Re: Just a reminder, check and lube your wheel bearings!
I would suggest that Dexter's EZLube axle grease system is not very useful.
I have been in the trailer business for 25+ years. On anything but a boat trailer, all my 'regular' customers I remove the EZLube Grease zerk and replace the center hole cap with a plain cap. This is to ensure the bearings get a proper cleaning and greasing instead of the totally improper zerk method. On boats I always replace the cap with a Bearing Buddy - more on that later.
Greasing by virtue of the Dexter EZLube zerk fills the hub up with grease and doesn't really grease the bearing until it is full. On any hub that has brakes this is a disaster as you will always end up getting grease into the brake shoes or pads when that full hub gets warm and the grease expands. That is nonsense. And who wants grease all over everything even if you don't have brakes to get gooey?
Proper greasing involves driving the seals out, wiping all grease off the bearings and out of the inside of the hub. Then washing the bearing in solvent - I use laquer thinner since I want it out quickly and I do so many, but mineral spirits work fine. Inspect the bearings and races carefully, grease them either in your hand by cutting the grease into the bearing or buy a inexpensive bearing grease cup and use that. Add a bit of grease to the outside of the bearing and reinstall the inner with a new double lip seal.
When you put the nut on, tighten and then back it out a flat or two so there is 1/16 inch or so of free play on the hub. THIS IS ESSENTIAL! As you go down the road your hubs get warm, as they get warm they expand and get tighter. You MUST have free play in your cold bearing or you will burn them up.
Bearing Buddies. On a boat, these are great. However, they play absolutely no part in greasing your bearings. What they do is add a little bit of grease pressure from the outside so when you back into the water, and cool off your hubs, which suddenly decreasies the pressure inside the hub, so that instead of pulling a drop of water in from the seal side, it pushes a drop of grease in from the Bearing Buddy side. The only purpose is to keep water out using grease pressure when the drop in temperature happens. It does that very well.
The proper way to use a Bearing Buddy is to take your grease gun with you to the ramp and pump just enough grease into the bearing buddy to visibly compress the spring just a smidgen so you know it has a little bit of pressure on it. Then back into the water confident your hubs won't pull any water in.
The wrong way to use a Bearing Buddy is to pump it up full at home and drive to the ramp. All you accomplish then is as you drive you pump the grease under pressure into the hub leaving the spring uncompressed, no protection from water entry as the hub cools, and eventually a full hub that spews grease all over everything.
These methods will work every time and everywhere. I would unscrew the zerk on a Dexter EZLube axle and replace with Bearing Buddies. And maintain them as part of your winterization.
Rick
