glueing marine seals to axles and other bearing questions

[myusernam]

sorry to bring this up again, but I had a seal spin so did some research and came across a lot of old threads on here. My question is what is the best type of glue? The seal looks to be a poly of some sort and not a lot of stuff sticks to it. A few mentioned loctite 4xx series, but I think this states it wont work on poly (it's pretty much superglue) and there is a specific poly glue loctite make

Or is it not that critical and you are just shimming out the tolerence with the glue? I ended up using superglue in the first instance and then liquid nails around the back.
Hope it holds. Im going out to buy some glue so can someone recommend something that works ofr them?

Also one of my bearing buddies is an alco and has a hole to prevent over pressurisation where the other one is a bearing buddy original with no hole. So I guess I'll just pump out to 3/4 full. Maybee I should drill it with a small hole. The alco seems to work better. Is it ok for the grease to appear around the edge of the seal lip at the back? I guess that means the void is completely full and the actual seal is the lip inside.

Also which are the best marine seals? I used a Timken bearing set and the Timken seal seemed to only have one lip. Yet there were photos of here with marine seals that had a double lip which seems better? Any comments greatly appreciated.

And I just thought I would say whenever this topic comes up there is always conflicting advice, and I just thought I would point out it is a lot different how you use the trailer. I have two boats, one without brakes and the bearings almost never get dunked. I dont ever exect to have an issue with them and it's easy to check because there are no brakes.

My big boat has disk hubs and disk brake rotors and gets fully submerged. It makes it a lot harder to check or even see the seal and obviously with submerging everytime it creates issues. It's fine for those guys with ordinary hubs and a tinny that doesn't need it's trailer sunk to say just do this and you wont have an issue. Two very different applications really.

[Crunchy]

sorry to bring this up again, but I had a seal spin so did some research and came across a lot of old threads on here. My question is what is the best type of glue? The seal looks to be a poly of some sort and not a lot of stuff sticks to it. A few mentioned loctite 4xx series, but I think this states it wont work on poly (it's pretty much superglue) and there is a specific poly glue loctite make

Or is it not that critical and you are just shimming out the tolerence with the glue? I ended up using superglue in the first instance and then liquid nails around the back.
Hope it holds. Im going out to buy some glue so can someone recommend something that works ofr them?

Send "Johncar" a PM as he seems to have some knowledge about this

Also one of my bearing buddies is an alco and has a hole to prevent over pressurisation where the other one is a bearing buddy original with no hole. So I guess I'll just pump out to 3/4 full. Maybee I should drill it with a small hole. The alco seems to work better. Is it ok for the grease to appear around the edge of the seal lip at the back? I guess that means the void is completely full and the actual seal is the lip inside.

No you don't want to fill it to the point where the grease starts to come out the back, only so the plate (That the grease nipple is on) wobbles slightly when pushed side to side, you don't want it fully pressing up against the outside lip of the bearing buddy. My buddy doesn't have a hole, genuine US buddy so guess not meant to have a hole (Wouldn't a hole defeat the purpose?)

Also which are the best marine seals? I used a Timken bearing set and the Timken seal seemed to only have one lip. Timken might be the best of the cheaper options but I use the quality Japanese made bearings they sell at proper bearing shops (Northside marine also used to carry them not sure if they still do) can't recall the brand but they have "Japan" stamped on them - they are about $10 per set dearer than the cheaper ones. Yet there were photos of here with marine seals that had a double lip which seems better? Any comments greatly appreciated.

As you say below there a lot of conflicting opinions, I was thinking as reading through your post "Your going to get a lot of different opinions" but you already know that by the looks. I use the double lip marine seals and find them to be the bomb. Here's why, last Sunday it was very windy, no boating to be done so thought I would check bearings, they hadn't been done for 5 years (Yep that's right 5 years), whilst I only drive short distances I do submerge my hubs on every launch and retrieve as drive on / drive off. So looking forward to finding some wear / rust / burrs / burnt spots on the bearings....I took them out and low and behold they were PERFECT, just like the day they were installed. So the bearing buddies and marine seals had done the job perfectly.

And I just thought I would say whenever this topic comes up there is always conflicting advice Yep, don't think this time will be any different!, and I just thought I would point out it is a lot different how you use the trailer. I have two boats, one without brakes and the bearings almost never get dunked. I dont ever exect to have an issue with them and it's easy to check because there are no brakes.

My big boat has disk hubs and disk brake rotors and gets fully submerged. It makes it a lot harder to check or even see the seal and obviously with submerging everytime it creates issues. It's fine for those guys with ordinary hubs and a tinny that doesn't need it's trailer sunk to say just do this and you wont have an issue. Two very different applications really.

Such a fun job!

[Fed]

Get out the popcorn!

The first thing is that they shouldn't need to be glued on at all, they should butt up against the shoulder on the axle so it's impossible for them to move back.
If you don't have a shoulder then you must have the old style axle and you should make up some spacers to slide on the axle before you put the seal on.

Having said that it doesn't hurt to put a thin smear of sealant on the axle to ensure no water sneaks in between the seal & the axle. Notice I said 'on the axle', this ensures any excess sealant gets pushed away whereas if you put the sealant on the seal excess sealant would finish up on the bearing side of the seal.
Same goes for putting sealant on the outer face of the stainless steel ring before you press it into the hub and on the bearing buddy as well.


Just don't pump them up until the spring is binding, half way or so is fine.

When everything is right of course you will get a tiny bead of grease out of the rear seal after use but it may take some time to appear because the hubs may not be completely full, you'd be worried if you didn't. You can't have 2 moving surfaces with pressurised grease and have zero come out.

They're my thoughts complete with reasons.

[myusernam]

this is my third axle on this trailer. The last two the shoulder has been miles away from the back of the seal. (square) the sirst one which was round, the seal butted up to the unmachined surface, and I never had bearing issues.
Unfortunatley I had to take what I could get as it died on the weekend. Thats the way the axles come from this place. What do you make your spacers up from? I could use a piece of conduit if I could find some the right DIA or maybee cut it in half and use a hose clamp.....

[myusernam]

crunchy thanks for your replies. Re the bearings from the bearing shop... I have used SKF in the past etc. I just got the Timken's from supercheap because it was the weekend. (BTW they are only $20 at the moment so cheaper than chinese) But I guess yuo are saying that the seals you got from the bearing shop were the double lip variety? So SKF brand or similar?

[Fed]

It was a long time ago when I did it but I'm pretty sure I used PVC conduit lockrings.
It must have been an old Holden size axle I guess.
I remember being a little concerned about PVC and heat but it turned out not to be a worry.

[RayLamp]

I use Timkin kits and I noticed something when getting them. Timkin do bearing kits and marine bearing kits. The packet looks the bloody same, and supercheap even put them close to each other on their racks. I reckon the marine kit has the better seal. I couldn't spot too much difference otherwise.

[hallcomp01]

I buy japanese bearings FBJ's from Bursons, they will sell you some with seals for the same price as the chinese stuff.. ($20 a wheel)..

Another thing, most Chinese bearings are only made for short haul, where the japs are usually long haul..

I always use some quality hi temp silicon to assist seal the seal so to speak.. :)