Since this goes on the boat trailer, I figured it didn't belong in the tackle & tips forum so I'm asking here.
Anybody know anything about these? Do they work as stated? I might consider getting a set if they are as good as claimed. I found them while browsing through the "Bargain Cave" on Cabela's website. It's in the "Miscellaneous Boating" area of the cave.
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An oil bath would be the wat to go. The problem I would have would be a leak. The closest lake being 60 miles one way. If you ran out of oil ouch. I guess if properly maintained it would be the wat to go. It's easier to change oil than repack the bearing with grease. If there in the bargain cave someone probably returned them for some reason.
I like the mounted hub greese fittings.
they allow me to change the grease with out having to take off the wheels and barrings.
Every couple hundred miles or every thirty days you give the hub greese fiting a couple shots of greese till you see it come out clean on the back side of the hub, you know you are good.
NOTE this dose not mean that you dont have to do a yearly check on the bearings, it just gives you aditional assurance that your hubs wont heat up and fall of on long trips. (I cary my greese gun with me on my trips) I dont like to take chances.
if you go with an oil fitting be sure to stop on intervals to check to see if your hubs are heating up, if they do the barrings will expand and contract and eventualy will loose its ability to hold the wheel on the hub. (I have seen this picture on the side of the road at least a dozen time in the past few years.)
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Okay, you're hired. I'll let you take care of my stuff. [
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Are ya sure?
my cousin had me take care of his boat last spring, he hasnt seen it since....[angelic]
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Well, you just gotta make sure all the safety stuff is taken care of... such as bearings (I'm clueless in this realm), the outboard working properly (again, clueless), and that sort of stuff. You are NOT ALLOWED to take it anywhere. [mad]
Thanks buddy. [
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bearings are easy, just messy
[ol] [li]remove the tire[/li] [li]remove the cap from the hub, [/li] [li]pull the cotter key[/li] [li]pull off the slotted nut keeper[/li] [li]spin off the nut [/li] [li]look on the back back side of the hub and pull out the barring[/li] [li]soak the barring in gasoline for an hour[/li] [li]use a tooth brush or parts cleaning brush that looks like a stiff paint brush and clean thuroughly every part of the barrings.[/li] [li]once all the old greese is out feel how the barrings feel, shake them they should not rattle much, look to make sure they are not rusted, pitted or chipped. put your fingers in side the berring race hole then spin the berrings, they should spin smoothly and not feal gritty in the least bit in its spinning motion.[/li] [li]allow to dry on the bench or blow dry with a compressor[/li] [li]stick the berrings in to the berring grees can and spinn the barring to get it packed with greese.[/li] [li]with gasoline clean out the inside of the hub making sure to remove all the old greese and there should be no grit in the hub. in other words, spotless,[/li] [li]then clean the race and threads of the axle with gasoline.[/li] [li]pack the hub with greese place the berring back in the hub and greese the race of the axle.[/li] [li]slide the hub with the beering already back in place back on to the race of the axle and place the nut back on. [/li] [li]tighten the nut while spinning the hub, do not tork. tighten till the hub begins to get stiff then back off one eithth to one quarter of a turn. [/li] [li]place the nut keeper back on making sure you line up two slots on the axle to put the cotter key back in.[/li] [li]spin the hub, it shold turn freely by hand but not keep spinning. if it dose not spin freely it is to tight, if it keeps spinning it is to loose.[/li] [li]place the cap back on the hub.[/li] [li]place the tire back on and do the other side.[/li] [li]take the trailer for a ride. go about a mile and get out and put your hand on the hub. if it is hot then you have the nut to tight and may need to pop the cap off the hup pull the cotter key and loosen the nut an 1/8th and reasemble and go another mile. [/li][/ol]
checking the temp of the hub is your insurance test after repacking and or replaceing the berrings of your trailor.
It never hurts to stop and check your hub temp on long trecks as well. hot hubs is the first indicator that something is going wrong. [
] the more you check the temp the better you will feel about pulling the trailor behind you.
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I wouldn't use gasoline as a cleaning agent although veryu effective it is quite dangerous. You can get small cans of solvent that are not petroleum based. I've seen a couple of fires caused by people using gas. I've been guilty of it myself I even used a shop vac to suck the old gas out of a jetski i was rebuilding. That was when i was when i didn't have a family. Just my opion don't want to upset anyone.[
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you are right, there are other cleaning agents such as gunk and the comercial gunk used in auto shops for parts cleaning, problem is they are difficult to dispose of.
gasoline will evaporate quickly and once cut with greese it looses its explosive properties. we are talking about a cup to two cups of gas for the whole job,
To be truthful I beleive every garage needs a parts cleaner tub. I cant tell you how many times I wished had one while working on just about every repair work I have done. yet I dont go out and get one, they are only a couple hundred bucks. they compose of a make shift sink on top of a 35 gallon drum a bilge pump and a brush mounted to a flexible hose that the fluid is pumped through. a fine wire mesh trap below the drain to catch materials so they dont end down at the bottom of the drum. the mesh is as fine as your wifes sifting strainer.
they realy make the job a lot easer and you can set your parts in the sink and let them soke if need be... I have cleaned barrings in them, even intricate valve bodies in the same sink. you will need a compressor and air hose to blow out all the salvant prior to repacking because just a few drops of gunk left some where in the berring housing will cause the barring greese to break down prematurely.
That is the only reason I sugested gas, and it may been a bit presumptous of me to think that every one knows the dangers of gasoline. Kerosene and Deasle fule can also be used but they do not work as well and is difficult to remove from your parts when you are finished cleaning and dose have to be compleatly removed prior to repacking.
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hey dave,you are right about changeing,checking bearings,you forgot about the seal,and checking where the seal rides,(not grooved) also when your looking at the bearing make sure theres no discoloration,which means they got hot somewhere in your travels,in that case change both bearing and race.i also carry a extra hub,ready to put on,in case of a problem.
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I thought I was missing something,
That is sound advice. I have never gone that route, I have always gone for replacing them when I get the trailer, that way I dont have to worie about that little old lady from pasideina turning out to be a speed junky driving to Datona every weekend.
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i started doing that after i had a problem with a brand new trailer.i hate getting caught with my pants down[pirate],when i want to go somewhere
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sounds too complicated for me. besides, I don't have half the stuff you mentioned.
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fifty bucks pluss parts will get you set up right. go to any quality tire shop, and drop it off,
I think, but am not sure 2ng grade machanics run about 75 bucks an hour now and with the fancy stuff menitioned above they can do the job in about half an hour.
with a cup of gass or gunk or gumout and an old tooth brush you should be able to do it in a couple hours. that in cludes drinking a pot of coffee and streching a couple of them fish stories with your neighbor when he comes over to check up on what you are doing.
question is what is your time worth or how much bang you need to get for your buck...
I beleive the new barring kits come with simple instructions. my instructions may sound difficult but realy isn't.
and might I add is if you havent had any experience replacing seals you realy should have some one else do it for you or show you how step by step. crushing, bending or denting the seals makes the whole prossess worthless.
This is why cleaning your berrings every year is a big buck saver. dirt and grit tends to stick to the seals and over the winter months as freezing accurs you have plenty of opertunity for contracting of the rubber that will alow water and dirt to enter in to the hub. and yes brand new trailers will suffer the same problem even if they have not been dunked in the lake the previous year. there is plenty of dust floating around in the wind and caught by falling snow and rain to gather around your berrings. it only takes one grain of sand and one long trip to cause a fatalty to your hub assembly. This anual pratice is as important as drainging your boat motors' lower unit every fall and replacing it with new gear lube in the spring.
on the up side, when you get this part down you will have half the skills needed to change your breaks and rotor on your car or light truck.
So remember when it comes to your toys, be safe, precausous and not wish you would have.
This is realy an excilent topic, I am glad it was brought up...
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Thanks Dave. I have no experience with this so I'll take it in or have someone else show me how to do it. Same with getting the outboard up and running for the year.
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DDR,once you see how its done,you will be suprised on how easy is .
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Hey DDR, I had my local mechanic put a set of bearing buddies on my trailer for $25.00 [I bought the things myself ] Now I just give them a shot every couple of months.
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