I went to go to the lake today and had a wheel bearing disintegrate.

I'm wondering about your thoughts on bearing. I have oil bath hubs now and wondered if a greaseable hub is better or should I go back to the oil bath

 

Grease is the only way to go on a boat trailer axle.


Tim

 

When I was trucking in the 60-70s everyone was going to oil/oil seals/oil hubcaps on the steer axle and oil seals/oil on the drivers and I think it's stayed that way. Adjust them right and keep the oil level up and they do great. I always thought the nice thing about oil is - if a seal starts leaking, it's time for some attention/maintenance but greased brgs don't always show any signs before it's too late. My vote is for oil, without a doubt. Craig

 

For an over the road application I would agree 100%, but he stated he was going to the lake, so I am assuming he was talking about his boat trailer.



Tim

 

I used to brag on never lube seals - - - until I had a couple let loose. Almost caught the trailer on fire. On my fiver, I insist on the old fashioned greasable bearings and I use synthetic. You should be pullling your wheels every 10 to 12,000 miles anyway to check the brakes. It just takes a minute to pop the bearing out, repack it, check the race and put it back. On my boat trailer I used a bearing I put grease into with a grease pump. Just had to be careful not to get too much. You could see water come out when you first started pumping. I pumped them each time they had been submurged in salt water.

Bob

 

My flatbed had oil bath bearings, Lost 2 tires in the fire. I was very lucky, another 2 minutes on the road and I would have lost the trailer. Nothing but greasable for me.

 

Thanks for the advise doods. I ended up going to grease. The trailer came with the oil bath but, after talking to Triton today and the manufacturer of the trailer... they recommended the grease. The trailer manufacturer was also nice enough to send me all new bearing kits for free.
UFP is the company

They said the bath is good for over the road trucks and trailers that are NOT submerged under water. It makes sense too that the oil isn't the best way to do it on anything. If you're on the road and loose the oil, you have maybe 50 miles before you melt the bearings. With grease, it always stays lubricated and can at least get you a bit father down the road if there a issue.

 

I worked for a company and we had a trailer that went into the water every week and then back out onto the highway. We learned the hard way to use marine grease and tear down and clean and regrease every winter. We also learned that buddy bearings just keep pushing grease out the grease seal and ruin the brakes. Good luck!

 

If you go to Bearing Buddies web site, they sell a premiun (neoprenene?) seal to put on the inner to keep grease out of your brake. I used this, so far so good. These devices were made for and do keep water out, when used properly. I do advocated annual maitenance & inspection too!

 

thanks for the ideas doods. The bearing buddies is a good one. I looked all over using different search options and that never came up.