Trailer Wheel Bearings
 

Just a little heads up to everyone.

My mate has a 1 year old 4 wheel trailer carrying a 25ft Campion (poor bloke obviously doesnt know better).
As he pulled his boat out of the water his wife noticed one of the wheels wobbling.
So of course he checks it out by taking the wheel off and sure enough the wheel bearings were totally stuffed.
He spent the next half an hour pulling all the wheels off and found 6 out of 8 wheel bearings were pretty much stuffed.
He left the boat and trailer parked up and went to an auto shop and purchased 8 new wheel bearings / grease / bearing puller etc.
After spending a couple of hours changing his bearings with a little help from a great mate he took it straight to the dealer.
They of course were a bit perplexed as to why the bearings on almost all wheels were stuffed. He had bearing buddies on all wheels from new.
They checked all 4 wheels for him and reimbursed him for the money he spent.

SO for the northern hemisphere blokes, when you de-winterize your boat, pull you wheels off and check or even change your bearings.

Now for the grease - there are basically two types - one is clay based (not common) and the other is mineral based.
THE TWO DO NOT MIX - if they are accidentally mixed, the grease will form tiny balls drying out and have no lubricating effect.
Clay based has a brownish tinge and mineral is usually blueish.
There are heaps of different greases on the market, just ask your local marine shop for a good one for your climate and environment.
So do yourselves a favour, spend a couple of hours and a few bucks and change your bearings each year.
Happy boating.

Didn't he have a set of 'bearing buddies' installed? They're supposed to keep the grease packed in there, block out any water entry that might cause damage and prevent premature wear.

It says the guy did have bearing buddies installed.

Even still, bearing buddies don't do a whole lot in my experience. Yeah they help, but they are no excuse for checking your wheel bearings at least once a season, if not repacking the bearings. If the seals on the back of the wheel hubs are going, water will just leak in from that side and ruin all the grease and you'll end up with a seized bearing if you don't catch it in time. Most people will just think "oh i have bearing buddies, i don't need to worry about it.

Case in point, we had a product similar to bearing buddies that the dealer installed when we bought the boat. Turns out they were just knock offs and didn't have the spring and pad inside to compress the grease against the bearing, simply just sealed caps w/ zerks to pump grease in. Well we had never check the bearings because me and my dad said "oh we have bearing buddies, it's fine." Well that bit us in the ass bringing the boat back from eastern washington at the end of last season. My dad was hauling the boat down the pass and the passenger side rear tire locked as if the surge brakes were on, except only that wheel locked. He pulled over to fiddle with the brake assembly and let everything cool. Started off again and did the same thing. Pulled over to let it cool, fiddled w/ it some more. Continued on about another mile down the road and it got so hot that the brake line going to that brake assembly melted off and blew brake fluid everywhere. The heat from the dragging tire and seized bearing caught the brake fluid on fire and the he now had a small fire in the wheel well. He pulled into my uncle's place not far down the road and he ran out w/ a fire extinguisher. Luckily the boat was not damaged, only the trailer.

End result after the entire axle was replaced was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500. Mechanic couldn't separate the hubs from the spindles on the axle as the bearing had friction welded itself to it. No choice but to replace the axle.

Moral, don't trust those bearing buddy or any other bearing covers at all. They will for sure help keep the grease in your hubs from washing out on every outing, but they sure as hell are no excuse for at the very least inspecting your bearings every season.

how did i miss the "he had bearing buddies on all wheels from new"... :shakehead:

lesson learned for me too! :wink_thumbup: that'll be one of my first jobs in the spring.

With this particular case I am suspecting one of two things.
Either the bearings that were fitted from new were cheap poor quality ones.
Or they were originally packed with clay based and then repacked with mineral.
When its happening with all the wheels virtually at the same time, thats just sooo weird.
There are two sets of bearings outer and inner, would the bearing buddies lubricate both?

I will have to ask him if he was packing the bearing buddies with heaps of grease.
I suspect not.
Thanks for that info, when I get home I will do as you suggested.
:wink_thumbup:

I see why they call you "Super Moderator"

Just inspected the bearings and brakes on the Prestige BVT tandem axle trailer. Bearings look great, the brakes are good.
The owners manual states that the "Sure Lube Protection" (similar to bearing buddies) "lets you grease or re-pack bearings without disassembly". I chose to inspect the inner and outer bearings and see for myself. I have more confidence in these bearing buddies now. Unfortunately, now I cant locate a replacement double lipped seal that goes on the inner bearing. Contacted Prestige trailer, they'll have some.
When on the road, I always ck the hubs and give 'em a shot of grease if they feel the least bit warm. So far , so good.

Prestige Trailer recommends a Lithium Based , Marine Grade grease. I used a synthetic version , $6/tube. Took several to fill up all hubs again.
Keep my fingers crossed and grease gun locked and loaded.
steve

I recently had my bearings replaced and I have bearing buddies. I don't think the mechanic put enough grease in the buddies, I have the newer type with the blue ring. Their website states that the blue ring should be sticking out beyond the chrome ring. Do I just add grease until I see the blue ring come out 1/8 inch? I tried adding a few pumps and it did not move. I have little experience with bearing buddies and do not want to overfill and blow a seal.