business idea for BITOGER- mobile trailer wheel bearing repacking

[GON]

A few weeks ago I repacked the wheel bearings on a horse trailer. I could not find anyone local who wanted the job. I was under a time crunch so wanted to farm it out.

The local trailer dealers were so busy they wouldn’t even bother talking to me when I went to their locations in person.

Why not a mobile trailer wheel bearing repack service? Charge for the seals (nice markup- big box auto parts average 400 percent markup over the exact same seal on Amazon, buy the grease in bulk and charge for that, etc.

Set you own hours, not a lot of tools or inventory needed except a large volume of seals.

Don’t replace bearings, no races, explain that before accepting a job.

I think people would go crazy for this service. No hauling the trailer to a shop, dropping it off, picking it up.

 

[ClutchDisc]

I’m repacking my travel trailer bearings. Easy job except for finding the right size bearing seals.

 

[GON]

I’m repacking my travel trailer bearings. Easy job except for finding the right size bearing seals.

Forgot to add dust covers and cotter pins.

Tractor Supply charges over $25 USD for a set of dust covers that sell on Amazon for under $5 USD. Home Depot sells a pair of stainless steel cotter pins for $3.99 USD IIRC, likely wholesale on ss cotter pins is well under $.50 per pin.

Simple stuff to stock.

 

[shortyb]

Do you think there would be consistent business to support full-time? Or even substantial part-time?

Thought the same for the mobile lawn mower blade sharpening gig I started a couple years ago. Investment was low, battery angle grinder, blade jig, small socket set, and portable workbench. Beginning of the season, I'm inundated. Now? Crickets. Do have plenty of beer for the rest of the summer though .

 

[Kira]

The idea is appealing but you'd have to branch out with more than air fresheners.

I have to clean and grease the bearings on our "row boat" trailer.

There's a number on the grease seal, yes? Otherwise, how do you know which seal to buy?

Also, this trailer has not been used and has sat in a garage for 40 years. What solvent is used to clean the old stuff off?

 

[GON]

Do you think there would be consistent business to support full-time? Or even substantial part-time?

Thought the same for the mobile lawn mower blade sharpening gig I started a couple years ago. Investment was low, battery angle grinder, blade jig, small socket set, and portable workbench. Beginning of the season, I'm inundated. Now? Crickets. Do have plenty of beer for the rest of the summer though .

Yes, I speculate the mobile wheel.bearing service would get more work than they can handle.

Easy work, but dirty and moderate labor intensive because of lifting a floor jack, jack stands, etc. removing wheels can get back breaking, even trailer wheels. But lots of work is back breaking.

Heck, if things get slow have a stand at a boat ramp advertising the service, maybe even do the service why people are out fishing/ water skiing. Not that it gets any easy with wet tires.

 

[Hall]

Do you think there would be consistent business to support full-time? Or even substantial part-time?

Nope, hence why the business doesn't already exist. If there's enough demand and a market for something, someone will do it. This isn't a revolutionary idea

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I hate dealing with races.

The amount of people who just run trailers until the bearings fail spectacularly is surprising.

And if you look up on youtube how to do it, seems like every video just shows outer

 

[duck__dodgers]

Alternator rebuilding.

 

[CarbonToast]

Not a bad idea, I think you could make some money on the side. $50/hub parts included. i think alot of RV people would pay that and chock it up to "not worth their time". Meanwhile you do a double axle in 2 hours and gross $200.

 

[shortyb]

Not a bad idea, I think you could make some money on the side. $50/hub parts included. i think alot of RV people would pay that and chock it up to "not worth their time". Meanwhile you do a double axle in 2 hours and gross $200.

Don't forget the bond/insurance money when the Griswold's trailer with the bearings you repacked fishtails and takes out the van full of nuns on the highway . Bearings not attributed will matter none.

 

[bdcardinal]

I actually started getting suggested youtube videos of a guy that does this. Has a whole trailer stocked with the common parts.

 

[CarbonToast]

Don't forget the bond/insurance money when the Griswold's trailer with the bearings you repacked fishtails and takes out the van full of nuns on the highway . Bearings not attributed will matter none.

Fair point, getting sued to make side money would suck!

 

[GON]

Don't forget the bond/insurance money when the Griswold's trailer with the bearings you repacked fishtails and takes out the van full of nuns on the highway . Bearings not attributed will matter none.

Very easy to structure a business to protect the shareholders from personal liability.

Notice the word is shareholders, not owners. A person can't own a corporation. A person can own 100 percent of the shares in a corporation. That is where the protection is. If a person states, "they own the business", the corporate protection gets wiped away.

In a business like the one in this first post of this thread, the business has very few assets. A low-risk endeavor with just a few appropriate structural steps, one is a corporation, be it LLC , C, etc.

 

[shortyb]

Very easy to structure a business to protect the shareholders from personal liability.

Notice the word is shareholders, not owners. A person can't own a corporation. A person can own 100 percent of the shares in a corporation. That is where the protection is. If a person states, "they own the business", the corporate protection gets wiped away.

In a business like the one in this first post of this thread, the business has very few assets. A low-risk endeavor with just a few appropriate structural steps, one is a corporation, be it LLC , C, etc.

Understood. Still, in this litigious society I rather not spend any time/money trying to defend myself from a bunch of ambulance chasers. I'll stick with folks complaining that their mower blades don't cut grass .

 

[D60]

Not a bad idea @GON. There's really only ~3 common seals. The 2000-3500 is the 1719, and then 5200-7000 is another. Then there might be smaller seals on tiny utility trailers?

For zerk-equipped you're supposed to run single lip and then DL (double lip) for non-greaseable. So you might have to carry two variations of the common seals.

With some quality drifts, a nice BFH and some good blocks of wood you could absolutely drive races.

Personally I'd carry an arbor press or maybe some threaded press plates to install seals square and flush.

You could also stock wheel studs and lugnuts as some are bound to be damaged or missing.

And you're absolutely correct about TSC soaking you on inexpensive parts like dust caps. Even wheel seals at O'Reilly are stupid. You can buy a 10 pack of 1719s on ebay for dirt cheap....and honestly for anything that's not a boat trailer I figure any old seal is fine. Here's a 10 pack for $20
https://www.ebay.com/itm/123261396014