Trailer bearings repack

[adamant118]

It I would tap a bearing buddy on would that work as well as a repack juts without the inspection?

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[Road Wrench]

Nope! Pull apart, clean thoroughly, inspect & replace bearings if needed. Fresh high speed bearing grease and new seals and proper preload. Now you know what you have, and go from there.

 

[Bondo]

It I would tap a bearing buddy on would that work as well as a repack juts without the inspection?

Nope,..... Not even close,.....

The bearin' buddy would pop off, Long before any grease gets to the inner bearin',.....

 

[Bretny]

I vote to repack too. BB really only does the outside bearing. Even the spindes drilled for grease have to fill the hub before they do much good. I repack every few years and check my hubs multipal times per trip. Have a warm one? Best you can really do is shoot some grease in it or slow down.

I have been successful in taking a regular cap off and pushing grease in with the gun. On the road temp baindaid only.

 

[ghnl]

Bearing Buddies are good for boat trailers. Squirt in some grease before backing the trailer into the water - the pressure from the grease gun inside the hub prevents (or at least minimizes) water from getting in.

 

[theoldwizard1]

They make special tools for hand packing bearings that make it a bit less messy.

Lisle 34550 Bearing Packer

 

[driz]

They make special tools for hand packing bearings that make it a bit less messy.



Lisle 34550 Bearing Packer

YES. Spend the few bucks and get a packer. So much less nasty for an always nasty job. Anything better than getting that nasty ****** all over your hands repeatedly.
Another great investment is a race and seal driver set. I did without for 30 years and could kick myself for it. Sure you can use big sockets but the driver set is just so nice. Cheap Chinese drivers work as good as any......


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[Stuart in MN]

I never minded packing bearings by hand. Your hands will be soft and smooth afterwards, too.

 

[drivesitfar]

Wiz: do you have one of those $20 bearing greasers? how often do you re grease your trailer bearings and how often do you use your trailer?

ALL: I was thinking of just replacing my 6 lug trailer hubs with pre greased 5 lug when I was getting new tires and I decided to get another set of tires for 6 lug rims so i'll buy new bearings and re grease and install the new bearings this spring.

 

[Farmall450]

YES. Spend the few bucks and get a packer. So much less nasty for an always nasty job. Anything better than getting that nasty ****** all over your hands repeatedly.
Another great investment is a race and seal driver set. I did without for 30 years and could kick myself for it. Sure you can use big sockets but the driver set is just so nice. Cheap Chinese drivers work as good as any......


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Ever hear of nitrile gloves?

 

[WoodsTruck]

These bearings are small and don't take up much room. I always carried a spare set of bearings pre-greased, a seal or two, spare castle nut, cotter key and dust cap in sandwich bags in a small metal can when I towed my trailer. Figured if something went wrong I could replace parts along the road if I had to.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I have a trailer that came with Bearing Buddies and I'm going to pull them out and put standard bearings in when my current bearings are shot. If you're hauling loads within your trailer's load rating, your bearings should't need to be repacked more than every 30-50k miles.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

These bearings are small and don't take up much room. I always carried a spare set of bearings pre-greased, a seal or two, spare castle nut, cotter key and dust cap in sandwich bags in a small metal can when I towed my trailer. Figured if something went wrong I could replace parts along the road if I had to.

I do the same. On heavy use trailers we even carry a spare axle with hubs mounted up underneath the trailer. Far easier to loosen some U-bolts and slide the new axle in than to screw with jacked up races/spindles on the side of the road in the middle of BFE.

 

[Jazz1]

The new Bearing Buddies have relief hole to prevent over greasing. Pack by hand prevents dish pan hands, as well if there are any foreign metal slivers or bits your delicate palms can pick them up

 

[3GsDad]

I have a trailer that came with Bearing Buddies and I'm going to pull them out and put standard bearings in when my current bearings are shot. If you're hauling loads within your trailer's load rating, your bearings should't need to be repacked more than every 30-50k miles.

any timeframe requirement you can think of? I have an enclosed trailer that is stored in a dry/hot climate for the last 5 years. Before I left it there I put 10k miles on it...bought it used so unsure of mileage before that. I have never repacked before and don't mind doing it but don't want to if time isn't a factor.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

any timeframe requirement you can think of? I have an enclosed trailer that is stored in a dry/hot climate for the last 5 years. Before I left it there I put 10k miles on it...bought it used so unsure of mileage before that. I have never repacked before and don't mind doing it but don't want to if time isn't a factor.

In that case, with unknown history, I'd spend a couple of hours doing it now for the peace of mind. When trailers "break down" it's always at a really inconvenient time and place. The bearings and grease are super cheap, so there really is no reason not to do it. I try to always find Timken or SKF bearings when possible. The generic Chinese bearings just don't hold up as long. For years we were putting 50k miles a year on our trailers with a moving business and never had an issue when actually doing the maintenance once per year.

 

[bczygan]

It I would tap a bearing buddy on would that work as well as a repack juts without the inspection?

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NO!

Bill

 

[Jazz1]

^^^^ Agreed, for the few minutes it takes to disassemble bearing for proper inspection. Myself I carry a loaded hub under my seat.

 

[sberry]

If they have been serviced its rare they go out. If they are not dirty, dry and worn I often pack the outer and reach thru the seal and bearing with a gob on my fingers and back pack it, can even see it come in behind the seal. I dont even wash them, just pull/push new thru. I also have that packer in the pic, it works well.

 

[Gone Boating]

I use Lucas red n tacky in all my trailers. My boat trailer routinely sees 3k miles a summer without any issues

 

[mda2000]

I use Lucas red n tacky in all my trailers. My boat trailer routinely sees 3k miles a summer without any issues

I used to only use that too until it dripped out of my front tractor hub after driving it into town. It's like it got hot and melted. I felt the hub and it wasn't even warm. I switched greases to the green because it's supposed to be for more severe duty. Haven't had any problems so far but I'm still putting it through it's paces.

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[drivesitfar]

BBG: "I try to always find Timken or SKF bearings when possible. The generic Chinese bearings just don't hold up as long. For years we were putting 50k miles a year on our trailers with a moving business and never had an issue when actually doing the maintenance once per year."

I was wondering if the cheap bearings were any good and your post tells me if you are spending a little more money to get better ones with good results that we probably should too.

any particular store or online website you use and are the Timken and SKF double the price or just a bit more?

ALL: I agree that pushing grease in the end probably will help a tad, but spending 30 minutes doing it right every year or two or three would be better depending on your use especially if you are using a trailer in and out of salt water.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I get them at a local trailer supply (Spectrac). The Timkens are about $6-$10 more per spindle, but seem to last twice as long.

 

[rsanter]

They make special tools for hand packing bearings that make it a bit less messy.

Lisle 34550 Bearing Packer

I have one of these and it’s great.
I think you are better off getting the old grease out and starting fresh

 

[kkroger]

Best packer I ever used was a bucket mounted one we got from Hample Oil...
double cone style with a hand pump, the ones that you can feed with a gun work ok too but I don't have time to **** with them I just use my hand like I have forever...

I wash the bearings out in the parts washer, then wash the solvent out with Brake Kleen and repack... always get the contaminated (metal and dirt) grease out before putting in new.

 

[driz]

Ever hear of nitrile gloves?

Nitrile gloves last about as long as a politicians campaign promises. They just **** . I moved on. I use these now . Hell if you are careful they last a few weeks especially when you put a pair of mechanics gloves over them when you can.
Still who wants to screw around with slimy grease when you can avoid most of it and be done in 1/4 the time.






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[bradpac]

Hate to bust your bubble, but those are nitrile gloves, just a particular brand.

https://www.ansell.com/us/en/products/touchntuff-92-600

 

[theoldwizard1]

Wiz: do you have one of those $20 bearing greasers? how often do you re grease your trailer bearings and how often do you use your trailer?

Currently only a boat trailer, but I swore if I ever bought another trailer without bearing buddies I would get one.

Once a year is probably overkill unless you use the trailer a lot.

 

[theoldwizard1]

These bearings are small and don't take up much room. I always carried a spare set of bearings pre-greased, a seal or two, spare castle nut, cotter key and dust cap in sandwich bags in a small metal can when I towed my trailer. Figured if something went wrong I could replace parts along the road if I had to.

For about $20, that was really cheap "insurance" !

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have a trailer that came with Bearing Buddies and I'm going to pull them out and put standard bearings in when my current bearings are shot.

No need to change the bearings. They are the same. It is the axle and perhaps the rear seal that are different.

 

[TwoInch]

Bearing Buddies are good for boat trailers. Squirt in some grease before backing the trailer into the water - the pressure from the grease gun inside the hub prevents (or at least minimizes) water from getting in.

The problem with boat trailer hubs is that if you drive more than a couple miles to the water, the hubs heat up. As soon as you back into the water, the cold water rapidly saps the heat out of the hub and the air inside, creating a vacuum. Pulling a spurt of water through the seals in many instances.

This is why boat trailers suffer bearing failures at such a high rate compared to dry trailers and other hubs..

No way around shorter maintenance intervals with hubs that get submerged in cool water.

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[adamant118]

Thank you all for your replies

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[driz]

The problem with boat trailer hubs is that if you drive more than a couple miles to the water, the hubs heat up. As soon as you back into the water, the cold water rapidly saps the heat out of the hub and the air inside, creating a vacuum. Pulling a spurt of water through the seals in many instances.

This is why boat trailers suffer bearing failures at such a high rate compared to dry trailers and other hubs..

No way around shorter maintenance intervals with hubs that get submerged in cool water.

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No way around the annual repack is right! One thing you can do though that doesn’t cost anything let her cool down for a few minutes before you fling the boat in the water. In many places during peak season that’s really easy to do with the [emoji847]retards in front of you trying to launch the Queen Mary[emoji85] . The only good thing about the line is the occasional [emoji1782]show.


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[sberry]

I am not doing 50K a year on a trailer but the only time I ever had a problem with a repack was a worn seal on a trailer too small and it got drove too fast after it got water and dirt in it hauling it down mud roads.
I am not in the hauling biz, don't have boats so my experience is more limited but,,,,, other than the 1 described situation have never had a bearing I repack or even fuzz some new grease in go south, this is over quite a period of time. On old equipment the repacks were with grease a couple generations better than they came with. Never repacked a bearing in common service more than once. It used to be common practice on cars, if they got done at less than 100K and 15 yrs or so never had a failure from them. Never had it with China replacements.
Only seen a few go out, they were long timers on old stuff had never been serviced.

 

[ilovevocs]

I’ve seen more people with blown seals from bearing buddy’s than I have without. Maybe I’m an exception though.


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[sberry]

Well sure, adding grease can push a tight seal out.

 

[Gone Boating]

The problem with boat trailer hubs is that if you drive more than a couple miles to the water, the hubs heat up. As soon as you back into the water, the cold water rapidly saps the heat out of the hub and the air inside, creating a vacuum. Pulling a spurt of water through the seals in many instances.

This is why boat trailers suffer bearing failures at such a high rate compared to dry trailers and other hubs..

No way around shorter maintenance intervals with hubs that get submerged in cool water.

Trailer mfgs always recommend letting hubs cool before launching/retrieving. By the time I have lines on, safety straps off, etc my hubs are cooled off. Not saying I take 10 minutes to do it, but don't have water ingestion issues.

 

[Gone Boating]

And generally speaking, the warmer the air temperature the warmer the hubs will be. Additionally, the line at the launch is generally longer then too, again, giving the hubs the time to cool

 

[Spareparts]

I welded a stub axle on the side of trailer, spare tire mount, spare hub with bearings and seal. Sometimes one on each side.