vaddisonme wrote:Question here.... So, mylittlemtrailer came with bearing buddies, I think. You just pop off the plastic thing and stick the grease gun nozzle onto the ball-point pen looking thing and squeeze the grease gun until no more goes in, right? So, would I ever need to open the whole thing up and get the bearings out, or could I just keep adding grease every year?
I work on the highways every day. There are two reservoirs within twenty miles and about this time of year when the ice melts away, the fishermen pull out the trusty boat and take to the water. I see around a dozen of these little boat trailers every spring off the side of the road with bearing issues. Also, I have noticed that
almost all of them have bearing buddies installed.
That being said, I'm not a fan of the bearing buddies. I believe that they were developed for boat trailers where you could inject grease after pulling out of the water and then the spring in the bearing buddy would push the fresh grease into the bearing and the water contaminated grease out the back seal as you drive away. The grease that gets pushed out subsequently gets flung all over the hub, wheel, tire, fender, etc. so people quit greasing them every time because of the mess and before long they're running with contaminated grease and end up with problems. I believe, if nothing else, they create a false sense of security.
Properly packing bearings really isn't a difficult job. It takes a little easily learned know how and some time (I can take care of a single axle trailer without hurrying in an hour). Once you are familiar with the process, it's just another little chore that needs to be done on occasion. My tandem axle trailer came with bearing buddies and I have never touched them with a grease gun, I just re-pack the bearings by hand every spring. No mess all over the trailer/wheels/tires/brakes and since I've thoroughly inspected them, no worries.