Check your trailer bearings dudes.

“Hmmm, that wheel looks like it’s wobbling a bit”

That’s what I said as I was driving home from pool 2 on saturday with my 15.5 foot smoker craft on it’s POS trailer.

So, it looks like I have a wobbly wheel on the trailer. I jack it up and oh boy is there a problem. The wheel itself has probably 2-3 inches of play side to side. Not good. I do a bit of research and figures the bearings are probably in pretty bad shape. Better get my hands dirty and check it out.

I’m about as mechanically inclined as a chocolate covered strawberry, but I manage to get the cotter pin/castle nut off and pull the hub off the spindle.

I pull out the outer bearing and inspect it.

Hmmm, this doesn’t look very good, I’m going to go ahead and wager a guess that this will NOT translate to a smooth ride. Let’s take a look at the inside bearing….

Oh. Theres’s some over there.

And some more over there.

Damn. That’s not good. Oh, for good measure lets make sure part of the bearing is stuck on the spindle.

Check.

So ends your reminder to check your trailer bearings before your boat is stuck in your garage while the bite on pool 2 heats up :(.

Feel free reply with advice for me for the future. I’ll get things started:

“You’re an idiot”
“Wow, you are an oblivious nincompoop”

“Yeah, those things were probably shot 3 years ago”

etc

grease…it’s what’s for bearings….

Holy cow batman, luckily you caught it in time!

I’m glad these forums gave me enough sense last year to check the bearings on my trailer. Its one of those things that sound intimidating, at least for myself, but once you do it once its easy peasy.

Now nothing is stopping you from those eyes though!

Something in my mind said “Logan” when I saw the title.

I’m still laughing from Saturdays text bud. Misery loves company as they say.

I think you should post the video.

LOL. I’ll try.

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I’m not sure if I can embed that video file that comes straight from my phone.

It certainly adds some flavor.

Get the races out of the hub. Buy a greasegun. Bearings are pretty easy. Just don’t overtighten this type. Just google up some instructions.

I’m totally waiting for my neighbor’s trailer to do this. I think it has been 7 or 8 years and he has never looked at his bearings that I know of.

Looks like you caught it just in time. Another mile or so and the rim/tire come off going down the road. When that happened to me, (Going 70mph down hwy 94) it trashed the spindle and bent the axle, bent up the fender too. Had to get a flat bed tow to get the boat home. Ended up needing to replace the entire axle assembly. Yep, since then, I’m a trailer bearing nutcase!

-J.

Out of curiosity were there bearing buddies?

There were not bearing buddies. I inherited this boat/trailer from my father in law and I’m going to guess the bearings weren’t repacked in a loooong time. My fault for not checking them sooner.

When you get it fixed, add bearing buddies and check them regularly. At every pit stop, feel your hubs and tires for excessive heat. You shouldn’t ever have this happen again if you pay attention to your equipment.

http://www.bearingbuddy.com/how.html

I don’t trust bearing buddies. When I had packable bearings I would repack every fall when storing for winter right along with the outboard, boat pumps, etc.winterizing. Come spring you are good to go.

mxskeeter wrote:

I don’t trust bearing buddies. When I had packable bearings I would repack every fall when storing for winter right along with the outboard, boat pumps, etc.winterizing. Come spring you are good to go.

Same here. I believe a plain old dust cap does a much better job of keeping water out of the bearings.

-J.

Got the dust caps on my trailer with the rubber cap you pull off to get at the grease zirk. Another terrible product. Lets water in like crazy. Trailer came with these. Even the two replacement axles Ive put on came with these.

Guys, “grease” keeps water out of your hubs, not a dust cover or bearing buddie. Dust covers keep “dust” out… Buddies just make it easy to “see” your grease situation. They are made to make it easy, with a quick glance to see, if they have grease or not, nothing more, nothing less. They also hold about 30 pumps of the grease gun, should you throw some when your motoring along (this is normal, that’s why you have to check them) the buddies keeps fresh grease in there and always at the ready

big_g wrote:

Guys, “grease” keeps water out of your hubs, not a dust cover or bearing buddie. Dust covers keep “dust” out… Buddies just make it easy to “see” your grease situation. They are made to make it easy, with a quick glance to see, if they have grease or not, nothing more, nothing less. They also hold about 30 pumps of the grease gun, should you throw some when your motoring along (this is normal, that’s why you have to check them) the buddies keeps fresh grease in there and always at the ready

I agree and in addition, Bearing Buddies keep a small amount of positive pressure on the grease that surrounds the bearings. Over time, this pressure helps to minimize voids in the grease that can trap and hold water.

IMO there’s no downside to Bearing Buddies. It’s a belt and suspenders approach that adds an extra measure of protection on top of regular repacking and periodic bearing replacement.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

IMO there’s no downside to Bearing Buddies.

The downside is when one pops off and becomes a heavy chunk of metal bouncing along behind you. You can say that it can’t happen, but I had one come loose once. Yes, it was installed correctly and fit snugly, but it somehow came out. Thankfully, it didn’t hit anyone/anything.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
IMO there’s no downside to Bearing Buddies.

The downside is when one pops off and becomes a heavy chunk of metal bouncing along behind you. You can say that it can’t happen, but I had one come loose once. Yes, it was installed correctly and fit snugly, but it somehow came out. Thankfully, it didn’t hit anyone/anything.

The same thing could be said about entire trailer wheels bouncing along behind you. I suspect more wheels come off every year, than bearing buddy caps.

Huntindave wrote:

The same thing could be said about entire trailer wheels bouncing along behind you. I suspect more wheels come off every year, than bearing buddy caps.

Fair enough, but that has never happened to me, nor have I ever seen it happen (thankfully).

I’ve had one come off. Lucky for me it was on the ditch side of the road.

A dust cap installed with a bead of silicone around the seal will not leak any water into the hub. If the rear seal is good, water should never be an issue.

-J.

Make sure you get them full!

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more is not always better…

big_g wrote:

more is not always better…

This is very true. Pump just enough grease into the BB untill you see it move outward a little bit. Then stop. If you put too much in you will blow out the rear seal. BB need only be topped off a couple times a year. More often if you recently repacked the bearings. Only till you have purged out all the air bubbles. They work best with just a little bit of positive pressure. The grease will expand when warm from towing. Fill only when cool. If they rock back and forth when you push on the inside face there are full enough.

gizmoguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
more is not always better…

This is very true. Pump just enough grease into the BB untill you see it move outward a little bit. Then stop. If you put too much in you will blow out the rear seal. BB need only be topped off a couple times a year. More often if you recently repacked the bearings. Only till you have purged out all the air bubbles. They work best with just a little bit of positive pressure. The grease will expand when warm from towing. Fill only when cool. If they rock back and forth when you push on the inside face there are full enough.

x2

Not true. My wife says you can never use too much lube.

Maybe should check you leaf springs too. This is from last weekend.

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good post, it reminds me that I’ve got to change mine.

On a side note ……The plastic cap from the grease cartridge will fit on the bearing buddy