bearing buddy

  • TBeirl514
    Covington Indiana
    Posts: 269
    #1277744

    Ok , getting old and lazy ,thinking bearing buddy is going to be the way to go. My grease cap is 2.5/16 , cant find a bearing buddy of that size . I would think this is where the buddy would fit in the same place . It’s for a 91 ranger trailer still on the original bearings .

    mfreeman451
    Posts: 543
    #1076906

    have you considered oil-bath hubs for that? even with bearing buddies I’ve been told you still need to repack every year, my friend says his oil-bath hubs should be maintenance free for at least a few years.

    jerry b
    western WI
    Posts: 1506
    #1076908

    X2 oil bath. I put a set on 2 yrs ago and never looked back. As a precaution I dumped and replaced the gear lube in the bearings last winter. Took a total of an hour and I’ve made 2 trips to SD already this year. One nice thing about the clear caps is that you can see the oil level anytime you walk by the trailer. Knock on wood, so far, so good- -jerr

    thegun
    mn
    Posts: 1009
    #1076909

    keep looking.. the buddies are the way to go!! ya sure if you want to spend a bunch of extra cash on oil bath.. my trailer has gone over 10 years with buddies and still as tight as the day they were new!!

    Oh and ive made countless trips to canada!! one trip from MN to deadhorse alaska and back!! no problems with buddies!!

    put some grease in them time to time and you will have a trailer with little to no problems for many years!!

    Tom P.
    Whitehall Wi.
    Posts: 3518
    #1076915

    Quote:


    keep looking.. the buddies are the way to go!! ya sure if you want to spend a bunch of extra cash on oil bath.. my trailer has gone over 10 years with buddies and still as tight as the day they were new!!

    Oh and ive made countless trips to canada!! one trip from MN to deadhorse alaska and back!! no problems with buddies!!

    put some grease in them time to time and you will have a trailer with little to no problems for many years!!


    Have to agree hear, biggest issue with bearing buddies is people over fill them just enough grease to put pressure on the spring.

    KwikStik
    Trempealeau, WI
    Posts: 381
    #1076949

    Quote:


    Quote:


    keep looking.. the buddies are the way to go!! ya sure if you want to spend a bunch of extra cash on oil bath.. my trailer has gone over 10 years with buddies and still as tight as the day they were new!!

    Oh and ive made countless trips to canada!! one trip from MN to deadhorse alaska and back!! no problems with buddies!!

    put some grease in them time to time and you will have a trailer with little to no problems for many years!!


    Have to agree hear, biggest issue with bearing buddies is people over fill them just enough grease to put pressure on the spring.


    Count me as a believer. I’ve been giving them a squirt every year for 12 years and everything is fine. I do think I’ll go in for a repack on general principals, but they do seem to work for me. Hmmm. Knock on wood!

    mfreeman451
    Posts: 543
    #1076954

    I have a 2 year old karavan trailer and just had a hub blowout a few weeks ago. They had buddies and I greased them in the spring.

    Ralph Wiggum
    Maple Grove, MN
    Posts: 11764
    #1076980

    After losing one last year, I am back to dust caps. I was repacking yearly anyways.

    TheFamousGrouse
    St. Paul, MN
    Posts: 11571
    #1077016

    There is a size chart on Bearing Buddies website. To convert a model number to the hub bore in inches (or dust cap diameter), simply place a decimal point after the first digit in the model number.

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

    I’m not convinced yet that oil bath hubs are the way to go with a boat trailer. People point to the fact that they work on semi trailers, but there’s a world of difference between how semi trailers are used and how boat trailers are used. An oil bath hub system might be a good cost-is-no-object replacement for a super high mileage user, but on older boat trailers where cost IS an object, I can’t see it being worthwhile and to me the long-term reliability in boat trailer use has not been proved.

    Grouse

    jon_jordan
    St. Paul, Mn
    Posts: 10908
    #1077035

    X3 on the dust caps. BB = NO!

    -J.

    KwikStik
    Trempealeau, WI
    Posts: 381
    #1077052

    I try to be open minded on these types of things. MY bearings w/ Bearing Buddies have been fine for 12 years, but when I get the bearings repacked I’ll make sure I report what condition I found these original bearings on the trailer. I’ve read reports from people who don’t like them and also from people like me who have had good luck with them. Like most internet issues it’s best to find out for yourself.

    TheFamousGrouse
    St. Paul, MN
    Posts: 11571
    #1077066

    Quote:


    I try to be open minded on these types of things. MY bearings w/ Bearing Buddies have been fine for 12 years, but when I get the bearings repacked I’ll make sure I report what condition I found these original bearings on the trailer. I’ve read reports from people who don’t like them and also from people like me who have had good luck with them. Like most internet issues it’s best to find out for yourself.


    To me, the fact that you’ve been able to go 12 years without changing bearings is a testimony to what a combination of Bearing Buddies and proper maintenance can do to extend bearing life.

    The way I look at it, for the modest cost involved, bearing buddies are cheap insurance. If nothing else, having them encourages me to monitor the hubs and occasionally add grease, neither of which can be a bad thing.

    Most of the “objections” to Bearing Buddies are built around a flawed understanding of how they work and how bearings most often fail. Specifically on a boat trailer where the hubs are constantly exposed to water and grit and then left to sit for extended periods.

    Grouse

    suzuki
    Woodbury, Mn
    Posts: 18592
    #1077086

    BB=YES!

    stuwest
    Elmwood, WI
    Posts: 2254
    #1077415

    BBs are fine and in my opinion preferable to plain hubs. Before i got used to them i was over filing them and that causes more problems than one can imagine…
    Run properly, i’ve had no problems with them at all.
    plain hubs, i’ve had caps pop loose and the bearings empty out. running on gravel is especially tuff.

    jt_fish
    Posts: 138
    #1077454

    I love Bearing buddys. Run them or something similiar on every trailer I own.

    I have followed the last few bearing buddy threads, and it seems all of the complaints come from them coming off, just like a dust cap will, or the guys who are in there re-packing the bearings every year, maybe not getting the BBs on correctly?

    The casual users that gives the hub a couple shots of grease yearly seem to love them

    Ralph Wiggum
    Maple Grove, MN
    Posts: 11764
    #1077455

    Quote:


    I have followed the last few bearing buddy threads, and it seems all of the complaints come from them coming off, just like a dust cap will, or the guys who are in there re-packing the bearings every year, maybe not getting the BBs on correctly?


    I repack yearly, and yes, I installed them correctly. I feel much more comfortable with a dust cap coming off than a BB. Can you imagine the damage a BB would do to a car or motorcyclist following you???

    stuart
    Mn.
    Posts: 3682
    #1077546

    I like dust caps and will run a bead of silicon around them then push them on.Seals them and keeps them from coming off.

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