Filling Bearing Buddies

[Dave in Mpls]

I know there was a post a couple weeks ago relating to this, but I can't locate it to save my life! I don't run them on my trailer, but a friend of mine want's to install them on his.

My question is, how much grease do you put in your bearing buddies?? Just enough so that the spring begins to compress, or do you fill them suckers up?!?

Thanks

[chadk66]

go ahead and fill em up, but if you overfill em they will blow off or the wheel seal will blow. Easy fix either way though so don't sweat it.

[DO2]

Fill the bearing buddies to the point where the follower just starts to move...... then stop. Its full. If you overfill, the grease will be thrown out the rear all over the inside rims of the wheels. It's just a "pain" when this happens and not detrimrntal to the wheels. One thing to bear in mind is that overfilling with grease will NEVER blow the rear grease seals out.

Bearing Buddy has a web site . I believe it's www.bearingbuddy.com. There's some good information there. Good luck !

[EricCO]

If it gets all over the rim, doesn't that mean the seal has been blown?

I have bearing buddies just installed and they are making me nervous now.

[EAGL E EYES]

Don't worry Eric, If you fill the bearing buddies up until you start to feel some resistance stop it's full. You can tell if you're about to blow the seal out. Use a manual grease gun to feel the pressure. If you try using a pneumatic gun you can't feel the pressure or resistance thus creating a possible blown seal. good luck!!

[Dave in Mpls]

Thanks, guys!

[SUPERTROLLER]

Had a friend fill his until they were crammed full and when he reached his detination 300 miles away found both "bearing buddies" blown right out from all the pressure that developed from heat build-up during the trip. Do not completely fill. Leave yourself some expansion room. I think his were called Red Eyes. Maybe they are made different but play it safe and add a little grease as needed throughout the summer. I try to remember to check the bearings every gas stop because those little tires are turning a lot faster than big truck tires at 70 miles/hr. and you can really cook'em if they're ready to go.

[Gary/MN]

And if grease comes out of the rear seal its double bad if you have brakes on your trailer. It ruins the brake shoes (makes them sticky).

[dummie]

I have them on my new rig and this is what the dealer told me. First of all if you just bought it you don't have to mess with it. Next what I do is to eye ball the cup if I'm filling it. {this is on the old rig} When the spring or cup just start to move and you can rock it they are full. As the one post says they have a web site and its good advice. They do cover all you need to know. Good fishing and God bless.