Oil bath or bearing buddies?

[spoilsofwar]

Aren't vault hubs only on torsion axles?

No, my vault-equipped trailer has leaf springs.

 

[roscoe]

Bearing buddies can be a problem also. I copied and pasted what I wrote on a land lubber forum this week. I guess I explained it right...

Bearing Buddies is a trademark. These allow you to pump grease directly into the wheel hub and wheel bearings. You only need these if you dunk your trailer under water. If not then they stick out too far and are just not needed. The trick with these is to only pump in grease until you just start to see the center being pushed out by the grease. Not one extra pump but just until it moves a smidgen. Any more grease will be forced out of the rear seal and slung on your load. All this grease keeps the water out of the hub and bearings. Other brand or knockoffs of Bearing Buddies will fail. The fit is poor so the whole thing falls off, the zerk pulls out of the cheap stamp steel center, the circlip holding the spring and center cap are not made of real spring steel so they fall out and you loose the parts and the center cap fits so bad that it does not move until you pumped a wad of grease past the rear seal. Twice the price of the knockoffs but real quality that will serve forever. This trailer had them or I would have just packed the bearings and put on a steel cap.

No, bearing buddies only apply grease to the outside edge of the hub, theoretically they will keep a small amount of pressure on the grease to prevent water intrusion.

If you want a system that actually puts fresh grease into and through the rear and front bearing, forcing the old grease out, you need something like "SpindleLube:, or "SureLube". Very different than a bearing buddy.

 

[oldjeep]

No, bearing buddies only apply grease to the outside edge of the hub, theoretically they will keep a small amount of pressure on the grease to prevent water intrusion.

If you want a system that actually puts fresh grease into and through the rear and front bearing, forcing the old grease out, you need something like "SpindleLube:, or "SureLube". Very different than a bearing buddy.

That is what my last trailer had. Zerk in the end of the spindle that feeds grease through holes in the spindle near the bearings. Kinda look like bearing buddies but the dust caps are just tin with a rubber pullout plug

 

[ricohman]

The oil bath hubs I had were completely trouble free. The bearing buddies I have had came with popped seals, grease leaking, bad bearings.
I would go for oil bath any day over the greasy messy bearing buddy

 

[WIMUSKY]

And on the other side of the coin, all I've ever used is bearing buddies except for a utility trailer which came with the zerk in the center of the spindle. Never had a bearing failure. And I rarely pull the bearings to check/clean and repack. I just feel the hub for heat during every use. They've always been just slightly warm....

Edit: ricohman - The previous owner had no idea how to use Buddies..... Popped seals means too much grease was pumped in...... They shouldn't be greasy messy....

 

[robert graham]

No, my vault-equipped trailer has leaf springs.

Why would it matter what type of springs are on the trailer???....

 

[Outkast]

I've been a trailer mechanic for 8 yrs (yes here in PA there is such a thing as trailer specific technician any trailer 3000 gvwr requires an annual state saftey inspection) and I have seen bearing buddies cause many failures the two main issues I've seen are over filling and causing the seals to blow out and water intrusion. The best advice I can give my customers is to just use regular caps and seal savers and to check them every year or 12k miles or if you dont mind spending the money change the axle to an EZ Lube ( this is a spindle with a zerk pressed in the end and machined so the grease enters in the back and pushes forward) also Magone make a really good marine lithium complex grease. An easy to check the bearing condition jack up the trailer and check the end play hold the top of the tire and move it back and forth shouldn't be more than 1/8th inch of movement if it has alot of slop replace the bearings and races.

 

[bruceb58]

I have both a bearing buddy trailer installed and an ez-lube trailer. The trailer with ez-lube has had bearing issues.

If you don't overfill the bearing buddy, you will never have a problem with blow seals.

 

[bruceb58]

Why would it matter what type of springs are on the trailer???....

I asked the question if you can get vault hubs on a regular non torsion axle.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Out of curiosity, what is the average amount of gun pumps for the ez-lubes? I just put 5 pumps in each hub of my 5th wheel. Gonna use it this weekend for the first time this year....

 

[bruceb58]

I still pull the hubs of my axles with ez-lubes after finding water leaking past the rear seal.

With a 5th wheel, I don't even see the need of putting new grease into the zerk. Only time I feel it's necessary to use the zerk is when you repack the bearings and want to fill the entire hub. In that case, I spin the hub and pump grease until i get grease coming out of the front of the hub.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Thanks

 

[hagedorns]

My oil bath hubs require 50W oil. Iboats only sells Shell Rotella T1 50W in 5 gallon cans. Where can I purchase a smaller quantity?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Canadian Tire?

 

[GA_Boater]

Old thread, off topic and closed.

Please start a new thread, but via Google this product is sold in bulk, 5 gallons or larger.