Fishing Strawberry

[MrShane]

Also running a 1850 boat, but a fiberglass Ranger, on a single axle with bearings lubed via oil bath.
I bought boat new in 2016, logged many local trips plus yearly multiple trips to the Gorge, Idaho, and the hot temps/roads to Powell.
Zero failures.
Other than jacking them up each spring and giving them a spin while listening for abnormal noise and feeling for abnormal movements, they have recieved zero maintenance.
And mine have a solid metal cap, not a sight window.
Other than a walk-around inspection before trips, they will not need any further maintenance until an oil seep is noticed.
100% confidence to drag that rig anywhere.

The original caps on my EZ Loader were plastic.  They look vulnerable to damage but I guess they're not, otherwise EZ Loader wouldn't use them.  I replaced them with aluminum ones with a sight glass.  My annual maintenance consists of a glance at the sight glass.  If the oil level is good and the oil is clear and not milky, you're good to go.  

You might think about swapping out your caps to the sight glass type, that would save you the trouble of jacking up your wheels and spinning them, which doesn't tell you what the oil looks like anyway.

Hard to argue with 40,000+ miles of maintenance-free service, plus salt water use.

Agreed, I will need to look in to the aluminum/sight window glass.
My hubs are not EZ Lube, I will have to investigate the options.
The biggest reason for jacking up/spinning wheel at beginning of season is mostly to see if run-out is changing from season to season.
Also see if any ‘noise’ is detected.