Attention Boat People!

Gonna be hauling my old boat a little further than usual this summer.  I'm getting a spare tire and I want to freshen up the trailer bearings.  They have some off-brand bearing buddies on them.  When I add grease, most of it comes out the back.  I'm guessing the seal has seen better days.  Or it's flat-out missing.

I want to pull the hub and replace the seal.  I'm guessing I need to remove the bearing buddy to do that.  What's the best way to remove it?  It looks like it's going to put up a pretty good fight.  Hub is corroded some.

Thanks!

Start soaking it in penetrating oil twice a day now.  

All I’ve ever needed to get the bearing buddies off is a few light taps on either side of the bearing buddy (up and down, side to side basically).  They fit into the same machined spot on the hub the original dust caps fit, it’s maybe a 1/4 inch of contact.  Yours should come out without too much effort. 

Well, I thought I was finished for the night, but inspired by your post, I went back out to the garage and grabbed my soft-face Harbor Freight plastic hammer and started whacking it.  At first, it didn't look like it would budge, but I scraped what looked to be a bead of sticky glue (not at all like old grease) from the joint and beat on it pretty good.  Finally noticed a bit of side-to-side deflection.  I kept working on it, having the best result when I grabbed the sleeve and pulled on it while I swung the hammer.  Only hit my hand a couple times.  Back and forth until it finally came off.  Grease is plentiful, but looks like it's been wet.  I wasn't dressed for greasy work, so I'll leave pulling the castle nut and assessing the spindle for tomorrow.  Knowledge acquired!  Thanks!

Glad for ya getting them off. I've had to fight a few, but have found, like you, a combo of hitting and pulling does the trick

but that would be a trailer thread! For those of us that don't remember your boat, we need a boat picture, to make the title match! 

Bearing buddies are designed with a channel to allow the old grease to be pushed out behind the rear wheel bearing as the new stuff comes in the front.  I'd make sure you actually have a problem before I got too excited.

Better to do the maintenance now instead of on the side of the road.  Bearing buddies are often pumped with too much grease which accelerates death of the seal.  Instead of pumping until the buddy is all the way out stop when it starts to move.  And before backing into water feel the bearing, if it is hot let it cool down a bit.  

In reply to porschenut :

Yeah, I've checked, while I'm pumping in grease.  By the time the piston just begins to move a little, the grease is flowing out the back.  It may have been overpumped at some point in its life, but it wasn't on my watch. 

Getting ready to pull it apart now.

Are the bearings quiet? Do they get warm when towing? If yes to the first and no to the second I'd probably shoot more grease in there and run it. 

I run Bearing buddies on all my boat trailers and all of them push grease past the seal. It is the nature of the beast and not indicative of a problem. Think of it as rust proofing.

In 40 years of pulling boats all over the country I seldom look at bearings. In the spring and before a long trip I will jack it up and check for noise and play. Keep the bearing buddies full and run it. The bearings are the last thing to fail on a salt water trailer. My spare mount is a spindle and a complete hub so I do have repair parts, but I've never needed them. 

In reply to porschenut :

That is not how bearing buddies work. You specifically want them full to stop the hub from drawing in water when a warm hub is backed into the water. 

Toyman! said:

Are the bearings quiet? Do they get warm when towing? If yes to the first and no to the second I'd probably shoot more grease in there and run it. 

I run Bearing buddies on all my boat trailers and all of them push grease past the seal. It is the nature of the beast and not indicative of a problem. Think of it as rust proofing.

In 40 years of pulling boats all over the country I seldom look at bearings. In the spring and before a long trip I will jack it up and check for noise and play. Keep the bearing buddies full and run it. The bearings are the last thing to fail on a salt water trailer. My spare mount is a spindle and a complete hub so I do have repair parts, but I've never needed them. 

Yeah, this side is smooth and quiet.  I checked both sides last year an hour into our trip, and the bearings were pleasantly cool.  The only reason I pulled it first was that it is easy to get to with the trailer in the garage.  LOL.  Initial inspection everything looks acceptable.  I even got a bit of a sucking sound as the seal slid off the spindle.

I am perhaps being over-cautious, but I drive past boats on trailers on the side of the highway all the time.  The trailers are usually missing a wheel.  I do not wish to be that guy.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

The lip seals have a life span, if you’re spraying grease all over the back side of your wheels it’s probably time.   While you’re in there do a good cleanup on the bearings as Toyman suggested.  Get any water contamination out and inspect the rollers and race for any signs of pitting.   If they’re good, repack with fresh grease and pump a little in to the bearing buddies to preload the spring when you’re finished up.   I’ve been using them on my trailers for about 30 years. I’ve inspected the bearings a few times and have replaced a couple of seals but I’ve never had issues with the bearings. Surge brakes, that’s another thing all together...

Funny I have so few pictures of the actual boat under way.  I guess that's because I'm usually at the helm.  This one was taken on a nearby lake with my son piloting a few years back.

Hull is a mid-70's Ouachita 15' fiberglass, motor is a mid-80's Johnson 2-stroke 90 HP.

Shown loafing along here.  Up on plane, she will boogie.

Obviously not mine, but I'm pretty sure this is the same model:

Huh.  So I need to decide between two similar grease seals.  One is 1.719" I.D. and the other is 1.68 I.D.  The seal surface measures 1.72 to 1.719 by my digital caliper. 

Seems like 1.719 I.D. might fit a little sloppy.  Seems like I could stretch the 1.68 I.D. over the shaft.  Which is the right one?

Spindle measures 1-1/16" x 1-3/8".  I guess that makes it a #84.  etrailer is recommending the 1.719 I.D. grease seal.  I guess that's how I'll go.  

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

At a guess, the seal measurement isn't the hole size, it's the shaft size the seal is designed for.

In reply to Toyman! :

Here's hoping you're right!  Bezos said he'd have them here by 10 pm tonight.

One of the downsides to bearing buddies is that repeated grease injection sometimes pops the seal. Sometimes it doesn't damage it, but instead of the seal pointing inward like when you put it on the spindle the first time, it gets pushed out like a pooping butthole.  From then on it lets grease out.

Are your bearing buddies the clear plastic?  If they're not you can use channel locks and just work it up/down fore/aft and it should come right out.  If they are the plastic ones you can use a similar technique, just not with channel locks.

You're smart to be checking this.  I always check mine every spring before I get it out for the summer and they all get replaced every 2-3 years tops.  They aren't like vehicle bearings that are 3" diameter, they're often 1" or 1.25".  Those small bearings plus the smaller diameter of the trailer tires often means that trailer bearings take multiple more times abuse than car bearings.  Then factor in the potential for water incursion and they need frequent maintenance.... bearing buddies or not.

Yes, that is why I have larger tyres than most on my trailer.  I run 13" rims to slow the revolutions.  I also usually replace my bearings every spring.  My trailer sees saltwater at least once every two weeks and then in the fall I take it on a 5 hour road trip to MD and back.  Bearings are cheap,  sitting on the side of the road gets expensive.

I aim to get back to this tomorrow.  Had no trouble finding other things to do this weekend.  This trailer runs 14" wheels.  Tire size is ST205/75R14.  Single axle, believe it's rated 3500 lbs.

In reply to mad_machine :

I don't think I have replaced a set of boat trailer bearings in the last 20 years.  

Even before the 1100 mile tow to TN and back several years ago,  I checked the noise and slop, topped off the bearing buddies, and ran them. Those bearings are probably original to the trailer when it was built in '96. I don't remember ever chainging them. 

Are you running bearing buddies?

In reply to Toyman! :

I have one boat trailer that I can usually squeak about 4-5 years.  The boat is light enough that I never get the hubs wet.  I back in to just below the hubs and shove the boat.  Anything that I have to dunk the axle I always try to wait a couple hours before launching.  When the hubs are warm and they hit the cold water they can suck water in and then you're hosed.

I personally don't use bearing buddies.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I have a set of bearing buddies on the Ebbtide but they are just being used as bearing caps.  I don't squirt grease in them.  If you overgrease bearing buddies the cavity being full of grease holds way more heat than if you have air voids between the bearings.  On longer trips it can hold enough heat that the viscosity drops to less-than-optimal and you can damage the bearings.  If you go way overkill, you just blow the seal out, or flip the lip of the seal and you lose grease and/or get water/dirt in the bearings.

My next axle might have oil bath bearings but I might hate that maintenance.

I cannot remember the last time I or my dad replaced any trailer bearings. Benefits of being in fresh water and being close to the ramps. Bearing buddies on all the boats. 

Now, trailer wiring... That is another story.

The Key West and the Jet Boat can be launched without getting the trailer wet. My last Sea Ray required backing in fairly deep. I run Bearing Buddy caps on all three of my boat trailers and am fairly convinced it is why the bearings last. 

In reply to mtn :

The trick to wiring is to put the fixtures on the guideposts and don't have any connections where they can get wet. Another big help is to unplug the lights before you back the trailer in the water.  

Like this.

Toyman! said:

In reply to mtn :

The trick to wiring is to put the fixtures on the guideposts and don't have any connections where they can get wet. Another big help is to unplug the lights before you back the trailer in the water.  

Like this.

 

I like that. As for unhooking the lights, I do it when I remember. I rarely remember.