"Old" bearing grease

[guy48065]

I now have 5 trailers and have to admit I haven't been religious about greasing or even inspecting the bearings.

My latest addition is a 1996 jet ski trailer so I thought I better give it a look since I know nothing about it's history.
I was pleased to find the axle is a genuine Dexter and the spindles were filled with new-looking red grease.
I removed the outer bearings & cleaned them. They are perfect. The spindle looks perfect. The rear seal looks perfect & doesn't leak.
I put it all back together & added more grease from my red gun.

Now the questions:
* Should I trust my eyes or should I have cleaned every bit of grease off and refilled?
* Is there one grease preferred for all trailer uses (landscape, utility, submerged boat trailers, etc)? So far with my spotty maintenance habits I'm favoring red Mystic.
Of course I actually don't know if the "old" red grease was Mystic.

 

[JimS123]

I have 5 trailers as well. Way back when I did Fall maintenance on one trailer and didn't have enough of any one kind of grease, so I mixed 2 together and finished the job. On my way back from vacation that next Spring I stopped for gas and noticed my wheels were pouring out a concoction that looked like oil. Fortunately I was only a few miles from home. When I broke down the wheels the 2 greases apparently were not compatible and they completely liquefied.

Now I use one grade of grease and use the same thing in all of my trailers. The manufacturer states a shelf life, so I buy new every 2 years.

Haven't had a problem since.

One of my trailers is only driven locally, 3 or 4 miles at a time. It has bearing buddies and I see no rear seal leakage or reduction in pressure. Those have not been repacked in 6 years I think, so maybe usable life is longer than they say.

 

[H20Rat]

Most greases you buy off shelf at your local big box are going to be lithium based. There a couple different types of lithium grease, but all compatible with each other.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I usually have some random grease in the greasegun, and don't really give a second thought to it. I tow thousands of miles per year, and have NEVER has a bearing failure. I've repacked very few bearings in my life, mostly on junk that I was given and rebuilding.


Yeah I wouldn't believe the shelf life. If it is 2 years sealed in the tube, it is certainly less once it is exposed to oxygen. There might be a couple OCD iboaters who repack every bearing every year or two, but the majority do not. I have trailers I've personally owned for 15+ years that have never had a repack.

 

[Chris1956]

It probably makes sense to wipe off as much of the old grease as you can, while the bearing is disassembled. Then repack with new grease. That will eliminate any incompatibility, and it is not hard, once the bearings, races and seals are exposed.

I use "Boat trailer wheel bearing grease" for all my applications. It is water resistant, which is fairly unique, and I believe if it can work in boat trailer wheel bearings, other applications (lifts, tie rods etc) will be less strenuous. Wallyworld and others sell it.

I would recommend the use of "bearing buddy"-type products, as they can help keep water out of the bearings. If you trailer any distance, the bearings should be disassembled and cleaned and regreased on some sort of fixed schedule.

 

[guy48065]

You guys are making me feel better about my lax trailer maintenance!

It DID bite me in the ass once. Six years ago I bought my vacation lake cottage and it came with a pontoon boat & trailer. That trailer likely had never been out of the neighborhood since new (90's) and was fine to launch & retrieve my 'toon every season. 3 years ago I decided to sell the old toon & buy a newer used one so I trailered the old one home to put it up for sale. About 45 minutes into the trip (4 hours total) I pulled into a gas station to fill up. While there I did a walk-around and noticed that on one side the wheel looked funny. The dustcap was gone, wheel was cocked on the spindle and there was no cotter pin, nut, washer or outer bearing! It could have detached at any point and dropped my boat on its side.
I had to make arrangements for the trailer & boat to be picked up on a roll-back and taken to a local garage for repair. Paid thru the nose for a new hub & internals and had to make the trip again to retrieve it for the rest of the trip home.

This is why I'm upping my maintenance game.

 

[bruceb58]

Most greases you buy off shelf at your local big box are going to be lithium based. There a couple different types of lithium grease, but all compatible with each other.

The Stalube marine grease I use is aluminum complex base. It is not compatible with lithium grease.

 

[guy48065]

I bought a tube of Mobil 1 red synthetic grease once. Gun constantly dripped red oil on my garage floor. If that wasn't bad enough, after all the oil separated out the remaining dry red paste plugged up the gun head.
I thought "Mobil 1--gotta be good stuff!"
Never again.

 

[bruceb58]

I bought a tube of Mobil 1 red synthetic grease once. Gun constantly dripped red oil on my garage floor. If that wasn't bad enough, after all the oil separated out the remaining dry red paste plugged up the gun head.
I thought "Mobil 1--gotta be good stuff!"
Never again.

All grease can separate. I use Mobi-1 on trailers other than my boat trailers. Never an issue with a little bit of separation.

 

[Lou C]

With boat trailers that use the Super Lube system with the rubber cap in the spindle cover and grease fitting in the spindle you can pump in new grease till all the old grease exits out of the spindle cap; if there is no sign of water in the grease and the bearings run smooth there is no need to take it all apart for manual packing.
As far as grease I used to use Pennzoil Marine and then changed to Lucas Marine when Pennzoil stopped selling their marine grease. Same bearings in these hubs since I bought the axle from Champion Trailers in 2004. Never had separation problems with either grease...

 

[dingbat]

https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28761/storing-grease-to-avoid-bleed-separation-

https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/31614/minimize-grease-bleeding

 

[bruceb58]

With boat trailers that use the Super Lube system with the rubber cap in the spindle cover and grease fitting in the spindle you can pump in new grease till all the old grease exits out of the spindle cap; if there is no sign of water in the grease and the bearings run smooth there is no need to take it all apart for manual packing.
As far as grease I used to use Pennzoil Marine and then changed to Lucas Marine when Pennzoil stopped selling their marine grease. Same bearings in these hubs since I bought the axle from Champion Trailers in 2004. Never had separation problems with either grease...

Ahhh the EZ lube system. I call it the LAZ-Lube system for people who are too lazy to properly inspect and pack their bearings. With a boat trailer, it is especially important to inspect the bearings since water can enter through the rear seal. The Pontoon trailer I bought with the LAZ-Lube system had pitted inner bearings on all the hubs. In addition, if you have drum brakes, it is possible to blow out the rear seal with the LAZ-Lube system.

Here is a picture from an RV site I am on who had this issue happen to him.

 

[achris]

and have to admit I haven't been religious about greasing or even inspecting the bearings.

This makes me quite angry.

Earlier this year a very large area, not very far from me, was set on fire by a trailer that had lost a wheel. Quite clearly, that would have been a lack of maintenance issue. Personally, I feel the person responsible should have been charged with the cost to put the fire out, and pay the land owners for recovery. Had that happened, it would have been a strong message, you cause a fire, in any way, you're going to pay for it! Sadly, all he did was say 'sorry for the accident' and was allowed to blissfully carry on life... It wasn't an accident, it was completely avoidable, with a few minutes of maintenance.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...th-kwinana-freeway-could-flare-again/11857328

Guys, DO YOUR MAINTENANCE! I can't stress it strongly enough. Trailer bearings are about as basic as it gets. If you can't maintain them, or aren't willing to pay someone else to, you shouldn't be allowed to own a boat/caravan/trailer!

 

[Lou C]

Ahhh the EZ lube system. I call it the LAZ-Lube system for people who are too lazy to properly inspect and pack their bearings. With a boat trailer, it is especially important to inspect the bearings since water can enter through the rear seal. The Pontoon trailer I bought with the LAZ-Lube system had pitted inner bearings on all the hubs. In addition, if you have drum brakes, it is possible to blow out the rear seal with the LAZ-Lube system.

Here is a picture from an RV site I am on who had this issue happen to him.

Perhaps that could happen if someone never pumped in new grease because for sure you'd see milky grease coming out the spindle cap!
I grease these 2x a season and have never had water intrusion or bearing problems with this system and that’s 16 years in salt water. That one in the pic, either they never touched it or used cheap seals.

 

[bruceb58]

Perhaps that could happen if someone never pumped in new grease because for sure you'd see milky grease coming out the spindle cap!
I grease these 2x a season and have never had water intrusion or bearing problems with this system and that’s 16 years in salt water. That one in the pic, either they never touched it or used cheap seals.

Don't count on it. I actually tried the LAZ-lube and didn't see any milky grease. Said screw it and pulled the hub anyway. Very first one had pitted bearings from water intrusion.

So..how do you inspect your brakes if you don't pull the drums?

The picture was from a year old trailer with the original seals.

Another thing I do is always use USA made Timken bearings/races and Tinken seals. Have yet to find US made Timken seals though.

 

[Lou C]

These drums have a hole on the outside to adjust the brakes and you can see how thick the shoes are. I do remove the drums every 4-5 seasons to check everything especially the wheel cyl. If the seals look like they are starting to seep I change them then. But I’ve never seen milky grease when doing this. I use triple lip seals I get from Champion Trailers in Slidell, La.
the most I ever got from a set of wheel cyls was 6 seasons but those were the old style ones with the boot. The newer style with the O-ring seal last longer.

I modified the old style wheel cyls to keep water out. I took the boot off and packed the area under the boot with OMC/Evinrude triple guard grease then used high temp rtv to seal the boot to the wheel cyl. This keeps out water and keeps them from seizing.

The new design O ring seal is even better, no where to trap water.

 

[Lou C]

better parts help drum brakes work!
These drums actually hold up better than non-stainless rotors here in salt water.
The seal that failed in that pic was it a double or triple lip seal?
I'd be surprised if it was and failed after one year.
Champion Trailers sells triple lip seals in many sizes....

 

[bruceb58]

I do remove the drums every 4-5 seasons to check everything especially the wheel cyl.

WOW! I always thought you were someone who was good on preventative maintenance!...guess not!

BTW, I wouldn't buy the chinese bearings and seals from Champion trailer.

His was a double lip seal...likely chinese like the champion ones...another reason not to use LAZ-Lube.

My boat trailer that saw salt water usage was converted to disc brakes long ago. I would never use drum brakes on a salt water trailer. Now all it sees is a dunking in the spring and a dunking in the fall since the boat sits at my dock all summer. It has Bearing Buddies which are superior to LAZ-Lube.

My pontoon boat also sits in the water all year but it's trailer has drum brakes. Fortunately, it sees 30 miles per year travel. I never use the LAZ-Lube method on it.

My drums get pulled annually on my travel trailer, I yank off the seal, check/clean the bearings, repack them, pound in a new Timken seal and I am done. Takes less than an hour and a half on a tandem trailer.

 

[Lou C]

Bruce...the boat ramp is 1/4 mike from my house and the boat sits on a salt water mooring all season. The eight year old tires on it look brand new. So the trailer goes in the water 2, maybe 4 times per year. I’ve changed the backing plates maybe 3 times over 15+ years I’ve had this trailer. I have had enough experience with my 60s VWs and 70s American cars having adjustable bearings to know when they feel rough and need to be replaced.
I do brake jobs on our 4 vehicles (3 Jeeps and 1 Subaru) approx every 4 years depending on wear and corrosion on the rotors . The drums on this trailer have about as much rust on them as OE rotors do after 4/5 years of use here. But they were installed in 2004!
I have no patience for breakdowns and would have changed to disc brakes years ago if I had frequent failures. Here in the salt non stainless disc brakes do not last at all. I see trailers at marinas all the time with rotors with chunks of rust coming off them. What I do works for me. After all I made an OMC Cobra last 32 years (18 years in salt water 6 months moored each year) and it has the same cable on it when I bought it in 2002, and shifts with 2 finger pressure on the control still.

bTW you might recall in the old days when cars had greasable bearings on the front wheels of rear drive cars, GM, Ford and Chrysler as well as most foreign makes recommended repacking bearings at 30,000 miles. Why then do you feel the need to repack bearings on a travel trailer once a year? Do you tow it that far? Today’s grease is far better than the nasty smelly yellow fibrous stuff I used on my VWs back in the 70s....

 

[achris]

.... So the trailer goes in the water 2, maybe 4 times per year. I’ve changed the backing plates maybe 3 times over 15+ years I’ve had this trailer....

Says the man whose signature includes...

....rust never sleeps

:facepalm:

bTW you might recall in the old days when cars had greasable bearings on the front wheels of rear drive cars, GM, Ford and Chrysler as well as most foreign makes recommended repacking bearings at 30,000 miles. Why then do you feel the need to repack bearings on a travel trailer once a year?

Car don't get a regular dunking in saltwater, for one. And once having been in saltwater, they then sit, doing nothing but rusting!

Did you even read that news bulletin about the wheel that feel off and caused a HUGE fire? I guess he didn't think annual maintenance was necessary either.

Chris.....

 

[bruceb58]

Why then do you feel the need to repack bearings on a travel trailer once a year? Do you tow it that far?

The recommended service interval from Dexter is 12K miles or 1 year, whatever comes first. I tow the travel trailer a LOT. Too many people have issues with TT drum electric brakes that I want to inspect them on a regular basis. While inspecting the brakes, the bearings also get inspected.

Curious...why are you regreasing hubs twice a year with LAZ-Lube when you are only driving 1/4 mile? I fail to see the point of that either. If you are only driving 1/4 mile and replacing your backing plates so often, why even bother doing anything? Just drag the SOB to the ramp and back. Who cares at that point. All the talk about triple lipped seals and sealing brake cylinders for a 1/4 mile?