Mike,
As a outlet for all kinds of bearings,(we sell wholesale and retail,
bearings to individuals and corporations for over 20 years) here in St.
Petersburg Fl. we see hundreds of people who trailer their boats to the
water. We sell them new bearings and along with them we give proper
instruction on how to "pack" the bearings. It requires nothing more than
two hands. One to hold a bit of grease (1/2 cup or so) and the other hand
to hold the bearing. There is a procedure to force grease into the
bearing all around its circumference. The grease must be squeezed into
the bearing between the rollers. Just putting grease around the outside
will NOT work. I do not recommend bearing buddies as it gives a false
sense of security. It will only provide grease to the outer bearing.
The inner bearing gets air. The spring is not strong enough to push
grease all the way through the back bearing. Also the seal must be one
configured for the buddy bearings. If you use a standard one, you will
"blow" the seal out of the wheel. I recommend using the best grease for
bearings which is a synthetic blend. The general purpose lithium is not
good enough. Only the high temp, synthetic is good enough for our
Airplane trailers. I'm not going to trust hauling my a/c on a wheel
that is not ready to do its job. I also recommend having one spare set
of bearings greased ready to install as a back up for a failure on the
road. If you catch a failure before it becomes catastrophic, you just
jack the wheel up and replace the new greased cones and get to the next
town for real repairs. We have people who trailer boats across the
famous swamps of Florida with one spare bearing set in a Zip Lock bag to
keep them clean and dry. You are not going to leave your $20,000 boat
along side the road while you go to the next town for repairs or wait for
the local "highway man" to come and fix it on location..... think about
it !!!!!!!!!! Go to your local bearing house and get new bearings, and
grease them. Then at a minimum of once a year (at annual inspection
time for instance) remove the bearings and if any marks are present and
I mean "any" replace them with newly greased bearings and seals. You
are now "home free" as they say. Welcome to my world of "Terry Bearing
Co."
Jim
>
> From years of trailering a small sailboats thousands of miles my
>
> suggestion is that it would be good to consider a little inexpensive
>
> insurance called "Bearing Buddies". They attach directly to the
> outside of
> each bearing housing and get filled with the proper grease thru a
> standard
> grease fitting. The spring loaded plunger is pushed out when loading
> with
> grease and provids a constant supply while in use. An added plus is
> an easily
> visible indicator when more grease is needed. It also prevent one of
> the main
> causes of lost bearing grease.....that of rupturing the rear seal
> allowing
> ther grease to go through the bearing and right out onto the ground.
>
> Mike Duane
> The Europa List is supported by Aviators Network UK -
> info@avnet.co.uk
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