whell bearings

[porter57]

kinda lookin for input.

after 18 years ,i finally burned up a wheel bearing on my boat trailer and

had to replace it on the road. couldnt find anything at oriellys and wound up going to bass pro. the only one they had that fit has an arrangement to use 90 wieght gear oil rather than grease. kinda keeping an oil bath there rather than pushing grease in thru bearing buddys. seems like a better deal than bearing buddys as if you follow directions,the rear bearing is always lubricated,unlike with bearing buddys where your never sure if the grease is getting back there. does anyone have any experience with these?

i dont travel a lot with my rig and im wondering if i should go ahead

and outfit the other axle with this same type hub.

another thing that caught my attention is the fact that there are two

different spindle sizes on trailers...1" and 1 1\16".

seems kinda dumb to me. a 1\16 of an inch difference?

how can that be much better one way or the other.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The job of Bearing Buddy's is to keep pressure on the grease, which keeps the air out and avoids contraction of the air pulling in water. The side effect is that if they are kept full they will reveal seal failure and keep out any foreign material.

I wouldn't want to be without some protection based on the principle of Bearing Buddy's

[RiverRunner]

Having been involved in several bearing fiascos over the years, it is my opinion that the Bearing Buddy is a major cause of bearing failure on boat trailers. It is very easy to put too much grease into the hub, thus pushing out the rear seal with a Bearing Buddy. I would say that rear seal failure is the # 1 cause of bearing failure.

IMO, the best thing to do is to inspect, repack, and replace if necessary your bearings once a year (twice if you trailer frequently like I do). Also, keep an complete extra set of bearings & races, grease, seals, cotter pins, and pliers, along with some fast orange and paper towels, in your tow vehicle. This prevents having to leave your boat on the highway to search for bearings. I put my hand on the hub everytime that I stop to feel for heat generated from bearings running with little or no grease(a friend of mine left some skin on the hub doing this). Also, check the inside of the wheel for grease, that is usually the first sign of a blown rear seal. I always use a quality brand such as Tinken, available at bearing supply houses.

My dad had the gear oil type hubs put on his bass boat, and they have worked very well. Ranger & Triton put these on all of their trailers nowadays. The only issue with them that I can see is that if your spindle has any kind of damage, they will leak very slowly. You just have to keep an eye on the oil level.

The key is, there are always signs that bearing troubles are brewing, you just have to keep an eye on things to prevent them.

[Wayne SW/MO]

They certainly can Riverrunner, but they do come with directions in English. I've used them for about 35 years and never had a problem, but you have to use them right. You pump until you see movement in the piston, and no more, and not very often.

Even with the BB its a good idea to clean and pack once a year.

[stone9-7=2]

I USE BB TO HAD TROUBLE ONCE THEN I STARTED USING BB & RED GREASE.

Ialso carry spares & tolls to change if needed, most of all any more i change

them every year needed or not.

stone.

[kelly]

I just read this post so I am sorry this reply is so late. Whatever you do as far as hardware is probably not as important as the grease you use. Try this test with your current grease. Take a good amount in your hand and put it under water (stream or bucket) then rub it with the other hand. See if it takes in water and washes away or changes color in the case of red grease. If it does that means the grease is not waterPROOF. The best thing one can do is use a true waterproof grease.

Lithium is soap and is the base for most grease. Unfortunately it just washes away.

Try a true waterproof grease like Schaeffer #238 moly grease. It simply will not wash away and it will cool down the bearing and extend it's life immensely.

Go to schaefferoil.com and use the dealer find feature.

And yes I sell it but not in your area so I will not gain anything from this reply, but you might.

Kelly

[RiverRunner]

I've had good luck with the blue Kendall grease.

[kelly]

Kendall #427 blue grease is a Lithium soap base grease, which means it will mix with water, and it also contains no Moly. Moly is absolutely the best lube available. It is magnetic so it holds to metal and takes a 525,000 lb shock load. And of course the color of grease is just that...color. It is just dye. Try the water test and tell me what you think.

Kelly