Grease wheel bearings how often?

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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby KennethW » Sat Jun 09, 2018 11:21 am

When ever I replace the tires or 15,000 miles what ever comes first.
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby drhill » Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:45 pm

I grease them every time I submerge the hubs. So on my boat trailer, every launch. (using bearing buddies). On the teardrop - well, I have never submerged the hubs. But since it is 4 years old now and about 30,000 km I did give the hubs a few pumps of grease this spring. 14" tires. I would do it more with smaller tires.

How often do you grease the wheel bearings on your truck?
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby pchast » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:27 pm

Every spring on each trailer. I don't track real miles.
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby dmdc411 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:52 am

On the boat trailer, every 5 years. Teardrop, the trailer itself is 7 years old. I packed them using marine grade grease 3 yrs ago when it first hit the road. And glad I did. Was very little grease from the factory assy. I always use marine grease in trailer bearings. Even with water, seaweed, and whatever else gets in there, I've never had a failure!

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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby tony.latham » Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:53 am

drhill wrote:I grease them every time I submerge the hubs. So on my boat trailer, every launch. (using bearing buddies). On the teardrop - well, I have never submerged the hubs. But since it is 4 years old now and about 30,000 km I did give the hubs a few pumps of grease this spring. 14" tires. I would do it more with smaller tires.

How often do you grease the wheel bearings on your truck?


Your last line nailed it. (I ran a jet boat for a state agency for twelve years and always pushed the water out of the axles stubs after pulling the trailer. But that's a different deal for sure.)

Greasing my Dexter Torflex is just a matter of using a grease gun so I'll continue to make it an annual spring affair. Get me excited for camping season.

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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby Sparksalot » Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:01 pm

Every 8 years or 4,000 miles.

Seriously though. I've not really logged the miles, but I did take them apart at 8 years in and repack them. There was no visible wear at all, or discoloration of the grease.
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby coyote » Thu Jul 05, 2018 6:33 am

Also, every spring....can't not. Just habit, never found/had a problem. coyote
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby swoody126 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:35 am

ANNUALLY CHECKED(and checked prior to extended travel) by jacking each tire off the ground and spinning while listening for rough/growling/grinding noises in the hub

if no noises are detected i simply pump a few strokes into the BEARING BUDDIES/DEXTER SPINDLES(all my trailers have one or the other) and check the tire pressure

for boat trailers the hubs get topped off(leaving no room in hub) just prior to dunking to prevent rapid cooling from sucking water in

if noises are heard the hub comes off for disassembly inspection and replacing parts as necessary

when disassembling/reassembling i ALWAYS repace the inner seal w/ a new unit(removing seals w/o damaging it's integrity is virtually impossible no matter what you may have heard)

all my grease guns and tubs of grease have MARINE/OFF ROAD GREASE in them(the cost difference per application woudn't buy you a gum ball out of a vending machine) this way i don't have to wonder which gun i picked up

this process has been used for over 30 years and been quite successfull(no roadside failures)

when changing axles out for other than bearing issues(rusty axle due to salt water dunking) i goto the DEXTER units w/ zerks in the end of the spindles because they refreshen the grease as they are regularly serviced

when i buy a used trailer for a project the hubs get a minimum of disassembly cleaning and greasing w/ fresh grease to zero out the service schedule(if issues are detected in just one part all bearings races and seals in both hubs get replaced)

KEEPING your bearings full of clean good quality grease is the best insurance you can buy for them

using this system/method of servicing/maintaining bearings has provided 21+ years of bearing life on all of my trailers :-)
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Re: Grease wheel bearings how often?

Postby Ottsville » Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:38 am

swoody126 wrote:ANNUALLY CHECKED(and checked prior to extended travel) by jacking each tire off the ground and spinning while listening for rough/growling/grinding noises in the hub

if no noises are detected i simply pump a few strokes into the BEARING BUDDIES/DEXTER SPINDLES(all my trailers have one or the other) and check the tire pressure

for boat trailers the hubs get topped off(leaving no room in hub) just prior to dunking to prevent rapid cooling from sucking water in

if noises are heard the hub comes off for disassembly inspection and replacing parts as necessary

when disassembling/reassembling i ALWAYS repace the inner seal w/ a new unit(removing seals w/o damaging it's integrity is virtually impossible no matter what you may have heard)

all my grease guns and tubs of grease have MARINE/OFF ROAD GREASE in them(the cost difference per application woudn't buy you a gum ball out of a vending machine) this way i don't have to wonder which gun i picked up

this process has been used for over 30 years and been quite successfull(no roadside failures)

when changing axles out for other than bearing issues(rusty axle due to salt water dunking) i goto the DEXTER units w/ zerks in the end of the spindles because they refreshen the grease as they are regularly serviced

when i buy a used trailer for a project the hubs get a minimum of disassembly cleaning and greasing w/ fresh grease to zero out the service schedule(if issues are detected in just one part all bearings races and seals in both hubs get replaced)

KEEPING your bearings full of clean good quality grease is the best insurance you can buy for them

using this system/method of servicing/maintaining bearings has provided 21+ years of bearing life on all of my trailers :-)


:thumbsup: I do essentially the same things.
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