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Wheel bearings: do them myself or pay someone?

GoVols01

Jet Boat Junkie
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Location
College Grove, TN
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Yamaha
Year
2017
Boat Model
X
Boat Length
21
I've trailered my 2017 for 4 seasons now. Each outing is generally ~2 hours roundtrip on the interstate and I hauled it 3 - 7 hour round trips this last season. With 4 seasons behind us, the tires need to be replaced and I'm wondering if it's time for the bearings to be replaced too.

I check the hub grease regularly and have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. This Fall, I rotated the wheel and didn't find any improper movement/wobble in the wheels at all. Do you think I'm wasting my time / money by replacing the bearings?

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and enjoy wrenching on things. I should have time over the winter to work on the trailer, but I've never done wheel bearings before. I watched some YouTube videos and it seems moderately difficult. Should I just pay someone else to do it? My boat dealer quoted ~$400 to do all 4 wheels' bearings.

Replacing the tires and bearings this winter will cost me upwards of $800. If I can do the bearings myself, I'd save ~$400 of that. I can afford to pay someone, just don't like paying others to do what I can likely do myself. Thanks for your help guys.
 

dgfreeze

Jetboaters Commander
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Central Ohio
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Yamaha
Year
2006
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SX
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I sell and service trailers at work, and it's not difficult, but it is a dirty/greasy job. You would want a bearing packer of some sort, you shouldn't install dry bearings. The old "grease in your hand" packing method is serviceable, but a pain in the ass. You'll want to get a bearing kit for a generic 3.5k axle (#84 spindle), but the inner bearing race might be different. On my 06 MFI trailer, the inner race I needed was L68110, and the kit comes with L68111. No idea what the newer ones take. Only about 10 thousandths of an inch difference in the OD. As you put it all back together, tighten the main castle nut pretty good (15-20 ft/lbs-ish), then loosen it, and just run it back in by hand so there's no play, and very little preload on the bearings. As mentioned earlier, make sure the bearings are packed prior to assembly so they don't run dry, and make sure to clean all the old grease off the spindle, and the inside of the hub assembly. Any other questions, feel free to ask!
 

Beachbummer

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2008
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How handy are you? You will get dirty regardless, but it's not a hard job per se. You can get by without a bearing packer by using a plastic bag and squeezing the grease through the bearing from the outside of the bag.

Wearing gloves will make it less hard to clean up after. If you are comfortable tapping through a 2x4 and using a little force in some jobs you can certainly do it yourself. I use these jobs as an excuse to buy tools with some of the savings. There is a seal remover that makes working to take seals out much easier. Something like this. https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-56750-Seal-Puller/dp/B0002SRCKG You can do it with a screw driver and a hammer too, but no new tool.
 

dgfreeze

Jetboaters Commander
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Good point, @Beachbummer, always nice to have a reason to buy more tools. Here's a list of some tools that would make the job a bit easier.





Some tools that I would consider must-haves would be a hammer, a long punch/drift pin, large crescent wrench, needle nose pliers, a crapload of rags, and brake cleaner (not an absolute necessity, but very handy). Obviously also a jack to lift the wheel off the ground...lol
 

anmut

Jetboaters Admiral
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Good point, @Beachbummer, always nice to have a reason to buy more tools. Here's a list of some tools that would make the job a bit easier.





Some tools that I would consider must-haves would be a hammer, a long punch/drift pin, large crescent wrench, needle nose pliers, a crapload of rags, and brake cleaner (not an absolute necessity, but very handy). Obviously also a jack to lift the wheel off the ground...lol
Those tools are awesome, thanks for posting! Way better than my "hammer / rubber hammer / flat-head / 2x4" method.
 
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