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View Full Version : best way to keep water out of wheel bearings



horse1959
02-05-2012, 10:48 PM
Had a wheel bearing failure after less than 12 months from new.
Was chinese made but had water intrusion.
Will replace with better bearings but how to keep water out maybe durahub.
Unfortunately I have to submerge the bearings to retrieve the boat.
Thanks Peter.

Lovey80
02-05-2012, 11:54 PM
I am in the same situation of having to submerge. On advice from another Ausfish member I went to a durahub on my last build and I will be converting my other dual axle trailer to durahub when bearing time comes. You will know immediately if you have water in the bearings.

Feral
03-05-2012, 05:28 AM
Did you have marine seals? I'd reckon its likely either the wrong type of seals or they were damaged. Should do 12 months ok without a leak.

Fed
03-05-2012, 08:36 AM
I ran for 9 years on my previous trailer and the bearings were untouched other than a pump of grease sometimes.

My current trailer is now 3 years old and the same applies.

You will never wear them out, water is the killer.

Marine seals with sealant applied between the insert & the hub and between the seal & the axle.

Hubs completely full of grease, if you haven't got a thin bead of grease forming at the back of the seal then they're not full. Fit bearing buddies to achieve this. Sealant between the bearing buddy & the hub.

If you're using older style seals then fit SS speedi sleeves and sealant, sleeve to axle and seal to hub.

I guarantee if you do it this way and do it properly you will never touch another wheel bearing again.

finga
03-05-2012, 08:53 AM
It is not always the seals fault.

Do you let the bearings, hubs and seals cool down after a long run?
Do you spray the hose directly at the back of the hub to wash the wheels, brakes and hub?
How were the bearings and seals fitted??
How were the bearing adjusted??
What grease was used??

Always let the hubs and everything associated with the hubs and bearings to cool down before launch
Do not spray the hose directly at the seals or durahubs. Water can, and does, get in by doing this no matter how good the seal is.
Correct installation of the seals and bearings is a must.
It's not rocket science but so many are done incorrectly.
A while ago there was a guy telling others how to install seals when he was doing it all wrong himself....so find out the correct way to install things.

Correct adjustment of the bearing. Check it when done and also after a few trips.

Grease....use the best quality grease available. Don't just use any old grease you found in a pot or tube. The chances are it's no good for trailer bearings.
A high temp, high speed, grease made for the marine environment is best. I use a good high speed, high temp grease for my own stuff but I check them all the time and I don't drown the trailer when launching/retrieving. All my trailers are basically a box trailer with no floor with a boat on top.

Cheers Alfred

Mrs Ronnie H
03-05-2012, 09:29 AM
Hi
We have bearing buddies fitted. I always give the axle and wheels, back and front a good hosing after coming home. Best time to fill with grease is after you have put your boat in. If they need a top up with grease then do it at the ramp as if there is any salt water in there filling with grease will push it out. Thats what I was told and thats what I do. No problems so far with bearings.

Ronnie- aka catwoman.

Goodoo haven
03-05-2012, 09:38 AM
Yep, bearing buddies are good for this problem. Not that expensive either and easy to fit yourself.

Doug.

Fed
03-05-2012, 09:42 AM
If I hose the trailer I hose the seals & I also hot dunk so I'm not so sure those things cause problems.

tropicrows
03-05-2012, 12:27 PM
Dont put the trailer in the water, ::) only joking.

Question however, modern cars now have maintenance free sealed preload front bearing systems. Could you get these fitted to a new trailer, ???? and would it solve the water problem a lot of boat trailers suffer from.?????

Fallen angel
03-05-2012, 12:37 PM
I used to run landcruiser hubs on my trailer for fishing up the cape, used to make the trip to Weiper about 2 to 3 times a year and changed my bearings at least once per year. After having a bearing fail and then repairing the axle with stainless speedy sleeves where the bearing seal runs, I didn't do another bearing for about 5 years. I had bearing buddies and did regular maintenance also but the speedy sleeves were the best thing that i ever did.

TheRealAndy
03-05-2012, 12:48 PM
The bearings on my polycraft have not been touched for about 3-4 years now. Bearing buddies and regular grease. Also, all but one bearing on my rag boat are original too, and they are all good. The one that I replaced on the rag boat was because I shagged one of the races after inspecting it.

MTAQ/BTAQ
03-05-2012, 02:45 PM
My trailer is in and out of the water every weekend (as it does boat licences - the boat that is) and I would have the bearings replaced every 12 months at Cunningham Marone but they are now closed.

Is there anyone with a marine background who does trailer bearings on the Redcliffe Peninsula?

PinHead
03-05-2012, 05:10 PM
forget the grease filled things..get the oil filled ones..easy to see if any water ingress and no maintenance.

Horse
03-05-2012, 07:12 PM
forget the grease filled things..get the oil filled ones..easy to see if any water ingress and no maintenance.

I would always be worried with those on a long trip if you lost the seal. On my last trip to Stanage Bay the 200km of corrigations resulted in one lost bearing buddy. With an oil filled Durahub I could have been in a world of hurt I think

johncar
03-05-2012, 07:48 PM
Most bearing problems come from poorly installed marine or standard seals full stop. It is the only place water can get in and if they are not carefully intalled you can expect to be on the side of the road somewhere. Install the seals correctly you don't need Bearing buddies, oil filled dura hub systems. I woke up to this about 20 years ago and never had a drop of water in a hub since.
Standard seals for longevity require to be running on properly installed stainless steel sleeves on the axle. Either that or replace them regularlly and keep plenty of marine grease on both the inside and outside of the seal to stop any rust starting on the axle because it will chew the seal out in no time and let water in if you leave it clean and dry on the outside. A regular quick squirt of Lanox on the outside of the seal wont hurt.
Marine style seals need to be located carefully on the axle fitted totally dry with no grease anywhere in site and better to glue them on the axle so there is no possibility of them spinning on the axle. Install the SS hub liner with marine grease applied to all mating surfaces very carefully so as not to distort it with a smooth flat surfaced item. Then just pack the bearing as normal and put a regular dust cap on but make sure it is sealed with either some marine grease like Triple Guard or glue it on with sika or something, but I have just applied plenty of grease and made sure it was a tight fit.
Have submerged all my trailers and never a sign of water in them since giving those seals the attention to detail they need even after 4 to 5 years of regular use.
It really is just up front prevention.
Just pop your head under the trailer every now and again to see if the seals still look good, located properly and not spinning on the axles. It they are they need to be fixed asap. I have never had one that I glued on let go, but if just pushed on the axle the odd one has started to spin so I just glue them all now.

Out-Station
03-05-2012, 07:57 PM
I use a combo of what has been said above.

Marine seals and i pack between the the rubber lips with grease

I use loctite 515 flexible flange sealant between the stainless seal housing and the hub to stop water penettrating there.

I cut the old seal down the middle and make abot a 3mm wide spacer ring. This goes on the stub first and when the whole shooting match is together has the effect of keeping the new seal pushed firmly into the stainless seal bit because they can ride back up the stub a bit and hence not have a good tight fit into the stainless bit if allowed to.

I pack the bearings well with blue marine bearing grease.

I put 10-15mm of heavy gear oil in the hub, essentially making it a grease / oil combo (poor mans oilers). Grease slurries up with the oil and runs back into the bearing, works great.

I use conventiomal bearing caps but use loctite 515 between cap and hub to keep them sealed from water.

For me this system is cheap, simple, low cost, no fancy stuff but does all the stuff that the fancy systems do. Living 2 hours from the coast and 7 hrs from my unit at the coast my rig gets some serious highway time and this system has proven to be a winner for me.

Scott

Goochi
03-05-2012, 08:05 PM
Hi Johncar,

What do you use for glue?

cormorant
03-05-2012, 08:08 PM
They can run half oil half grease so still a world of hurt but fit a bit better than cheap bearing buddies. Dust would still kill your bearing. Like most things they need to be fitted correctly and to a perfect axel or one with a stainless speedy seals. Some hubs are so out of spec that bearing buddies don't press on well. Bur the hub and use a glue sealant and they won't come off unless you are at em with a mallet.

My next big trip I am seriously considering both tyre pressure remote monitoring and also hub temp for the trailer. Cheaper than screwing extra tyres and axels at higher speeds.

purnong
03-05-2012, 08:09 PM
Most bearing problems come from poorly installed marine or standard seals full stop. It is the only place water can get in and if they are not carefully intalled you can expect to be on the side of the road somewhere. Install the seals correctly you don't need Bearing buddies, oil filled dura hub systems. I woke up to this about 20 years ago and never had a drop of water in a hub since.
Standard seals for longevity require to be running on properly installed stainless steel sleeves on the axle. Either that or replace them regularlly and keep plenty of marine grease on both the inside and outside of the seal to stop any rust starting on the axle because it will chew the seal out in no time and let water in if you leave it clean and dry on the outside. A regular quick squirt of Lanox on the outside of the seal wont hurt.
Marine style seals need to be located carefully on the axle fitted totally dry with no grease anywhere in site and better to glue them on the axle so there is no possibility of them spinning on the axle. Install the SS hub liner with marine grease applied to all mating surfaces very carefully so as not to distort it with a smooth flat surfaced item. Then just pack the bearing as normal and put a regular dust cap on but make sure it is sealed with either some marine grease like Triple Guard or glue it on with sika or something, but I have just applied plenty of grease and made sure it was a tight fit.
Have submerged all my trailers and never a sign of water in them since giving those seals the attention to detail they need even after 4 to 5 years of regular use.
It really is just up front prevention.
Just pop your head under the trailer every now and again to see if the seals still look good, located properly and not spinning on the axles. It they are they need to be fixed asap. I have never had one that I glued on let go, but if just pushed on the axle the odd one has started to spin so I just glue them all now.

That's pretty much how I've been doing mine for the last ten years Johncar and I haven't had a problem since either
The boat trailer before that had pitted axles and I was replacing bearings every six months until I was told to glue the seals on the axle, Never had a problem after that and I also run a bit of silicone around the dust cap before fitting it
Works for me

WalrusLike
03-05-2012, 10:26 PM
My 3mth old trailer had the bearing buddy on one side come off. it's fixed (I hope) but I really need to get on top of all this stuff. At the minute it seems a bit of a black art to me.... But it's obviously something a trailer boat owner needs to master.

Lovey80
04-05-2012, 02:09 AM
Glue the seals to the axle? WTF? We are talking about the inner seal right? If the inner seal is glued tight to the axle that means the hub must spin against the seal? Have I got that right?

purnong
04-05-2012, 06:17 AM
Glue the seals to the axle? WTF? We are talking about the inner seal right? If the inner seal is glued tight to the axle that means the hub must spin against the seal? Have I got that right?

Yes mate spot on, The double lipped seal will then run on the stainless insert in the hub

Fed
04-05-2012, 07:49 AM
Different style of seal altogether Lovey, Google 'marine seals'

Out Station, I bought a trailer just on 3 years ago & the axle was machined for marine seals, no spacer needed anymore and the seal butted hard up to the square axle shoulder. When I converted my old trailer I used PVC conduit lock rings as spacers, perfect fit.

softplasticsdude79
04-05-2012, 07:56 AM
yeah,agree with johncar also,no need for buddies or other stuff,buddies actually dont allow the heat to dissapate properly out the end of the axle as it should,A nice clean firm seal is the key here,as is,trying not to sink the bearings when still hot,try and allow 10-15 minutes cooling after driving before submerging.Hot bearings,love to suck in water.