Check yer bearings

[Bduck]

Last year, I decided it was time to replace my bearings, because the last time they were replaced was in October 2014.  After pulling the bearings I discovered that my old bearings were in excellent condition and didn't need to be replaced.  I replaced the bearings anyway and then the trouble began.  After losing multiple bearing buddies I decided to just start over with new hub kits.  That helped, but I still lost a couple bearing buddies. 

I regularly squirt a little grease into my bearings and feel them often.  Fortunately, my diligence has paid off so far.

I had the same thing happen a year ago. Do you do your own work Kent? I took apart my bearing to inspect and repack them, everything went well until I took it out for that first trip, when I got back home my bearing buddy{BB} cap was missing, so I assume I just did not put it on tight. I bought a new BB cap but it did it again, so I took it apart and the first thing I noticed was the nut was way too loose, I guess when I tighten it, I did not spin the wheel then tighten the nut again. That is all it takes to make those caps come off. I tighten it and never had any more problems. I should have known better but it won't happen again.

Curt, this not always the case but not wrong either. I lost a BB cap on the way to Strawberry noticing it was missing at the marina. I still launched not letting it spoil the day of fishing. The grease I used was a good superior grease which repelled the water from bearing corrosion. On the way home we stopped off at an auto parts store in Heber City and purchased a dual pack BB. Installed for the rest of the trip home. The nut was not loose to cause it to come off. Previous to the trip I installed 4 new sets of wheel bearings. After the trip I investigated for a reason of why it came off in flight and this is what I came up with. I rechecked the remaining 3 that still was installed and found 1 of them that felt loose to the point I could rotate it slightly until it tightened up but could not pull it out by hand. Then I went about the usual way with a hammer tapping side to side up & down on the cap until it came out. To this day I don't know if there is a BB removal tool but sure there must be one and never even looked to find one especially since a faithful hammer does the job. This is what I found, the insert sleeve portion while tapping removal gets reshaped. This is how I remedied my situation so I wouldn't have to purchase all new BB's and its been working.


 
First I get a center punch



Next I would position punch in approx center inside
sleeve in 3 places around sleeve giving it love taps
until a dimple on outer side appears. It doesn't take 
too much of a tap.



Finally insert sleeve end into bearing
hub but not all the way leaving a small
gap. Next I used a high temp RTV running 
a small bead around BB sleeve and finish 
tapping sleeve up against bearing hub. Make 
sure areas are clean & free of grease for RTV to
adhere. RTV will bunch up, you can leave it or as I do 
take your finger around smoothing RTV
and remove excess leaving a fine bead. This 
further water tightens any possible seepage.
Have not had any issues with any water
penetration in the 5yrs having this trailer.

I don't care to fix a thrown bearing out on the road. Good Luck with your project.