Bearing Buddies Question?

[GiddYupJoe]

I took my trailer to a local shop today to have the pads, rotors, calipers and palings replaced. Primarily because the previous owner provided me with all those items still in a box ready to roll. He took a quick look at everything and said it looked like what I have now is still in great shape and no need to replace at this point. He did tell me that he HATES Bearing Buddies and proceeded to tell me why they are no good. From his 30 years experience with boat trailers he recommended that he takes out the bearing buddies and just go with a double sealed cap of some sort. Does this sound familiar to anyone and do you all agree that the bearing buddies are not the best thing? I have done some research and it seams 50 50 whether folks like them or not. He did say that no matter what... Wait to put the boat in the water after a long trip no matter what you have to help preserve the life of the bearings. That can sometimes be tough to do!

 

[Boat Crazy]

He did say that no matter what... Wait to put the boat in the water after a long trip no matter what you have to help preserve the life of the bearings. That can sometimes be tough to do!

I totally agree with this statement and never put my boat directly in the water after my 1 hour drive to the lake. I purposely take my time prepping the boat and waiting at least 20-30 minutes for the hubs to cool down. As for the bearing buddies themselves, I like them. I like being able to apply grease on a periodic basis.

 

[txav8r]

No matter what system you have, the grease is there to protect your bearings from water intrusion. The best way to protect them, is to never overfill them and add grease just before launching. There are several different versions of bearing protectors, including a wet oil bath. All have their pluses and minuses. Very expensive trailers even have sealed hubs, everything is doable at a price. And...what is one mans solution is another mans nightmare...and visa versa. If you maintain the wheels and brakes, they will serve you well, but you will still want to pull and repack the wheel bearings every few years. The brakes will not likely need service from wear, but rather from them rusting and freezing up.

 

[JC6275]

I think the biggest thing with the bearing buddies is to not over fill them, I have seen the caps come off on a trip, the grease heats up and slings out, not only is it messy what that happens it could lead to an overheated axle / hub..

 

[Rigger]

I don't think I'd go without them or some sort of bearing lubrication. I've had five various boat/waverunner trailers with them and 4 of those have had thousand of miles on e'm. I think if you do proper maintenance on any trailer, Marine or otherwise, bearings are going to last.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

I think the biggest thing with the bearing buddies is to not over fill them, I have seen the caps come off on a trip, the grease heats up and slings out, not only is it messy what that happens it could lead to an overheated axle / hub..

He was explaining the over filling aspect too and that makes sense. My trailer was missing two caps and was slinging grease like crazy. This repair should do the trick.

 

[Gym]

For years I packed my bearings by hand on my utility trailer. It's a messy, time consuming job. I can honestly say I don't think I would be as diligent now so I think bearing buddys are the next best thing. Mine have an indicator so I don't see how you can over fill them.

 

[Zarrella]

My EZ Loader trailer has the sealed bearings and I love them. Now my work trailer gets its bearings repacked twice a year because of the mileage I put on it.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Thanks for the insight all. I am just having him take out the bearing buddies and do the double seal thing. He said for the amount of times I trailer my boat I shouldn't only worry about a repack every couple years. Assuming I take care of it along the way. Guess that is KEY from what everyone has said.

 

[Glassman]

crap, I forgot about my bearings.

Thanks for the reminder, what's another grease gun to haul out there with me...

 

[Seadeals]

Maybe a little late for your call, but I removed the buddies from my mfi trailer last season when I repacked all four hubs for the same thoughts. Also sporting new rims and chrome caps looked way better than buddies. In only one (short) season, water infiltrated all four. Cap nuts corroded and the races and bearings had enough new bad spots, I had to replace everything. My mistake was finding seals locally at a napa store. They were crap (single lip) seals, not the original UFP trailer buddy seals which have dims specific to the "converted axle" and without the buddies I was screwed. I have new Timken bearings and races now with genuine stock UFP buddies and seals so I don't do that again. If you pulled the buddies, just be sure to check on them regularly.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Well damn! I am getting double sealed instead of a single sealed... think that makes a difference?? Interesting you said Timken. Old buddy of mine dad was a bing wig at Timken back in the day. Guess they make pretty solid bearings. Whats done is done. Hope I don't run into the same issue. thank you for the heads up.

 

[JC6275]

Well damn! I am getting double sealed instead of a single sealed... think that makes a difference?? Interesting you said Timken. Old buddy of mine dad was a bing wig at Timken back in the day. Guess they make pretty solid bearings. Whats done is done. Hope I don't run into the same issue. thank you for the heads up.

I think you will be fine with the double seals....

 

[Seadeals]

I think the double seals will take good care of your hubs too. The wrong design is what bit me most plus you paid someone who advised you to pull the buddies, so there is some accountability there. Water inside is bad. The combination of seals and the buddies on my MFI trailer allowed UFP to use a standard axle in a marine application without fear of short term chronic failures. Checking hubs every season is a good idea no matter what. If you trailer a lot, go crazy and get laser targeted IR thermometer and shoot them to monitor temps on longer hauls. Temp increases may indicate if a problem starts to develop...or you just drove down a mountain. Apparently it just indicates to my wife that I'm a dork.

 

[jdonalds]

I've used bearing buddies since 2005 without problems. There seem to be two types, at least in my experience. One has a hole on the side for extra grease to escape if the grease gets hot and expands. That is my preferred type.

With the other type there is a visible spring on the inside of the bearing that pushes on a pressure plate, but no hole for grease to escape. The plate allows the grease to expand, but only to a point. Once the plate reaches it's maximum position the bearings can be over pressured and may do damage to the seals.

My bigger problem is breaks dragging and really overheating the bearings. I have a complete replacement set in hand to fix that problem.