??Bearing Buddies??

[LubeDude]

OK, not my trailer, but under my care.<br /><br />Bosss Ski Supreme trailer has Bearing Buddies. I serviced them who knows how long ago, maybe five years. Did the whole service, took everything apart and cleaned, repacked the bearings, new seals, and completly filled the hub with marine grease, the blue stuff, dont know what brand.<br /><br />I was always around when the boat was trailered and would faithfully put a short pump of grease in when I saw that the spring would let me after returning. Now, this boat gets one trip down to Shasta lake every year maybe a 500 mile round trip, One trip to the lake where the lake house is, and one trip back maybe a 30 mile round trip every year. Always fresh water. Maybe about 3,000 miles sence I serviced it last.<br /><br />Im painting the trailer now and decided to take off the hubs and check everything. Never would have made it to shasta again. Bearings toasted, grease all cracked, one side worse than the other.<br /><br />Ya, I know, my fault for not doing this every couple of years, but you know how things get behind you. I now have a log on everything that tells me when I have done maintenance.<br /><br />So, the moral of this story is to let people know that just because you have Bearing Buddies doesnt mean ya dont have to repack and inspect once in awhile.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

Amen.

 

[BillP]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

Check your hubs like said but if the hubs aren't TOTALLY full of grease on the first dunk, water can get in. If you needed to pump the BBs up later it means they weren't full yet. Hubs don't use grease unless the seal is bad. Once full, that's it until you pull them down for inspection. I'm pulling mine (owned one trailer 20 yrs and another 10yrs) down about every 5 yrs now and bearing are still perfect. Years ago I used to pull them down every year and had to replace bearings. It's all about the installation, not the BBs.<br /><br />I pack the hubs full, install them, install BBs and pump them up. Then drive and pump along the way until the BBs spring quits moving. After that they never need more grease.

 

[jtexas]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

I've been pumping a few pumps into mine before every trip for the last two years (since I got it)...who knows how long since the last service. Had some coming out the rear seal on both sides for a few months. Opened 'em up today, a tiny bit of discoloration on the races on one, the other is pristine. I like my bearingbuddies. <br /><br />you fill 'em up completely? the bb's I mean?<br /><br />thanks

 

[dingbat]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

When all else fails read the instructions. <br /><br />BillP is right on the money. The BB should not require a shot of grease before every outing. The lubricant level should be checked by pressing on the edge of the piston. If you can rock or move the piston, the hub is properly filled. If the piston won't rock or move, add grease until piston moves outward about 1/8 inch. You should not pump grease into the housing until the spring is fully compressed or until grease is excerted out of the vent hole

 

[BillP]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

It took me a lot of years and bearing changes to fully understand how to use BBs the best way. I pack (per BB instructions)the hub and bearings as full as possible before sliding them on...and it IS messy! Then I pack (BB doesn't say anything about packing them before installation) the BB full and drive on slowly so it depresses the spring and doesn't blow the rear seal (never happened to me yet but I'm sure it could). When I do it this way the BB never takes more than a few squirts to top it off after driving a few miles. It never needs more grease unless the rear seal is bad. When that happens I pump up before each dunking.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

believe me, they were full of grease. Strange thing is that the outside bearings were worse than the inside. I think maybe it was the brand of grease. There were hard places in the grease, [not hard hard], and it was cracked on the inside of the BBs.

 

[gss036]

Re: ??Bearing Buddies??

Hey!, You can do like my brother-in-law, put the 12 oz tube in at one time, he could not figure out where the grease was going. Turned out the axle was hollow and the grease was coming out of the drain hole that was in the center of the axle. Needless to say he needed new seals. Moral of the story, DO NOT OVERFILL!