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Posts: 57
| Is it all the same??? Manual for my 2001 trailer offers up 3 or 4 types, none of which I have found. As one local said to me, get a higher temp grease due to the more revs those smaller wheels do. If it is too thin it will seep out. This is in regard to posts i made in December. I just now pulled of a hub to inspect them. One is still on the trailer. The one I pulled off looked like it was sealed in the back, maybe with Permatex as someone suggested. Last season I found grease on the back of one of my rims. The other was clean. He also said that 'weep' hole might have been plugged and so the grease I was pumping in blew out the back seal. Anyhow, new season, new seals, new grease. Is grease the same, automotive or marine? Thanks, the greenhorn |
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Posts: 1758
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | I would recommend a moly grease. It is black and offers the best protection from separation and water. The cost is not bad either (12-15 per tube for large grease gun). If you really want to go over the top get AmsOil grease. Once you get the leak solved, it will make those bearings last nearly a lifetime. |
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Posts: 5874
| When you say you are pumping grease in, what do you mean? Do you have the Safe-T Lube or EZ Lube axles? Or do you have Bearing Buddies? Depending on which you have, there will be different things to consider and do.
If you have Bearing Buddies, the first thing you need to know, is that these are not designed to keep your bearings lubed. What they are designed to do is keep a positive pressure in the hub, so that when you back in the water, the sudden cooling does not create a vaccuum and suck in water. Bearing Buddies were real common 10+ years ago, but I don't see them so much now. They do not eliminate the necessity of yearly bearing maintenance.
If you have the EZ-Lube Axles, then you can, throughout the year, give the hub a couple pumps of grease to keep them lubed, and push any water out. I still don't believe they eliminate the need for yearly inspection and maintenance.
If you are seeing grease on the inside of the wheels, then you have a seal failing, or possibly the wrong grease. You need to pull the hub, and inspect the seal, and the surface that the seal rides on. Sometimes, it was just dirty, or maybe a cheap seal was installed. I suggest the recommend double spring seals. Contact your trailer's axle manufacturer for the proper seal. If the seal surface is pitted, or has a groove worn in it, there are a couple options. You can get a repair sleeve to press on over the axle, or you could take the step and go to LiquiLube hub kits. That is the route I would take.
As for grease, I had used LubriMatic Marine Grease for many years. Last boat, I started using Pennzoil Synthetic Marine Grease. Both work great. It is important to use Marine grease, as the have greater heat properties, and protect against water washout. Amsoil Synthetic would be another option.
I also believe in hand packing my wheel bearings. Call me old fashioned, but this is the only way to tell that the bearing is 100% packed. Even the bearing packers should be finished up with a hand pack, just to make sure.
Hope this helps. |
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Posts: 57
| Shep- they are saf-t-lubes. I have removed only one side so far, and the back seal looked good, butt what do I know? How do I get the back bearing and seal out? Piece of narrow wood and tap it out from the other side of the hub?? I will look for one of those greases for this year, before I launch. Longest run I made last year was 55 mi each way. Did that 3 times. Bearing looked good, no pitting. Do I need to remove the 'cone'? what the bearing rests against?? |
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Posts: 57
| Found Amsoil from the company site for $6.40 for a 14 oz. cartridge. Other sites just directed me to that site when I wanted to buy. Unless I find it local I will send for a pair. |
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Posts: 3511
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hi Bruce,
No reason to pull the "race" from the hub. About the only thing with those is to keep the same bearing with the same race. Many of the bigger axles (3500# and up) have two different sized bearings...a smaller one and a larger one, so this is not an issue.
As for bearing grease, I have used many brands, and have never had any problem so long as they are a high temp wheel bearing grease with (I believe) a lithium base to it. I, like shep, still do a hand-pack, although I have recently switched now to a bearing packer which is really nice. I feel that when the grease squirts out of all the grooves (top, bottom, and between the rollers) It's packed solid. I tested the first 5 or so by doing a final hand-pack, and they didn't need anything further.
If you repack yearly in the fall (recommended for any trailer that gets immersed in water) you will be all set, and bearing wash-out will not be noticed (again...dependent on use of the correct type of grease). Do preventative maintenance, and there will be no breakdowns on the road.
Steve |
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Posts: 5874
| Yup, I agree. You can get the seal out by just prying it out with a big screw driver. Never reuse seals, so that is why just prying them out is OK. I never take out the race(Cone). Keep the bearings with the hub they come out of. Clean them good with solvent, and let sit to dry. Yu can blow through them, but DO NOT spin with compressed air. Repack, and replace the rear bearing and seal. Make sure the seal is seated all the way around. lube the seal surface with a very fine coating of grease, reinstall hub, and you are good to go. Make sure you do not overtighten the spindle nut.
I inspect and service my hubs every fall, and do a quick check in the middle of summer. I do the full job in the fall when I put up the boat. That way, I don't have any water sitting in there trying to do it's damage. Plus, I'm too busy in the spring when I suddnely decide it's time to put the boat in the water! |
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Posts: 57
| Here's one more good q.....is it nesscesary to push out any lingering 'old' grease with the new? Is there any grease in the spindle? and, how much grease is needed per side? I think those cartridges are 14 oz. Thanks gys for ALL your help, I really appreciate it. Bruce.
Edited by Bruce 3/6/2008 8:36 PM
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Posts: 3511
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | If you are just giving the zerk a shot of grease, it should not be an issue. many of the high temp wheel bearing grease brands out there are compatible...but I would not call that a hard and fast rule. I have always used the same grease from repack to a couple of squirts so I don't need to worry about mixing two different types of grease.
As for the spindle, I am not sure how that might work with the EZ lube hubs...I have no experience with those. If there is grease inside of the spindle, I would push out the old so that all of the grease is the same...just in case you change brands and they are not compatible you don't run into any issues. As far as how much...again, I wouldn't have a clue on that either...but I wouldn't think it would be too much..
Overall, I'm pretty anal about doing my best to not have any failures, so I probably go a bit overboard on what I do... sometimes it is downright amazing what others do and never seem to have a problem.... I just don't feel comfortable letting things like that go because Murphy's law always seems to come into play at the most inopportune time...like 70 miles from the closest town and nobody is around to give you a hand if you need it....
Steve |
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Posts: 57
| And it was such a nice day too....cant seem to move these seals. Is it possible they are Permate'd in, along the sides? Can I twist and torque them til they give? The left side seal was bulged out more than the right side so it might be the culprit. These seals have this metal lip inside, right? I can grab it with a pliers and deform it til it lets go...?? Thanks. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | You can find a pretty good grease for not a lot of money. I would use a grease with a synthetic base oil and a lithium complex thickener. A plain lithium (or sometimes labeled lithium 12-hydroxy) is fine but the lithium complex has what are called complex 'soaps' that help resist washout and water absorption. This is a key characteristic you would like to have for any bearings that get submerged. Most bearing greases will have some moly in it but that's not really important. Moly is just a solid lubricant added for addition protection but its really the base oil that does the bulk of the protection. You also can't tell what's in a grease by color. Manufacturers add dyes so they can easily identify their products out in the field and to seperate them from one another for the user. They seem to follow trends (like marine being blue, etc) but I wouldn't rely on that. Anyways, most of what you will find on the shelf is a lithium based thickener so you can mix them without having to worry about it but if you see a Polyurea grease I would not recommend mixing them. You could run into problems.
Good luck with the project.....
Edited by Targa01 3/9/2008 3:04 PM
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Posts: 57
| I ordered Amsoil from the mfg and am getting two new seals net week. They had to be ordered. But can I twist and defrom the old ones to get them to come out of the hub??? |
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Posts: 57
| Got the seals out. Not tpp bad after a hammer and a screw driver. Seems they are made in Russia and China. Gotta luv NAFTA. |
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Posts: 1462
Location: Davenport, IA | Shep - 3/6/2008 11:11 AM
Yu can blow through them, but DO NOT spin with compressed air.
Great advice. I used a blow gun to spin a bearing after washing the old grease out. The rollers went flying all over the place. |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | Everyone is on the right track here.
If the rollers flew out it means the cage was worn out and time to replace the bearing anyways.
I use No 2 permatex to seal in the new metal clad seals. If they would happen to be fully rubber clad (rubber on the outside too) use blue locktite to seal them in. I do this to not only insure a 100% water tight seal around the outside but to keep them from popping out...especially with lube hubs. Make sure all surfaces to apply sealant to are clean with something like brake clean first. Clean any burs from the the metal hub too. Don't buy just any seal, make sure it is a good one like a CR seal with a garter spring behind the lip. A good bearing house will have the best ones.
Like Shep said, the sealing surface on the axle is very important and must be in very good shape. It can even mean replacing a whole axle.
The grease I use is Mobil 1 synthetic from Fleet Farm. I researched it by calling the mobil tech line and they said it was a very good choice. I went with this because it is easy to buy more of when you need it. You want to use the automotive grade No 1 and not the industrial No 2 grade. So don't be thinking you can just grab some from work. This grade is how easy the lube flows out of the base. No 2 is meant for industrial bearings like in a big electric motor. Lithium marine grade would be plenty good enough as well, especially with yearly bearing repacks.
Edited by Jomusky 3/10/2008 9:32 PM
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Posts: 135
| Does anyone know of a diagram showing step-by-step how to disassemble, clean, repack and re-assembe the hub and bearings? Mine is a single axle, no brakes. Never done it and don't really have someone to show me how, I'd love to do it myself as getting into a shop to get it done is a pain.
Thanks!
W |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | I would do a product look up for what grade to use (#1 or #2). I would agree with Joe that a #1 will probably be recommended but check into it. The grades are set by NLGI and are done by a 'dart' test. They drop a dart into grease at a specific temperature and how deep the dart penetrates gives its grade. Similar to viscosity grades for oils. The higher the number the thicker the grease. The biggest thing when picking a grease is the same as picking an oil, get the right 'thickness' or viscosity. To thick of grease causes the bearings to just 'churn' and they will over heat. That's the first and biggest advice I could give to someone trying to pick out a lube. Joe was wise to call a help line and get a product recommendation and that was good advice. I can get my hands on some exotic lubes but I usually get stuff I can find on any shelf because of availability and ease. |
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Posts: 8
| Here you go Whit
http://www.etrailer.com/tv_repack_trailer_hub_bearings.aspx |
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Posts: 135
| Hey Thanks Blue Pike, Been looking for that for a couple of years!
Happy Easter!
W |
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Posts: 941
Location: Freedom, WI | Good replies here and would agree with Joe. I would add that if you ever want to replace the hubs go with the oil filled ones. I put them on mine a few years ago and glad I did. Look at the level and color of oil and in the fall drain and refill with synthetic oil (works better if water does happen to get in). |
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Posts: 101
| That was a good video. I haven't done this in years, and I'm looking at doing it next weekend. Very nice to refresh my memory.
Anyone here do anything with the leaf-springs on their trailers?
~Dawg |
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wheel bearing grease