warm hubs

[lipripper1]

So, I always do the hubs test. Ya know feel them after you have trailered to feel how hot they are. I have never felt one that was any warmer than the air temp. It seems my dad always did it and told me it was a way to test to see if your bearing are good or not. If they were getting warm-hot you might want to think about changing them ASAP. And if you they are very hot to the touch, good luck getting home.

My question is... Is this a good method to go off? I change my bearings every other year and as I said earlier have never had even a warm hub after 100+miles of highway driving. So can I rest at east until my hubs get warm. I noticed one wheel sounding a little gravely while backing down the ramp but again the hub is not warm... I wonder if its just sand/dirt in the brake.

[ffishman]

Before I changed over to Liquid-lube hubs, I would break down the bearings each year. A good cleaning, inspection, and reassembly. Never had a problem. Messy, but necessary. If I were you I would break them down and inspect them. Better now, than on the side of the road.

[perchjerker]

I agree with Fishman

Feeling them for heat is always a good idea but it doesnt necessarily tell you everything

[Jack G]

I trailer my boat 5,000 miles per year. I don't want to make more work than is necessary and I don't want to be lazy and put stuff off until I have a big, inconvenient problem.

I inspect my bearings and repack or replace as necessary every other year unless something tells me there is a problem. I utilize buddy bearings and don't over grease the bearings. I feel the hubs each time I stop to refuel, eat, rest area, etc on a long haul. In twenty years I have never had a bearing problem following this procedure.

I suppose this will draw critics but It has worked for me.

Jack

[MarkG]

QUOTE:
I change my bearings every other year and as I said earlier have never had even a warm hub

Why would you CHANGE your bearings every other year? If when you service them,during inspection the bearings and race are not rusted,pitted or blue,(from overheating )the cages not cracked,or falling apart, there should be no reason to change them out.

Just service them properly,as often as you have been,and you should be fine,but no real reason to change them out unless you see a bad one.
It is true that a cool hub is not NECESSARILY a guarantee that ALL is right,but a hot one certainly is an indication of a problem. So continue to monitor for heat on your trips. Some people carry spare bearings or a complete spare grease packed hub assembly. Could save a lot of grief. I used to, but never got around to getting a set for my current trailer,I probably should.

One other thing you should periodically do during the season is jack up the trailer,and spin the wheels,listening and feeling for anything abnormal,such as wobble, grinding, binding ,as well as check for too much or too little wheel play. If becomes excessive,will also indicate a problem.

[mmontpla]

I have a question on my situation. I live in Minnesota lakes country. I have an 18ft Crestliner on a shorlander single axle trailer with bearing buddies on the hubs. I don't put many miles on the trailer per year as the trips are short and the boats sits on a lift for part of the year.

I make about a dozen trips to area lakes within 60 miles from home and I make about 3 or 4 trips per year to lakes further away (about 200 miles). I always grease the bearing buddies prior to the longer trips and also a time or 2 in the year depending on the when the longer trips are. I use the same temperate tests that other talked about in this thread.

So my questions are:
How often should I be adding grease to the Bearing buddies?
How do I know how much grease is too much grease in them?
How often would you recommend that I tear them apart and repack the bearings?
I hate repacking them and I am always afraid that I will cause a problem. Where is the best place to take them? Boat dealer? Car Garage? Tire Shop?

Thanks for any advise!

[Jack G]

mmontpla

If you put too much grease into your hub you can blow out the rear seal and get grease all over the inside of your wheel and even the bottom of your boat. Bearing Buddies have a metal collar or ring that surrounds the grease zert. Push on that collar with a dowl or popsicle stick or carefully with a screw driver and see if the collar is rock solid or does it move when you push on it. If it moves you have enough grease in your hub and you should not add more. You only need to add grease when the collar moves or rocks and then just enough to get the collar rocking again. Most problems occur when too much grease is used.

For peace of mind I inspect and replace or repack the bearings every other year. If you have the work done you should be aware that a car garage or tire shop probably does not use marine bearing grease.

I also have a spare hub in my truck that already has races pressed into it and bearings and the whole thing is packed with grease and taped in such a way that no dirt can get into it no matter how long I keep it available. It is a lot easier to replace a whole hub along side the road than it is to replace bearings and races.

Jack

[perchjerker]

I do them every fall during the winter layup process. If you do have water in there you dont want it sitting in there over the winter. They only way you are going to know if there is water in there is to take them apart.

You can have any shop you trust do it. They can easily buy marine grease, or you can supply your own for them to use.

that should not be an issue

[MarkG]

Questions:


Q:How often should I be adding grease to the Bearing buddies?
A: Add only when there is not enough.To check on grease amount,PRESS and rock the plate. If it moves and you can feel the grease squishing around under it,there is enough. If when pressing the plate there is ZERO movement, because the plate is fully in against its stop,you need to add grease until it starts moving out and you can rock it. Not too much more than that. If you find you are always having to add,it means its getting out someplace,check the inner seal on the other side of the wheel.

Q:How do I know how much grease is too much grease in them?
A:On Bearing Buddies if you have put so much that the plate is all the way out,that's too much. You need to leave room for heat expansion. Otherwise it can blow out the inner seals. You will know this by looking on the inner side of the wheel and see if grease is coming out between the hub and the spindle. If so,need to replace the inner seals. Water probably has gotten in also,Very common with bearing buddies.

Q: How often would you recommend that I tear them apart and repack the bearings?
A: Many will debate how often. Some say every year,some every other. Some say it depends on how many miles you put on a year,some say it's how often you launch. It's actually the submersion of the hubs in water that give us all the problems.Moisture can get in if there isn't enough grease,or the seals are not tight.

Q:Where is the best place to take them? Boat dealer? Car Garage? Tire Shop?
A:When I get lazy and don't want to do it,I take it to a Marine dealer,.preferably one that handles the same brand trailer I have.They usually have the right parts,bearings and seals on hand in case they need them.

[mmontpla]

Thanks guys for all the info. Thanks for the tip about pushing on the plate to see if there is enough/too much grease. That really helps.

[Phil T]

When doing the grab and feel test for bad bearings, I'll suggest you spit on the hub before grabbing it. If the bearings are bad, your method will get you a seriously burned hand. You know that I know that, you heard me shout profanities a few years ago (no matter how far you live from me).

[FisHn2DMax]

I agree to spit test before touching with hand. Also, those with drum surge brakes on your trailers , if you live in mountainous area, like I do, and you stop to test the bearing heat, the brakes will warm up the hub and may give you the wrong impression the bearing are heating up. I made this mistake and assumed it was the bearings going bad and it was nothing more than the brake heat penetrating the hubs.

[perchjerker]

well of course you have to use caution when checking the hub this way. If you know something might be hot when you touch it, you dont just go ahead and grab it do you?

If so i would hate to see you around a stove lol

and on the brakes, yes of course they generate heat. Heat is a byproduct of friction. Brakes work by friction.

[Common Man]

I use a non contact infrared temp gun to check my hubs and my tires. When I stop I check each hub and do a 3 point check on each tire. My hubs and tires are always with in 5 deg F of each other. Keeps your hand clean and you have an exact temp reference for each hub/tire.

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