towing ?

[jac09g8gt]

I have never pulled my boat long distance and plan on taking our boat (01 glastron sx175 3.0L) on a 7 hour road trip to see my family in Texas to spend sometime on the lake. I am getting new tires and just filled the bearing buddies up with grease, is there any other advice any of you may have as a precaution? I am pulling it with my 07 Chrysler Aspen 4.7 v8. I have pulled trailers alot in the past, but not a boat trailer. Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[skargo]

Re: towing ?

Hopefully you didn't overfill the BBs!

Towing a boat is like towing anything else in my experience. Leave room ahead for breaking, don't try and set any land speed records, stop often to check your connections and safety chains.

 

[robert graham]

Re: towing ?

We tow the boat to Florida for 500+miles and every rest stop and fuel stop I put my hand on each trailer hub to check temperature for any overheating, double check your tire pressure because those trailer tires run a good bit more PSI than a car tire. My trailer has 15" wheels and they call for 50PSI. If you just got new tires the bozo at the tire place may have put 35PSI out of habit for car tires. Low tire pressure in a trailer tire can overheat it in a hurry,especially since the carcasses and sidewalls are so much thicker than a car tire. Good Luck!

 

[jac09g8gt]

Re: towing ?

They were pretty empty, I filled them to when the stem stopped moving out. How much is too much? I never worked with BB before.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: towing ?

Have the trailer bearings ever been removed, inspected, repacked, and reinstalled? Not saying they are bad but they are almost 9 years old, if they have never been inspected for pitting, spalling, etc it may be a good time to do it or have it done. Usually on a bearing buddy once the center hub/spring starts to move I stop pumping. If you filluntil they are all the way out it can add pressure to the hub interior esp. once warm and can cause the inner seal to fail. At a minimum I would closely check the hubs for warmth every time you stop or every 75-100 miles. If they are hot to the touch its time to replace the bearings and races. Check all tire pressures and have a good spare and the proper tools to change it with. Check all fluids in the tow vech. an oil change might be good also depending on the age of whats in there. Make sure all trailer lights are working as they should, if the trailer has breaks check the fluid/operation of them as well. I tow 7 hrs each way to lake powell 3-4 times a year and its a long hot drive through the desert, I like to be sure I have done everything possible to avoid breakdowns.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: towing ?

If you did what you said you did you can expect to have grease all over the inside of the wheel as you drastically overfilled the hub. You pump grease into the bearing buddy until the disk just begins to move -- not until it stops moving.

 

[jac09g8gt]

Re: towing ?

The wheels spin freely without noise when jacked up. Is there a way to get some of the overfilled grease out of the bearing buddy?

 

[Outsider]

Re: towing ?

Pull the Buddy and scoop out some of the grease with a finger. Relieve the over-pressure slightly and you should be fine. The idea with a BB is to fill the hull until the spring starts to compress, thus (theoretically) putting the hub under slight pressure and keeping water from intruding while in the water ...

 

[JaseBosto]

Re: towing ?

just tow the thing, don't drive like an idiot, check your connections at fillups and you will be fine.

 

[reelnative]

Re: towing ?

pump those buddys up till theres greese comming out of them then there good, wipe off the exess, its allways a good thing to cary a spare tire and a spare hub and berrings, and the tools to do the work if needed, ck the temp of your tires and axles after you put the first 50miles on them then about every 100 to 150 miles DOT says to ck them and your load every 30 to 50 miles for comm service but no one does you would be spending all day on the side of the road if you did that, also make sure you have your boat tied down so it cant come forward or to eather side incase you have to make any sudden corse changes, one other thing dont speed everything you do speeding up stopping swirving will take twice the time and distance, and make sure you have enough toung weight this will make the boat tow better, if you do have bad luck and have a flat dont slam on the breaks this will make you more at risk for a tail wagger slow down at a normal pace. good luck and have fun

 

[skargo]

Re: towing ?

pump those buddys up till theres greese comming out of them then there good, wipe off the exess, its allways a good thing to cary a spare tire and a spare hub and berrings, and the tools to do the work if needed, ck the temp of your tires and axles after you put the first 50miles on them then about every 100 to 150 miles DOT says to ck them and your load every 30 to 50 miles for comm service but no one does you would be spending all day on the side of the road if you did that, also make sure you have your boat tied down so it cant come forward or to eather side incase you have to make any sudden corse changes, one other thing dont speed everything you do speeding up stopping swirving will take twice the time and distance, and make sure you have enough toung weight this will make the boat tow better, if you do have bad luck and have a flat dont slam on the breaks this will make you more at risk for a tail wagger slow down at a normal pace. good luck and have fun

That is the wrong way to use bearing buddies, you do NOT pump them until grease comes out, unless you want to blow the seal.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: towing ?

Yes reelnative that is incorrect. Silvertip and Outsider posted the proper way to use BBs.

 

[jac09g8gt]

Re: towing ?

Thank you all for your comments. I have pulled my trailer with my motorcycle loaded for many miles in the past years, gotta love the Texas hill country rides. I figured this wouldnt be any different. I just wanted to make sure there was not a precaution I was missing. Thank you all again.

 

[reelnative]

Re: towing ?

Yes reelnative that is incorrect. Silvertip and Outsider posted the proper way to use BBs.

wrong on buddys there is a small hole on the side of the buddy you are to pump greese into the buddy until greese comes out the hole they put the hole there so you know that you have filled the void inside the buddy,also it is a place for any water that has got into the buddy to excape, I have greesed over 1000 buddys in my day and there all done the same way, when you have the buddy full greese will come out of this little hole it will look like a snake comming out.
I myself like posi lubes or ez lubes better then the buddys but buddys are better then the old caps that we use to have to pack with greese then hammer on

 

[skargo]

Re: towing ?

wrong on buddys there is a small hole on the side of the buddy you are to pump greese into the buddy until greese comes out the hole they put the hole there so you know that you have filled the void inside the buddy,also it is a place for any water that has got into the buddy to excape, I have greesed over 1000 buddys in my day and there all done the same way, when you have the buddy full greese will come out of this little hole it will look like a snake comming out.
I myself like posi lubes or ez lubes better then the buddys but buddys are better then the old caps that we use to have to pack with greese then hammer on

I think we are all on the same page, sort of. Your way is filling it, and using the pressure relief valve to push out excess. I personally would do it like their website states, your way, you are overfilling, and the grease is coming out because of the overfilling.

7. How do I check the grease level in the hub? Grease can be added to the hub through an easily accessible grease fitting located in the center of the Bearing Buddy? piston. Lubricant level can be checked by pressing on the edge of the piston. If you can rock or move the piston, the hub is properly filled. If the piston won't rock or move, add grease until piston moves outward about 1/8 inch. When adding grease, always use a hand grease gun. An automatic grease gun will destroy the hub's inner seal.

http://www.bearingbuddy.com/faqs.htm#7

I know of quite a few that have failed, due to overfilling

 

[jkust]

Re: towing ?

My advice comes from my mistakes and experience and is to have a spare tire or even two for that long of a trip. Also and more importantly than having a second spare tire is to ensure that the lug wrench for your suv will work on your trailer lugs. I learned the hard way that the trailer lugs are bigger than my SUV lugs. If not go get a T wrench at Walmart. Also then, I discovered that for my Shorelandr' trailer, a six lug rim and the unusually heavy duty tire that accompanies it is more difficult to find than a flying car. In my state out of the entire yellow pages (including Shorelandr') one place had the assembly (for any unmatching set) but since I bought it ahead of time when I bought the boat I didn't learn that lesson the hard way. Even the "Tire Guy" type of shops that stake their reputation of their ability to get any tire and rim were stumped. Since you will be parking several times on the trip make sure you have some security devises on the spare tires and the tounge as well. That leads me into having you check your boat insurancance policy for roadside assistance for trailer related problems. My Progressive policy includes this and so I got roadside assistance to bring an appropriate lug wrench out to the boondocs when I got a flat last season. Lastly, my trailer tires take 60lbs psi and most tire pressure guages do not go that high. So rather than guess make sure your guage is appropriate for your needs. I would also grab a few extra light bulbs for the trailer as they tend to go out often. Again these are all applicable to my rig but would have loved to receive this advice in advance.

 

[JaseBosto]

Re: towing ?

Grease it, tow it. Done deal.

 

[jac09g8gt]

Re: towing ?

I forgot to mention that I bought a new spare right away which is bolted to the frame. I have an tire compressor in the truck also. Thank you all again. Hope you all have a good boating season.