Reply With QuoteAbout one third of a bottle left, 😕Originally Posted by Funchy
I hope there's some left
I hope there's some left
About one third of a bottle left, 😕I hope there's some left
Doesn't matter what bearing you use if don't install it properly and you use sub standard seals
How many lips are your 2 piece marine seals????
%99 of seals are 1 lip if you look hard you can find the 2 piece seals.
I have been using chinese bearings in my 3t rig for the last 8 years, change every 2 years with no dramas
Garry
Retired Honda Master Tech
Or just run them around on the bench grinder for a bit until they are a "fall-in" fit, it only takes a couple of minutes to do and then you have them for life.
I use whatever bearings I can get my hands on, and frankly, they all seem to last the same length of time. The important part is to KEEP THE BLOODY WATER OUT. And this comes back to seals, as Gary says above. I've bought kits with crap seals that instantly let the water into the inners. Someone else said they got a shock when they found their outers looked fine and their inners were stuffed? This is the most common way to find them, IMO. The outers are protected by the BB's and heaps of grease, but the seals let water into the inners. You have to grease the crap out of any boat trailer wheel bearings, to keep a little grease in the inner seals and help them work. I bought a set from Coventries year before last, and the seal had a huge gap between the lips and the cup, utterly useless. And to those, and they are on here, who say that you should not "over grease" bearings, and that normal seals are "just as good", frankly, you are talking out of your **rse.
Mine get a hammering, they are removed, washed and inspected every year, and generally repacked to go another year. I've gone three years, but, frankly, I'don;'t think it is worth the worry. After all, by the time you have removed and washed them, you may as well have tapped out the old races and put new ones in with new bearings--you've done most of the work already. When i see someone by the roadside with failed bearings, you just know what their maintenance regime has been like.
Best bearings I ever had lasted years, and as far as I know, are still going, they had a stainless sleeve kind of thing on the axle where the seal runs, and had a proper lip seal fitted to the hub, never let water in, ever.
I'm sill trying to figure out what the mechanic meant about using sika on the seals, surely he doesn't think it's going to help.
He would be using sika on the mating parts that are an interference fit Dignity.
So what is the general consensus...... spend a bit more on the bearings , good seals , good quality grease and lots of it.
How often should they be done ?
Yearly ?
For my Peace of mind , l stick with a yearly replacement or 5000km - which ever comes first
there may be a little conjecture here as you would think that how much you use the boat , how far you tow it would have to come into play. I could imagine that someone who uses their boat a few times a year down the local river might get away with it for a few years.
A sobering image for me is always that boat trailer you see sitting by the side of the road with a wheel off.
On another note ..... how often do you replace trailer tyres ?
chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
IMO, yearly would be overdoing it, especially at that mileage. However, if you don't keep the grease up, and you have poor inner seals, yes, you will need to do them annually.
I once had a shared boat with a mate, he used it a lot over summer, I was more of a winter user. He claimed to always grease up the bearing buddies, but I don't reckon he even owned a grease gun. I'd grab it in May getting ready for the annual run away, and the bearings were always shagged, rumbly, roller shapes showing clearly on the inner races, meaning water was getting in and sitting there.
IMO the answer is to stop using grease altogether. Go and get a set of Durahubs, some decent plastic inner seals and some locktight and be done with it. My off-road trailer build that I completed in 2011 (thread on here somewhere) i installed the Dura-Hubs I think it was Smithy that recommended them. I just replaced the bearings this year and they were like new. I've kept them as a spare set incase the worst happens. Run them on both my boat trailers now. Will never go back to grease for marine use now.
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
Durahubs are an interesting topic on their own ....... ever wondered why after all these years they are not mainstream - food for thought
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
Durahubs? Are they the oil-filled ones? if they are, good concept, but, lose one of those caps and you rapidly lose all your lubrication/ or am I barking up the wrong tree here?
they do come off, ive seen two caps that have fallen off.
at least if you lose a cao the grease stays in place kinda, i dont like bearings buddies just get under the trailer now and then look at the back of the seal and pop the front cap off.
guys who just keep topping their buddies up give you a dumb look when you ask where does it go to need topping up all the time
Good friend of mine has them on his US built boat trailer, 7 years has never touched them or needed to. The caps never looked like moving in that time.
Note to self: Don't argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience....
I've never personally used Durahubs but around the boating fraternity I've been involved with ...... it's mixed . Some swear by them but I know more people who ditched them & went back to bearing buddies .
The concept is brilliant .... no doubt
where it comes unstuck is if the axle isn't perfect to start with ...... a scratch can be a leaking point - not a lot but needing top ups.
If the seal goes ..... it's all over red rover in minutes - you cant see it when you are driving (window or not)
At least with the bearing buddy a seal going is not going to be fatal ...... I've seen spit seals ooze grease but because it was known of it was nice coloured grease and the trip continued .
Back in the early days of my boat ownership ..... I'd go for several years with the inside of the hub covered in grease from being pushed out the back seal ...... but still no failures despite my lack of attention - eventually I had a failure driving into my driveway (phew) ....... I think that's when I had my epiphany and thought you really do need to maintain these a bit better than just pumping some grease in
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
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