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Servicing trailer bearings
After having a Hoppy light flasher go bad a couple of weeks back, I spent
some time yesterday replacing it, and inspecting (manually and with a meter)
trailer wires. And, did all the stuff which, for three years, I said I would
do tomorrow, like make sure all trailer bolts were still torqued right,
replace the frayed strap, etc. I have Bearing Buddies, and those are checked
for grease level according to a schedule commonly known as "Didn't you just
check those an hour ago?" But, even so, I wonder.So, I consulted with an old voodoo lady, who put candles in the boat and
threw herbs all over it, made some weird sounds that frightened the
neighbors and all the animals around the yard. She asked "When did you say
you were going to the Adirondacks?" I told her "late August". She said "Heh
heh heh...your Taurus blew an oil pump on route 81 - remember? Bad mojo,
that trip!" She poked one of the hubs with her toe, and dropped stone cold
dead, right in my driveway. As long as I was bent over to get rid of the
body, I figured I'd check the hubs, and noticed somewhat more ooze around
the Bearing Buddy on the starboard side. Now I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to totally disassemble the
bearings, have them dumped in a parts cleaner, and repack or replace, based
on inspection. My otherwise excellent mechanic refuses to do the job. His
reasoning: "I'd have to charge you normal shop rates. But, it's so easy,
that when you see it done, you'll be pissed off that you paid for such an
easy thing. Do it yourself. Bring donuts and I'll run them through the parts
cleaner for you". How easy is it, really? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 17
2006
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| Sounds like the Bearing Buddy is just worn out. If it were me, I'd
clean and inspect the bearings, if all looks good, repack, put on new
Bearing Buddys. Be certain not to tighten the bearing nut. It needs to
be only tight enough so theres no slop (movement) when wiggling the
wheel. |
basskisser
Jun 18
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The key word here is "Theory". Like I said, I would never buy them, other than a dust cap, but you are
right, if they are fully maintained and used properly, they should work
fine. But so is pulling the bearings out once a season and repacking. |
MikeT
Jun 19
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| My main reason for avoiding that task is disposing of the kerosene
afterward. If I have to drive across the city to the county's disposal
center, it's 90 minutes of my business hours spent. Then, it becomes
worthwhile to have a mechanic do the work. As I mentioned earlier, he
offered to clean the bearings, but again, once I'm there, I may as well have
him do it, if I can persuade him to stop trying to save me money on
something I don't mind paying for. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 19
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| Here's one tutorial: http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=17452 You can Google for others. |
Bishoop
Jun 17
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| Why do you suppose they suggest going to a mechanic if the bearings need
replacement, but repacking the existing ones yourself is OK? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 17
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| Don't know, but it is an easy, simple job. Just go easy, remember what
went where, and you'll do fine. Is the leak coming from the front of
the hub or the rear? If the rear, there is a seal that is pressed in.
They should be replaced while you have the thing apart. It's simple
too. Just use a screwdriver to pry the old one out. Tap the new one in
with a wooden block, taking care to start it straight. |
basskisser
Jun 17
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| The seepage is coming from the outer edge Bearing Buddy's floating ring -
the part you press to determine whether there's enough grease. And, it may
be nothing, but here's the deal: If I'm staying close to home with the
trailer, it'll be nothing. If I'm travelling and a breakdown will subtract 2
days of fishing from my vacation, and make me want to climb a tower with a
rifle and start killing people, then the seepage will be an indicator of
something bad about to happen. Murphy's Law x 1000, in other words. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 17
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| If the wheel spins freely and quietly, proceed with repacking the bearings.
If you hear friction or a growling sound, you most likely have a bad bearing
or spindle. If this is the case, take the trailer to a service center to get
the bearings replaced. Maybe poorly written. My take is if the "friction or growling" is present
then the spindle may need attention. Or, maybe it's just the bearings.
"Most" people may not be able to distinguish between bearings causing the
noise or the spindle. The idea of the link was to show the process and how relatively simple it
is. They don't show bearing buddies either, that makes the process a little
different. On my trailer I installed the "Liqua-Lube" system. Works great and no more
worry about greasing bearings. http://www.liqualube.com/ |
Bishoop
Jun 17
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| I'm gonna warn you just once, pal: Come up with better answers to my
question. I'm wearing sunglasses. That spells trouble. :-) |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 17
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| Huh? |
Bishoop
Jun 17
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| >> I'm gonna warn you just once, pal: Come up with better answers to my
>> question. I'm wearing sunglasses. That spells trouble. :-) >Huh?
> Joe/Doug thinks he's really bright and witty. Unfortunately, that
"thinking" thing doesn't come naturally for him. Can you not service your own axle bearings? Really? |
Jack
Jun 18
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| considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats: |
Gene
Jun 18
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| well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats: |
Gene
Jun 18
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| Hello,
In my humble opinion, bearing buddies are useless in the fact that people
that have them figure all they have to do is put a couple pumps of grease in
them once in a while, so any moisture in the bearings ends up staying there,
pitting the bearings and races, and causing failures at the worst possible
times. Also, people that pump and pump, and pump grease into bearing buddies
blow the rear axle seal riht out of them from hydraulic pressure, then they
have open bearings to road dirt and a greasy mess. Each spring, pull your bearings, soak and repack, make sure you get all the
gas or solvent out of them that you used to soak them, fresh grease don't
like that. if the bearings are pitted, replace them and the races, they are
relatively cheap. Buy new seals, put them in, and put the thing back together, if the cap or
bearing buddy does not appear to have a tight seal, put a thin bead of
silicone on the clean mating surface to help seal them. "JoeSpareBedroom" <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote in message |
MikeT
Jun 18
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| considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats: |
Gene
Jun 18
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| I'm very careful about overfilling. When I bought the boat & trailer, I
figured I'd be in & out of the dealership quickly. Nope. The guy took a lot
of time to explain things in detail, and this was a salesman, not a service
person.* He mentioned that the Bearing Buddies move outward very slowly
after adding grease, and suggested one pump, then wait & observe the rings. *Seager Marine, Canandaigua NY. Amazing people. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jun 18
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