INVESTIGATOR 563

Bravo Ozzie.

Good to get those boat wheels going again Ozzie, solid job there.

Thanks gents . The work is done. All new everything bar the original drop axle which was sound. I have prepared a detailed post with pics but quickly here’s a link I had in my favourites. Self explanatory .

https://www.eatondetroitspring.com/lubr ... afsprings/

My mechanic concurred. He recommended maintenance above all else. I have installed gal springs of course. The cost difference was negligible. But even so he said clean everything thoroughly after use and once rust starts clean it and paint.

Anyway detailed post with pics and inventory coming up.

Ozzie wrote: ↑Fri Oct 03, 2025 11:42 pm Thanks for all the input. I have unfortunately or fortunately as in “thank god” finished much of the work prior to reading it. I used Duragal steel as I had some on hand and purchased the rest locally.

https://ausrollform.com.au/the-duragal-difference/
Though duragal may be different to hot dip I’m firmly convinced that trailer maintenance is far more important than either. Dunking steel, treated or otherwise, in salt water without proper maintenance and cleaning will ultimately lead to tears before bedtime. I say this after close to half a century of boat trailer ownership. My old tinny trailer was just untreated steel and got used regularly and usually half submerged at each retrieval. It got pressure washed after every use while waiting for the outboard to flush and repainted regularly. Results, zero rust when I sold it. I am about to fill my crossmembers with oil . I’m thinking not “pour in drain out” fishoil as mentioned. but fill them with engine oil and leave it in there. !!! Copious grease on everything else. The rest of the trailer I think I’ll paint with fish oil. 2E5D630E-63D1-45D5-B9C6-D1BA43DE60BD.jpeg

After my mate did all the welding my wife, who’s a dab hand with a paint brush put two coats of galmet grey on all welds and new Duragal. She offered to do the whole trailer but I declined, pointing out that if you go to buy a secondhand trailer and it’s all painted in opaque grey or silver you get to wondering what was “under“ the paint. At least I do. It’s obvious on my trailer what was still quite sound and original and what was repaired/replaced. Fish oil being transparent won’t look like it’s attempting to hide anything come sale time.
A868F5CD-BF85-4279-81ED-3006FD1F3F96.jpeg
It was a pleasure watching my mate, a retired boilermaker welding. Neater than the original. He uses Duragal for all his projects including his own truck bodies and trailers. Also reinforced my decision not to attempt the work myself with my green shed arc welder and near non existent welding abilities.

To each his own.

Glad the projects going well Ozzie, The Duragal looks like a great product (had a good read, from your link) and a great way to build a trailer frame without the difficulties of hot dipping a huge object. They say it's better than hot dip, due to it's alloy of 3% magnesium and 2.5% Aluminium (?with the zinc), your boiler maker mates' method is certainly far more user friendly. I will try it out on "the next" trailer build . (and also on my wylo2 steely project)

Been busier than a u.s.government redactor lately and kept meaning to post the details of my trailer refurbishment. All this stuff came from ISP motor market at Glendale. These guys predate Super creep by decades and know their crepe. I was buying bits off them for my first car in 1975. These days, they are pretty much specialists in trailer stuff. They not only knew what I wanted but had it on the shelves. And this is HT Holden stuff!!!

Also recommend a local mobile mechanic to do the work as their own guy was off sick. Total tab for parts was over $840 but why skimp if you’re going to do the job. Everything bar the drop axle was replaced. Right down to the wheel nuts.

I know Ian has listed the parts, but for future reference here’s the parts numbers on my invoice too, plus a shot of the final sum. I also have what I consider the bog standard 563 trailer which appear in many pics on this forum. Although many variations have been constructed over the years.

I’ve also photographed the packets of most of the stuff to remind me of brands if anyone needs to know.
My mechanoid was Paul McFarlane who I would also thoroughly recommend if you’re in the region. He worked flat out for three hours for very reasonable cost . It would have taken me three days. He was happy for me to watch and learn for which I asked first. PM for details.

Points of interest you learn from experts. He doesn’t endorse bearing buddies. He asked if I wanted them reinstated but suggested they always leak. After removing the old hubs he was right, definitely water in the grease. His procedure is to silicone the standard caps on and has a metal pipe of exact diameter of the outer rim of the cap to use as a drift for installation. He also does not pack the cap with grease as he said it has no real way of it entering the bearing. All seems to make perfect sense when you think about it because if there is a seal at the axle side of the bearing and if the cap is siliconed on water should be excluded.
Well now it’s now all finished. Total investment with previous work including Duragal, welding, 2nd hand wheels plus new tyres a while back , bunk replacement, and new three speed winch is now well over $2k but it will keep Spritzig II safely on the road for the next owner. Which leads me to a rather sad post………

viewtopic.php?p=10057#p10057

Thanks for all the details Ozzie, this will be very useful for anyone going down the repair route.

I went for the cheap wheels, which I'll probably regret. But one thing I did was to tape up the brake pads and inside drums and then coat the whole assembly inside and out in fish oil before putting it together.

Your work and expense on this was incredibly generous given the nature of your subsequent post.

Good call on the brakes Ian. I should have done that myself but I’ll suggest it to the new owner. I have added oil filler caps to the two rear cross members (plus drains) and pumped new engine oil into them before retrieving the boat. As is my normal procedure I retrieved at high tide and didn’t dip the bearings just used the tilt. The new three speed winch certainly improved operations for my declining spine.

As my mate, 76 often says “ this bloody old age!!! It’s not getting any better “

Thanks for the update Ozzie,

Looks like the trailer is top-notch now, and it's a good reminder for the rest of us, to do things while we still can. Reckon your boat has had a good life and is well cared for with a well documented history on this forum, the new owner will be confident to tow her long distance if needed.

I'm still on my old hubs, bearings and brakepads as well Ian. However, they don't seem to get hot, pass the wheel-wobble check when jacked up. I did pull the brakes apart for a look during the trailer re-furb years ago, pads had allot of meat left then. Think Teria's bearings were replaced at some point in the past.

The old tow-horse just had it's 160k major service, so going easy on the bean-count for awhile.