trailer bearings

[seandwyer]

Hello Folks,

So - I'm wondering if someone can explain the use and care of trailer bearings. I allegedly have what are known as "bearing Buddies" - but then, I wouldn't know the difference either. What I do know is that the hubs seem to be larger than on some other trailer of similar size and have a greese fitting in the end. On Saturday night, after coming back from the lake, it looks like a lot of greese oozed out of this bearing buddy thing and got all over the bottom half of the rim, and from the looks of the rims, this has happed many many times before I was in the picture. I wiped some greese from the bottom of the seam between the axle hub and the cap / buddy, and noticed that it seemed to be a combination of greese with pockets of water. Should I take these all apart and clean them out - then repack? Should water be in there, or is that a sign of a problem? What is a bearing buddy and when am I supposed to squirt more greese into the fittings? Should greese be oozing out when it is warm from driving and then allowed to sit? It doesn't seem to have come out while driving - it seems more of a gravity fed issue - greese coming out from just being warm and fluid and pooling up against a stationary seem - which tells me there must not be much of a seal there.

Signed - cluless.

[GreenLake]

Bearing buddies replace what would be ordinary bearing caps. They have a grease nipple and a spring (the spring should be visible on the front inside of the BB.) You pump them full of grease, until the spring is under tension and keeps a slight overpressure. When the seal isn't perfect, the spring will push out some grease rather than letting water get in. That's the idea.

On the inside of the wheel hub there should be a good seal, otherwise a lot of grease will come out. You can get a kit from the bb folks that will improve your seal in that area. I think it's called a spindle seal.

Water should never be in your bearings.

If it has, and also if your bearings have been on your trailer for a few years, you should take off the wheels and pull the bearings. It's probably time to replace them. They actual bearings are just a few dollars and if you have any doubts about them, just put new ones in of the same type.

When I got my first trailer (used) I had no idea. I drove around with it until one day a worn out bearing simply locked. (That left an impressive skid mark!). Luckily, it broke free, and the trailer could be towed to my driveway (just a few streets away). After that, I put new bearings in and added bearing buddies. That kept the water out, but gave me greased tires. So the next round saw spindle seals, and all is fine.