I just pulled the dust caps off the boat trailer, and guess what poured out but rusty water! I am really surprised the lasted through the trip to Hayward! Let this be a reminder to all to not forget to the bearings!!
or you could wait until you are pulling your boat down the road and someone is yelling at you in the other lane telling you that your trailer is smoking. that is usually a good indication that you are having bearing problems. then when you finally get pulled over, and the smoke lets up so you can see the damage. it is just easier to get a new hub or even an axle and just leave that one in the back of the truck for a little bit.
thanks
shane
Here is a solution to that problem.
I dunno about you guys, but I use bearing buddies on my trailer.. You just “fill’em up” every season and forget about it. Repack them every 5 years and you’re good.
Thoughts?
Bearing Buddies, huh?
If only it were that easy. What happens when you just pump-em full each year? Another words, where did the grease go that you pumped in there last year? Usually, it blows out the seal on the other side and sprays all over the inside of your wheel and bottom of your splash guard and boat.
I’ve used bearing buddies and my current rig came with bearing buddies as well. I remain un-impressed and learned a long time ago not to pump very much grease into them. Unless you like cleaning it off the inside of the wheel and bottom of your boat.
Also, just pumping more grease in there does nothing to remove any water that may have found its way in there from condensation over the winter. It may push some water out, but there is no guarantee that it will push any of it out much less all of it. And we all know what a little bit of water can do to wheel bearings over a years time.
In my opinion, bearing buddies or not, you still need to pull the wheel off every year, or every other year, and re-pack those bearings. The frequency with which you re-pack will probably be related to how many miles you put on your boat trailer.
This will also give you and opportunity to see if your bearings need to be replaced.
Although re-packing wheel bearings is not much fun, it sure beats the heck out of sitting on the side of the road with a locked-up wheel while on the way to one of your favorite fishing destinations. Not a fun way to start out on a trip.
JWB
JWB hit it on the head, a little reassurance that the bearings are good to go before a big trip is time and effort well spent to ease your worries. THe only thing that I did not care for on the bearing buddies was the spring loaded retainder on the front that moves in and out to compensate heat dissapation and more grease when you pump it in. There is a o-ring type seal on this front cap that sees a tremendous amount of weather and road elements (even with the dust cap on). There is something to be said about taking the time to inspect those bearings and seals and have an extra set in the truck in case of a emergency.
THe Ranger trailers have somewhat of a similair setup with a pound on cap to the hub, but this cap has a sight glass that you can see the oil (not grease) in the hub. As long as you see that the oil has not turned a milky lighter color, you are good to go. Pretty much a maintenance free as long as you do not see any issues through the sight glass.
I have personally had outstanding performance using bearing buddies on 3 different trailers. I pump just enough grease in to move the plunger every few weeks of the season. No blown seals. Been doing it for years on boat and snowmobile trailers. Last year I replaced the 6 year old bearings on my boat trailer and upon inspectin found the originals to be in very good shape. Didn’t even need replacement. Granted I don’t take as many long trips as most of you but I know the product works the way I use it.
Good tips guys, with the bearing buddies one pump of the grease gun is all you want to add (as stated in earlier post). I put many mile on during the year, here is what has kept me from sitiing on the side of the road.
Even with new bearings- on each trip I will check the hubs for heat after 25 miles. Then everytime I stop I will feel for heat. A few times during the course of the first year with the trailer tires off the ground on jack stands, shake and pull the tire to see if there is any slop. If there is sideways slop, replace or repack the bearings. After or somewhere during the second season I will replace the bearings.
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The frequency with which you re-pack will probably be related to how many miles you put on your boat trailer.
Although miles should be considered, isn’t it just as important as to how many times the bearing see the water? I drive less than a mile each way to the launch but the bearings hit the water…sometime 4 times a day.
My first trailer had buddies and I didn’t have a resource like this board. I couldn’t figure out why the grease kept coming out the inside of the tire…since I’ve read an ealier post on this…light on the grease and repack everyother year. The buddies work great for me….
Didn’t mean to be knocking the bearing buddies. They are on my current rig as stated above. I do like the plastic caps they now have to put on over them also.
Was just trying to get the point accross that they are not going to save you from doing some sort of bearing inspection.
Don Hanson stated that he checks his by raising the trailer up and checking for slop or shake. This tells him if the bearings have worn and may need to be replaced.
I believe Briank made a good point also. Water may sometimes get in from regular launching and landing.
My preference is to pull the wheel off every year and take a look at those buggers. I put alot of miles on my rig each year and have no desire what-so-ever to be stranded on the side of the road trying to fix a bearing problem instead of fishing or continuing on my way home.
Bearing Buddies are not a bad thing, but in my mind, they are not going to allow you to never re-pack another wheel bearing just by pumping in more grease.
JWB
The Liqua-Lube system is very similar to what DeeZee has on his Ranger trailer, like Steve said…….
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this cap has a sight glass that you can see the oil (not grease) in the hub. As long as you see that the oil has not turned a milky lighter color, you are good to go. Pretty much a maintenance free as long as you do not see any issues through the sight glass.
No re-packing wheel bearings every year,no messy grease to clean up, no adding grease each year, and unlike bearing buddies you do not have to worry about water in the hub as it is sealed so water can not get in the hub. No fuss no muss, all you need to do is eyeball the hub to see if you need to change the oil.
I’ve had buddies on several trailers and the liqui-lube hubs on a couple more. Between the two, I prefered the liqui-lubes for convenience of use and the clear cap allowing a quick assessment of oil level. That said, I never had a bearing related problem when using either product. 
Right on JWB!
The myth that BB’s are the silver bullet for bearings is wrong.
FYI – last weekend while driving in the fast lane of 694 a fella was pulling a trailer with trees in it. I saw two things. The first was a smoking tire and the second was bearing buddies. This doesn’t mean it was the BB’s fault…but I would bet you he felt confident that his bearings were “maintianence free”.
Steve…what’s the cost of those puppies?
Around $100
Just a little more info on the Ranger hubs….Frankie’s Livebait and Marine (Ranger dealer) takes off the o-ring that seats on the pound-on-hub. Evidently road salt and grime can create havoc on these seals and create a leak. Even though this does not happen very often they took mine the first time and replaced the o-ring with High temp RTV sealant. So far so good! I have got about 45,000 miles on that trailer and have yet to see a leak! Food for thought!
I blew a wheel bearing last year and ovaled the hub before I got it home. I had a buddie bearing on but it flew off and I didn’t realize it until of course disaster struck. My own personal lesson here was having ruined the hub it didn’t take rocket science to convince me to just carrying a extra hub. At 35 dollars with any problems on the road from here on out I will be back on the road in no time. There is no replacement for good maintenance, but the extra hub keeps me on the road
I run bearing buddies but I still repack and check my bearings every year. It is just good insurance. In Canada last year I had someone “borrow” mine. I wasn’t carrying extra dust caps and I had to make the 12 mile trek back to camp with unprotected bearings. So the lesson learned here was always have at least a spare set of dust caps in your tool kit. 
Gundy
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