Buddy Bearings or Sealed?

[ChrisF]

I just converted my the drum brakes on my twin axle trailer to Kodiak discs. Huge improvement. I still can't believe how much better they stop the trailer. I do have a question though. I replaced all four hubs as well since the old ones were about 3 years old and getting pretty rusty. The shop that did the work removed my buddy bearings and replaced them with a sealed caps. They claim that sealed is a better way to go: 1) because many customers end up blowing out the seals by putting too much grease in, and 2) with the buddy bearings you tend to accumulate old grease and you're actually better off just pulling the hub once a year and repacking the bearings with fresh grease.

Is this BS? I trailer my boat every time I launch it and take at least 2 long (4 - 5 hour) trips per year. I'm pretty meticulous about keeping the hubs greased up and am comfortable doing so without blowing out seals. I'm really worried that with the totally sealed caps, I'll end up burning out a hub due to insufficient grease. Can I really wait a year before repacking?

[ChrisF]

The shop that did the work removed my buddy bearings and replaced them with a sealed caps.

Just to clarify, the "sealed caps" I have now are just plain old dust caps.

[Mal de Mer]

The shop that did the work removed my buddy bearings and replaced them with a sealed caps.

Just to clarify, the "sealed caps" I have now are just plain old dust caps.

Blowing out seals is never good, but you really have to pump the heck out of a bearing buddy to blow it out....I've never had a problem...I just fill the bearing buddy half way (never till its fully expanded to the end) and never had an issue....after replacing bearings and packing the hubs by hand it doesn;t take much more to fill the remaining space...you do need room for expansion so don't over do it....just pump until you see the springs on the buddy begin to move...should be fine. What they are also refering to is old grease that hasn't been changed in a while...it becomes hard and useless,,,,guys just keep filling the buddy up year after year and never cleaning out the hub and bearings and hand repacking...that hard stuff will blow out the seal..if you clean and repack routinely, you don't have to worry about it. PS...ask for you bearing buddies back...they are yours, not there's to remove and keep.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Mal de Mer

[fireboat]

I'll second Mal de Mer, I have never had a problem with bearing buddies, they are cheap and easy to maintain. I have the posi-lube system now which is supposed to force the old grease out. But I think it is true that with any system, you still need to pull the hubs every year or two to inspect the bearings and replace the seals.

I don't know, do they make stainless dust caps? I've seen some trailers with regular dust caps and they are pretty rusted up.

[ChrisF]

PS...ask for you bearing buddies back...they are yours, not there's to remove and keep.

I did. They're sitting in my garage. I'm trying to figure out if I should just pop the caps off and put them back on. At least one of them probably needs to be replaced because it's pretty rusted up.

I don't know, do they make stainless dust caps? I've seen some trailers with regular dust caps and they are pretty rusted up.

Don't know. I'm leaning towards just putting the bearing buddies back on. I've got plans for a local trip this weekend, then a 5-hour trip the following weekend and no time to mess with the trailer between now and then, so I'll probably just wait and replace them after my trips. Hopefully there's enough greese in there to get me though.

Edited June 2, 2010 by ChrisF

[ChrisF]

I've decided to stick with the dust caps and see how it goes. I'm pulling the trailer across Flordia (Tampa to Florida City) at the end of this week. I'll be checking the hub temps when I stop for gas. Hopefully I can avoid any drama.

[Fish Slapper]

I've decided to stick with the dust caps and see how it goes. I'm pulling the trailer across Flordia (Tampa to Florida City) at the end of this week. I'll be checking the hub temps when I stop for gas. Hopefully I can avoid any drama.

If they were packed correctly - dust caps or BB should both be fine.

Fish Slapper

[drydockboat]

I just converted my the drum brakes on my twin axle trailer to Kodiak discs. Huge improvement. I still can't believe how much better they stop the trailer. I do have a question though. I replaced all four hubs as well since the old ones were about 3 years old and getting pretty rusty. The shop that did the work removed my buddy bearings and replaced them with a sealed caps. They claim that sealed is a better way to go: 1) because many customers end up blowing out the seals by putting too much grease in, and 2) with the buddy bearings you tend to accumulate old grease and you're actually better off just pulling the hub once a year and repacking the bearings with fresh grease.

Is this BS? I trailer my boat every time I launch it and take at least 2 long (4 - 5 hour) trips per year. I'm pretty meticulous about keeping the hubs greased up and am comfortable doing so without blowing out seals. I'm really worried that with the totally sealed caps, I'll end up burning out a hub due to insufficient grease. Can I really wait a year before repacking?

[drydockboat]

Go back to the trailer buddys. As posted on down just put grease into them till the plate starts to move out and you won't blow the seals. When you launch the boat and the hubs are warm they will wick moisture, by keeping pressure on the grease with the trailer buddy you help keep the moisture out. Always check your wheel bearings annually. Spin the wheels and listen for roughness and pull the trailer buddys and look for water in grease, if either are present then repack. It sounds like you have good maintenance habits, keep up the good work.

[Langski93]

I am interested in more details regarding your change from drum to disk brakes. Were these hydraulic surge, drum brakes that you changed over to stainless disk brakes? I have been considering doing that for some time. Any tips?

langski93