Yup, cleaned and repacked the bearings right off the bat. I agree, anyone that skips that step is in for big trouble and soon.
Mine also had a bunch of welding spatter on the axle where the grease seal rides. I used wet sandpaper to make it as smooth as a baby's butt before assembly. Not sanding that spatter off probably would have resulted in a failed seal in less than a mile.
Earlier in the thread I speculated that the frames between brucey's lighter trailer and mine were the same. They aren't; mine does not fold up. The lack of that folding joint probably makes much of the difference in load capacity.
Re: bulbs: haven't wired it yet but I've read about difficulties in getting a good ground, and how one guy decided to add his own ground wires throughout the harness. I may go that route. Poor/intermittent ground could be killing your bulbs?