Wheel Bearings

[PKCSPT]

Time to grease the bearings. My oldest son who has offered to help suggested going with a bearing buddy but I remember a talk about them saying not good. And then I got to thinking the bearings on my car don't get greased, their sealed.
Looking for opinions and suggestions.

[Shadow Catcher]

Bearing buddies are just a grease cap with a zerk fitting, they do not actually grease the bearings or at least not well. They also do not inspect the bearings for wear or get out the old grease. The big disadvantage however is if you overfill him and have breaks grease will get in the brake drums, and you won't have breaks.
I am switching to oil hubs as soon as I get a break in the weather.

[treemaker]

Bearing Buddies are made for boat trailers to keep a positive pressure in the hub
so when you back your boat into the water the hubs don't cool off and suck in water.
IMO They are a waste on anything but a boat trailer.
I have seen many cars and trucks (rear wheel drive) with the same type of wheel bearings and over 100k miles.
How many of them have the bearings serviced? I'd bet few to none.

[bobhenry]

Time to grease the bearings. My oldest son who has offered to help suggested going with a bearing buddy but I remember a talk about them saying not good. And then I got to thinking the bearings on my car don't get greased, their sealed.
Looking for opinions and suggestions.

Back in the good ol days ( if you had a competent mechanic) when the front brakes on your car were serviced the bearings were cleaned inspected and repacked. If you had a problem 12 bucks would replace the parts and you were good to go again. Now we have a 95 to 150+ complete hub assembly that is tossed away because of the nifty no service lifetime bearings. To bad they were refering to the bearings lifetime and not ours.

As Tommy pointed out overfilling with bearing buddys lead to other probems. Even without brakes on your trailer overfilling leads to a problem called "churning" without a place for the grease to expand to and an area to escape to and rest it will overheat and deteriorate.

Mixing greases can also lead to incompatability problems so clean all parts completely to avoid this problem. This will allow you to look for surface scratches and spauled areas on the rollers and races.

Servicing bearings is really quick and easy after you have done it once or twice.

[PKCSPT]

Not that I have any intentions of replacing my hubs but what are oil hubs?

Ok, well I had to ask. i am pretty lazy when it comes to a lot of things. I have wallpapered as much of my house as I can so I never have to paint again lazy. So if I could replace the bearings with maintenace free I would but it sounds like I could end up with more problems down the road. So off to the store ( I do not like shopping so yuck) to get what I need to make it very easy.

Thanks all,,,, uuuugh shopping. Take me longer talking myself into going than it probably will to do the job.

[Martiangod]

Why would you go to oil hubs on an occasional use trailer, the top half of the bearing will sit there dry and condensation forming.
If you keep the trailer jacked up and go and spin the wheels weekly, they might be ok

[angib]

Even without brakes on your trailer overfilling leads to a problem called "churning" without a place for the grease to expand to and an area to escape to and rest it will overheat and deteriorate.

Yep - I was taught that a golf ball of grease in each hub was the right amount.

[Shadow Catcher]

I will do a write up with pictures installing the oil hubs when I am done. Advantages less friction (I use synthetic oil), assured lubrication, run cooler and you know when it is contaminated. And last but not least Lazy, you don't have to repack bearings every year. I have our trailer up on stands this winter (most people should) and yes I can spin the wheels to make sure lubrication gets to the bearings. Interestingly 10W 40 oil is recommended.

[mary and bob]

Most big trucks have oil hubs on the front wheels, and their trailers do too. As long as the seals don't leak it's good, but I've changed way too many that have. Then the brake linings are oil soaked, and if the leak isn't seen soon enough the bearings get run dry. We always used 85-90W gear oil in the hubs. Bob

[sagebrush]

A lot of trucking companies are converting from oil bearings to grease bearings, especially on trailers. The cost of leaking wheel seals, break shoe replacement,downtime, fines etc is the driving force behind this. I have had many of both types and personally prefer synthetic greases....BUT TO EACH HIS OWN!!!!!!!

[Wolffarmer]

One way to tell if your oil seal is leaking is that the break, while still working, does not release until stopped or almost stopped. ( its been a few years since it happened to my truck )

Randy

[Shadow Catcher]

In looking for bearing information on "too much grease" and found a very good industrial site.

http://www.mcnallyinstitute.com/14-html/14-01.htm

"Grease is hard to change because the usual method is to pump grease into a grease fitting and let the new grease push out the old grease. This method guarantees the bearing will be over lubricated.
The only proper way to grease a bearing is to hand pack it full, but not the cavity where it is located. As the bearing heats up some of the grease will leak into the cavity reducing the amount of lubrication in the bearing."

[Dale M.]

Ironically VOLKSWAGEN early models specified that the bearing and bearing cavity s be fully packed.... Also on 69 and later with IRS suspension in rear they also specify the rear axle bearings be packed and bearing cavity fully fliled....

Seems to be a difference in theory and thinking on what constitutes a correct bearing "pack"...

Personally I use the hand pack method and just ensure rollers (or ball- don't see to many any more) are full saturated with grease and walk away .... To much time and effort wasted worrying and discussion about it.... Good pack-repack with decent quality grease and decent bearing should last you 30-40,000 miles... Who is going put that much millage on TD over even quite a few years.... This seems good for ALL TRAILERS except maybe boat trailers whose bearing get submerged every time boat is launched or recovered..... Once a year at beginning of season seems reasonable interval for a boat trailer....

Dale

[mckenney56]

How about a poll on this one. How many on the board have had a wheel bearing failure on a tear drop trailer?

[mechmagcn]

Once a year at beginning of season seems reasonable interval for a boat trailer....

Dale

Actually that should read "at the end of the season" otherwise if the grease is contaminated the bearings will have all of the off season to corrode and pit.
While I have always packed extra grease in my hubs,I never pack them fully. I went through a clinic put on by Dexter axle on packing wheel bearings a few years ago. The tech pretty much packed a little grease in the bearing and smeared a little more on the outside, no grease in the hub at all When asked about the amount of grease, he said that's the way they are done at the factory and there is seldom a bearing failure.
I have 2 trailer that came with Dexter "Easy-lube" axles, the one with a grease zerk in the end of the spindle. I never use these for two reasons, one I like to inspect my bearings and 2, if I wasn't the last one to put grease in, there is no way to know if my grease is compatible.