Post by stanh on Dec 3, 2008 21:41:47 GMT -5
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Most wheel bearing failures are from owners over greasing and breaking the integrity of the rear bearing seal allowing road grime to enter the bearing and scoring the ball bearings themselves or the spindle.
When a bearing is hand packed with grease, and assembled correctly, and the seals are tight, there is no reason at all to be pumping grease into the bearing more than once a year, if that. Especially if you have any sort of bearing buddies on the hubs.
A lot of guys follow the old wives tale of using a grease gun every trip or every other trip and pump a few shots of grease into a hub. Reality is , you are doing more harm than good....if you started with good seals, after you finish pumping more grease in, you will do nothing but blow out the seals.
Grease in a trailer bearing does not dissolve, does not evaporate, it goes nowhere....except when you decide to do some good and get out the grease gun.... (wrong ).......if the bearing is full of grease ( and it should be if packed properly ) the only place for the new grease to go is to take the path of least resistance, which is the rear seal.
New grease in, old ( still perfectly good ) grease blows out the rear seal.
Once this happens the first time, then you are committed to a cycle of losing grease thru the rear seal and pumping more in, not only that, you have now compromised the integrity of the bearing by allowing water/silt/sand to enter the bearing thru the blown seal, cutting the bearing lifespan considerably. Most people have no clue that they have blown out the rear seal, they just think the hubs use a lot of grease.
First couple of boats I made the mistake of greasing and blowing out the rear seals like a lot of guys.
When I bought my last Bass Cat they told me the
new bearings/seals should be good for a minimum of 3 years before grease should be added. I was a little hesitant when they told me this, but after listening to their reasoning it made sense and I gave it a try ( still kept the grease gun in the truck, just in case LOL. )
I tow at least once a week on a 100 mile trip on interstates and a few of 300 milers in summer. I launch in brackish tidal water . I am going on over 5 years with my Bass Cat trailer without touching the bearings or adding any grease. All 4 wheels get pulled each spring and the bearing buddies are still full of grease, no seal leaks = full grease cups. I will repack them this spring.
Bass Cat has designed the newer trailer wheels so you need to remove the entire wheel to get to the grease fitting on the bearing buddy. They did this by design after studying bearing failures over a number of years and coming to the conclusion stated above.
People will be less apt to give a bearing a shot of grease if they have to jack up the boat and remove a wheel.
After towing to the ramp, your bearings should be warm, but not hot enough to pull your hand back. On dual axle trailers, the wheels with the brakes will be warmer from the heat off the brakes.
Bearings don't get hot enough to be compromised by being dunked in cooler water, another old wives tale.
You put a lot more miles on your cars wheel bearings, but you don't grease them like you would your boat trailers......think about it.
StanH
Basscat7
Most wheel bearing failures are from owners over greasing and breaking the integrity of the rear bearing seal allowing road grime to enter the bearing and scoring the ball bearings themselves or the spindle.
When a bearing is hand packed with grease, and assembled correctly, and the seals are tight, there is no reason at all to be pumping grease into the bearing more than once a year, if that. Especially if you have any sort of bearing buddies on the hubs.
A lot of guys follow the old wives tale of using a grease gun every trip or every other trip and pump a few shots of grease into a hub. Reality is , you are doing more harm than good....if you started with good seals, after you finish pumping more grease in, you will do nothing but blow out the seals.
Grease in a trailer bearing does not dissolve, does not evaporate, it goes nowhere....except when you decide to do some good and get out the grease gun.... (wrong ).......if the bearing is full of grease ( and it should be if packed properly ) the only place for the new grease to go is to take the path of least resistance, which is the rear seal.
New grease in, old ( still perfectly good ) grease blows out the rear seal.
Once this happens the first time, then you are committed to a cycle of losing grease thru the rear seal and pumping more in, not only that, you have now compromised the integrity of the bearing by allowing water/silt/sand to enter the bearing thru the blown seal, cutting the bearing lifespan considerably. Most people have no clue that they have blown out the rear seal, they just think the hubs use a lot of grease.
First couple of boats I made the mistake of greasing and blowing out the rear seals like a lot of guys.
When I bought my last Bass Cat they told me the
new bearings/seals should be good for a minimum of 3 years before grease should be added. I was a little hesitant when they told me this, but after listening to their reasoning it made sense and I gave it a try ( still kept the grease gun in the truck, just in case LOL. )
I tow at least once a week on a 100 mile trip on interstates and a few of 300 milers in summer. I launch in brackish tidal water . I am going on over 5 years with my Bass Cat trailer without touching the bearings or adding any grease. All 4 wheels get pulled each spring and the bearing buddies are still full of grease, no seal leaks = full grease cups. I will repack them this spring.
Bass Cat has designed the newer trailer wheels so you need to remove the entire wheel to get to the grease fitting on the bearing buddy. They did this by design after studying bearing failures over a number of years and coming to the conclusion stated above.
People will be less apt to give a bearing a shot of grease if they have to jack up the boat and remove a wheel.
After towing to the ramp, your bearings should be warm, but not hot enough to pull your hand back. On dual axle trailers, the wheels with the brakes will be warmer from the heat off the brakes.
Bearings don't get hot enough to be compromised by being dunked in cooler water, another old wives tale.
You put a lot more miles on your cars wheel bearings, but you don't grease them like you would your boat trailers......think about it.
StanH
Basscat7