Winterize hubs?

[Mr. PapaGeorgio]

I have winterized and shrinkwrapped my boat. It is outside, on the trailer. Is there anything I should be worried about for the hubs and/or tires? I did check pressure and inflated to 50 psi. I'm guessing I should grease the hubs first thing in the spring?

 

[superbenk]

Re: Winterize hubs?

It's best to jack the trailer up & leave it on jack stands if you can. Better yet to remove the wheels and store them out of the weather to make them last longer. I'd recommend repacking bearings at least every other year, every year is even better. Doing it in the fall means there's no moisture sitting in there all winter long causing rust.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Well I am on the lazy side, my boat sits in the yard on the trailer all winter. So I consider it off season work and do it then so in not screwing around and losing fishing time in the spring. As far as trailer maintenance goes, I repack the hubs. Do a bit of touch up painting. Smear some grease around on the coupler parts. I back it up and park it with the tires on concrete and put some trash bags over the tires. I paint the springs and later hose the springs down with fogging oil. Check over the lights and call it done. But I am not in a harsh climate. That often dictates any thing else you may need to do. I don't jack it up simply because my boat is kept on a slip for 10 mouths and the trailer sits with no weight on it. In the spring I hook and go.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: Winterize hubs?

No. Let it sit.
For the tires, at the most shade any rubber exposed to direct sunlight.
No need to jack it up if only putting it in "lay-up"(storage=__>12 months) over the winter. You may develop a little flat spot on the tire, which will round itself out within a couple of miles of driving in the spring. No harm done.

Tape/zip-strip etc...the trailer wire harness under the tounge. Cover or grease the connector. Do NOT seal the tounge/wires/chains etc...in plastic. It will not breathe, and will only expedite any corrosion. Don't know where that ridiculous practice started...but unless you live in an arrid/desert climate, you're just asking for trouble. If your cheap .001mil bag develops a micro-leak and water sits...it'll be a mini-sauna in there resulting in excessive rust/corrosion.

All of this annual/semi-annual repacking talk makes my head hurt. I've been dragging boat/ATV/Snowmobile trailers/campers around for decades, and repack them according to mileage(some have gone 5-6 years)...not the calendar. Keep the zirks greased regularly and you won't have any problems.

 

[BoatNoobie]

Re: Winterize hubs?

I would pack or in my case, flush out the hubs with fresh grease. I have EZ Lube hubs, which have a zerk on the backside of the hub. I just put my grease gun to it and open the front cap on the hub. Pump enough grease until I flush out all the old grease.

My driver side was nice and clean. My driver side had a little bit of water mixed into the grease. Looks like the seal is going bad. At least there wont be water in there to freeze up and make things even worse. Will fix the seal later in spring.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Winterize hubs?

My driver side was nice and clean. My driver side had a little bit of water mixed into the grease. Looks like the seal is going bad. At least there wont be water in there to freeze up and make things even worse. Will fix the seal later in spring.

I also have those.

If its just when you start flushing it, its on the out side seal, its the little rubber cap. I had to replace mine earlier for the same thing. If its after its pumped out a lot of grease its the back seal.

 

[batman99]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Yes. Pull / Remove all wheel hubs in the early spring. Unknown to some folks, Natural condensation inside hubs forms during winter / early spring months - when temp changes are extreme. In the late spring (before pulling the trailer), remove the wheel hubs and do 100% maintenance tasks.

For a good checklist (all items), surf: http://dexteraxle.com/i/u/6149609/f/Service_Resources/Maintenance_Schedule_1-12.pdf

Hope this helps...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Yes. Pull / Remove all wheel hubs in the early spring. Unknown to some folks, Natural condensation inside hubs forms during winter / early spring months - when temp changes are extreme.[/url]

If there is moisture inside your hubs, its not because of condensation, its because your rear seal is leaking and letting water in.

 

[batman99]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Actually, a small amounts of moisture forms inside brake hubs when steel changes temps from one extreme to the other. And this natural moisture creates small amount of rust deposits on inside steel parts as well. The proof of natrual rust forms on the outside surface of automotive and trailer disc brake system surfaces as well. For example, let a vehicle brakes sit for 3+ months, remove its wheel hub and the brake parts has rust on them. At end of 3 "sitting months", one can clearly see nautrual rust on disc outer surfaces as well. Same natrual moisture and rust residue forms inside trailer brake drum hubs as well. This is because brake drums are NOT 100% sealed. Many people simply connect to their trailer each spring and drive away. And, they say to themselves, "no worry - the rust will grind off soon". It's true that brake pad contact area does grind the natrual rust off. But, what grinds the natural rust off its many other internal moving parts. And yes, natrual moisture forms in the inner bearing area as well. It isn't much bet its small amount does dilute its wheel bearing grease.

As stated in Dexter's formal maintenance schedule, pull / remove the hubs, remove any natural rust with a wire brush or steel wool and re-refresh with brand new wheel bearing grease. Just like the maintancne schedule states.

Besides this.... If one simply squirt/squirt their trailer hub grease zerk every 12 months without pulling the brake drum off, how can they be sure drum's inside parts are still ok? Heck, even our human teeth get visual inspections / cleaning every 6-9 months. Yet, some folks say "I haven't removed trailer brake hubs for the last 10 years". These folks scare me and hope I never buy their used stuff.

If wondering, it takes me 25 minutes to pull each wheel hub, do spring inspectons / cleanings, re-fresh grease and re-install the brake hub. Very simple DIY task (as shown in above U-Tube clips). Bet some folks spend more time on forums stating "why they don't do it properly". IMO, their time would have been better spent doing their trailer's brake hub annaul maintenance inspection / cleaning sessions instead...

 

[batman99]

Re: Winterize hubs?

If wondering, water gets inside the wheel bearing chamber when a hot temp wheel hub is backed into cold water. The inner bearing chamber shrinks and it sucks water into the wheel bearing area. This happens because of science. The same seals may NOT leak grease outwards. But, the same seal can allow water to suck inwards. By following wheel hub's maintenance schedule (by removing the wheel hub), one releases this trapped in water - that happens because of to science... Thus, another reason to follow wheel hub maintance schedules... And if needed, one can replace that seal - hoping the brand new seal is much better.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Steel changing temps does not magically cause water to appear in your hub. I am talking hubs...not drums. You can gave a hub without a drum.

Even if you don't fill your hubs completely with grease, the volume of air that is in there would cause so little water condensation that it would be undetectable.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against doing annual maintenance on my trailer.

Put a bearing buddy on your hub and grease it according to the directions and you won't have grease leaking past the rear seal and you won't have water intrusion.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Steel changing temps does not magically cause water to appear in your hub. I am talking hubs...not drums. You can gave a hub without a drum.

Even if you don't fill your hubs completely with grease, the volume of air that is in there would cause so little water condensation that it would be undetectable.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against doing annual maintenance on my trailer.

Put a bearing buddy on your hub and grease it according to the directions and you won't have grease leaking past the rear seal and you won't have water intrusion.

+1
We deal with 8 months of winter and I have multiple trailers. Other than routine maintenance, all trailers sit outside all year. Never had any trouble with moisture inside a hub. The bit that gets on a braking drum is gone first time I stop.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Winterize hubs?

No. Let it sit.
For the tires, at the most shade any rubber exposed to direct sunlight.
No need to jack it up if only putting it in "lay-up"(storage=__>12 months) over the winter. You may develop a little flat spot on the tire, which will round itself out within a couple of miles of driving in the spring. No harm done.

Tape/zip-strip etc...the trailer wire harness under the tounge. Cover or grease the connector. Do NOT seal the tounge/wires/chains etc...in plastic. It will not breathe, and will only expedite any corrosion. Don't know where that ridiculous practice started...but unless you live in an arrid/desert climate, you're just asking for trouble. If your cheap .001mil bag develops a micro-leak and water sits...it'll be a mini-sauna in there resulting in excessive rust/corrosion.

All of this annual/semi-annual repacking talk makes my head hurt. I've been dragging boat/ATV/Snowmobile trailers/campers around for decades, and repack them according to mileage(some have gone 5-6 years)...not the calendar. Keep the zirks greased regularly and you won't have any problems.

I agree with this advice. At most, lean a piece of plywood against the tires to shade them.

 

[doyall]

Re: Winterize hubs?

... You may develop a little flat spot on the tire, which will round itself out within a couple of miles of driving in the spring. No harm done. ....

I have been led to believe that that flat-spotting/re-rounding is a contributing factor (however slight it may be) to tread separation. Causes the carcass and tread to abnormally shift relative to each other and promote/accelerate detachment, especially after multiple cycles. (How many cycles is the question.) Makes sense to me anyway. Tire dealer told me that during off season 'storage' inflating to 60 p.s.i. vs normal 50 p.s.i. would lessen the effect.

Yet another cause when accumulated with all the others for trailer tires tending to blow-out rather than wear out.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Winterize hubs?

Agree with bruce on this.