Does anyone have suggestions on how to keep from losing the dust caps on bearing buddies. Or does it even matter that they don't have dust caps?<br /><br />Thanks in advance
My caps are made of a soft, flexible material. When I push the center of the cap in, air is displaced, which creates a vacuum under the cap. This vac helps hold the cap on. I have never had a cap come off. Are your caps soft and tight to the hub?
Hi Mike,<br /><br />Bearing Buddies dust caps are called Bra's. Mine are as Yorab said - soft plastic. Whenever I need to pump grease into my Buddies, the cap takes some getting off. Never lost one yet, and can't see them falling off by themselves!<br /><br />They are an extra, and I've seen many trailers without them.<br /><br />Maybe yours are different?
Thanks for your responses<br /><br />I haven't actually lost any myself but I recently purchased a boat with a tandem trailer that all 4 dust caps are missing. In addition a friend of mine who is up visiting the Queen Charlotte Islands with his camper and boat lost one cap on the drive north so it looks like it might be a common problem. <br /><br />Yorab I have noticed that you can do as you suggest, (I recently installed bearing buddies on my utility trailer) but I was wondering if the hub heats up during use and causes air to expand under the cap. <br /><br />Maybe not squeezing air out is when the air expands and the caps are lost.
Black electrical wire ties would work as well. A dab of rubber cement on the inside when installing them should retain them yet they could be rotated off when necessary.
I personally don't care for the dust caps as I have found they tend to leak a bit and then trap water inside. They do keep things clean and neat, and prevent grease from flinging on your wheels. As someone who has ugly wheels and is more concerned about rusty bearings and Bearing Buddies, I threw mine out.
Never had dust caps from new and never saw the need for them. Trailer is coming up for two years old and is used at least four times a week in salt water. The bearings were inspected last month and found to be in perfect condition, the same can't be said for the axle welds under the springs which are showing signs of surface rust. Time for a clean up!
I too have never lost one. My trailer has logged approximately 2000 miles this summer and when the hubs were checked just a few days ago, the centers of the covers were still pushed in and I had to work pretty hard to pull them off.
