axle? Why not?

[Jetboy]

I'm building a small teardrop camp trailer, but I want to make it trailing arm rather than leaf spring for adjustable height airbags.

I was going to buy a trailer axle and cut it or just a spindle/hub kit. But that got me thinking why not just use a unit bearing from the rear of a 2wd car? It should be strong enough for a light duty trailer. I can make mounting plate easy enough that will weld onto my suspension. They're dirt cheap - $40/ea. And they have sealed bearings I'll never have to mess with. Finally, if they do go bad - it's a lot easier to swap in the field than actual trailer bearings. And I don't ever need to worry about having a bad spindle in the field and having to cut the axle apart to fix it.

Seems like all the signs point toward using a unit bearing instead of a dedicated trailer axle. Why not? What am I missing?

Also what would be a source for a 6 lug pattern? I may go with 4 or 5 stud rear if I have to.

I don't have wheels/tires yet, so I'm open to any options. I kinda like the idea of some cheap bling wheels from the classifieds. This is not really an off-road trailer.

 

[ntsqd]

No reason that I can think of why not. You will need to design your trailing arms to put the bearings at the center of the tire contact patch for optimum bearing life. I'd be more inclined to use bearings for a something heavier than a car though. Quite common to see unit bearings on late model 4wd front axles. I'd use one of those.

 

[Jetboy]

I ordered two sets from Amazon Prime. One for the rear of a Highlander and one set for the front of a Chevy 1500. That way it'll either match my RX350 or my 4runner bolt pattern. I'll probably send one set back depending on how they workout for my project. Prime is handy that way. I have a CNC plasma table, so I should be able to replicate the mounting plate pretty closely. It just depends on how precise the fit is. The GM looked like it has really close tolerance where the bolts fit. Not sure why it's built that way. The toyota looks a bit easier. We'll see when I have them in my shop what works best.

Then I'll have to go find some wheels.

Hope this works...

 

[ntsqd]

Likely they both have a piloting diameter that you'll need to reproduce. Burn the center holes undersize and have someone bore a piloting step in the plates.

 

[Jetboy]

So... here's on reason why not. I ordered a set from the front of a chevy trailblazer. 6 lug chevy pattern. Price was right... got it all mocked up and s***! GM uses a DIFFERENT DAMNED 6 HOLE PATTERN ON THE TRAILBLAZER!!! They don't fit my wheels. So back to building a new set of axles.

I'm planning to just run them with an oversized center bore and match the bolt flange pattern. They won't match perfectly, but they will be on the correct plane with the flat flange face, so I'm hoping they'll run true. We'll find out.