Need a quick opinion on trailer bearing repacking issue

[MatBirch]

I built a vending trailer for my wife out of a harbor freight trailer, and yes, the hub failed. I replaced the entire axle assembly fairly easily with an off the shelf unit from Tractor Supply. At the time, I did the work on it in the fairgrounds, right where she was operating just so we could get it home. Fortunately TSC is right across the street! I was not able to repack/replace the factory grease at that time. Being a Dexter unit, I figured I was ok.
The trailer only makes short runs across town a couple days a month, so I haven’t worried about it. It maybe has 300 miles on the new axle.
Now she has a great business opportunity with it next weekend, 2 hours down the freeway. I just got released from the hospital yesterday following four surgeries on my foot trying to get ahead of a nasty case of osteomyelitis. I can’t do the work. My brother in law has offered to help tomorrow. He’s pretty handy, but I also can’t get across town to get new seals. Since everything is in good condition, can we just smear some grease in the inner bearing and call it “ok”? If we pop the seal by tapping the inner race out, how do I get the inner race back in?

This does not have to be the end-all bearing repack, but I can’t have her broken down on the side of the interstate.

Thanks

 

[ezover]

Pull the wheel of and goop some grease in the center of the hub. It should get hot enough get to the bearings. You could also smear so’me on the bearings, I would have no worries doing that for one or two trips.

 

[dfiler2]

If the hubs were on the axel when you got it and they were greased, I would pop the cap off and if the grease looked good, just leave it alone.

 

[CraigStu]

If you scrape out as much of the OE grease as possible, and replace it w/ good grease, I bet you have 75% good grease. I bet that will be fine.

 

[428PI]

I thought I really needed to repack my 12 year old trailer but kept putting it off. I finally replaced the tires the other week (have my own machine now so it's easy). Tires looked ok before replacing and I spun the hubs by hand and didn't notice any rough sound so I'm going to assume they're ok for another year. I only pull it maybe 100 miles in a day getting supplies every couple months or so. The key isn't necessarily more grease but grease that can flow in the bearings. You'd be surprised how little grease there is and on a vehicle with repackable bearings not much at all either. I've gone 10 yrs and 100k on my old pickup without issues before. On cars you can pull the cap and nut, screw the nut back on and slide the hub against the nut and remove the seal without ruining it, repack it and go on your way. Not sure on a trailer bearing. The nut may be too big to do this. My recommendation, spin the hub by hand and if it's perfectly smooth, don't worry about it at this time until you can do the full job.

 

[Charlie51]

Drill a hole in the dust cap, screw a grease fitting in it and pump some grease in it. 'Sounds back alley, but it works.

 

[Firebrick43]

A lot of modern axles have a grease fitting under the cap or a rubber plug on the cap to flush the bearings. You could also get a needle attachment for your gun and stick it in the bearings cage several places and pump away.

More importantly you did replace the 8" wheels/tires with 12" ones right? 8" tires spin way to fast for freeway speeds. Keep them under 55.

https://www.amazon.com/Plews-05-037-Grease-Injector-Needle/dp/B000FMO6XU/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_263_lp_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=81JMQXEKM748P9C6ENX9

 

[APEowner]

Once you remove the outer bearing put the nut back on and slide the hub off on such a way that the inner bearing catches on it. That'll pop the seal right out. Back in the day when front wheel bearings needed to be repacked on a regular basis that's how we did them. There was no need to replace the seal every time.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Bearing Buddies... Take off the stock cap, put them on... Pump with grease as per directions... Done!

Only suggestion I would make is to take a punch and go around and punch from the inside out to make little bumps (and probably also make it a little out of round) so that it fits tight on the hub. I lost one once, after doing that with the new set never had any issues.

 

[Mick56]

Bearing Buddies...….. I used to find so many of them laying alongside the road. I would think it was a large socket, and I would stop to get it. It would always be a Bearing Buddy.

 

[RVDan]

It's only got 300 miles on it, worry about it when it has 3000

 

[619DioFan]

Bearing Buddies... Take off the stock cap, put them on... Pump with grease as per directions... Done!

Only suggestion I would make is to take a punch and go around and punch from the inside out to make little bumps (and probably also make it a little out of round) so that it fits tight on the hub. I lost one once, after doing that with the new set never had any issues.

I have the hf trailer. unfortunantely the hubs are a weird size and the bearing buddy caps are too small. even the ones sold at hf don't work. drilling the oe ones and adding grease fittings was my only option.

 

[Bretny]

He cant get across town to get seals and you guys are all saying bearing buddies.
Sir you will be fine smearing grease in there if you cant get new seals. With that being said mabe its time to start saving some money for a better trailer. 2hrs on the highway is alot for those HF trailers. Something with 13in or 15in tires is better suited for that.

 

[Worsedog]

Guys, he put a complete axle in it when the Horrible Freight one failed.

Pull the cap and if it looks good, rock and roll!

 

[sberry]

I am not sure how small those are but agree can pop the seals out. If they are truly worn out they let water in but are other wise a dust seal and along with the bearing the sooner they be greased a little the better they seal. A lot of times, if its clean as a PM where you can reach in with 2 fingers reverse pack, even pull factory grease back in without removing the seal.
Can really pack them full of new grease and give the outer one a shot in the packer. Aint no way I would trust a small trailer bearing never been serviced a good long time. If its done before it needs it aint got to clean a lot and simply push new grease thru it.

 

[WhiffySpark]

Pop the front bearing out. Thread nut back on and use it to pop the rest bearing and seal out.

Very rare to replace grease seals

 

[bpjr]

This being a dry land trailer it's probably ok with whatever grease came with the new hub. If it was a boat trailer that got dunked it would be a different deal. I've been trailering both type for decades and pack the hubs full of grease. Learned after miles of trailering and replacing bearings. I also put Bearing Buddies on every trailer.

There's no need to pull bearings or seals. Just take the wheel off and remove the hub. Pack grease in both sides until the hub is full. Slide the hub back on and the axle will push out excess grease...seems wasteful but thats what it takes to get the hub full. Both bearings will stay greased this way and gives a lot of backup grease if a rear seal is starts leaking.

If you try filling the hubs using Bearing Buddy types it will take a lot of driving/filling and more driving/filling for the grease to work back to the inner bearing. Using Bearing Buddies to fully fill the hub can be done by doing it all at once but the BB springs bottom out long before grease gets to the inner bearing. It's easy to blow the rear seal this way.