Re: Reliable Sure Lube and Bearing Buddies
A Bearing Buddy will be a waste of expense and not do anything for you when installed on a Reliable Sure Lube hub.
The grease that you put in the grease fitting on the dust cap goes through the outside bearing, over the spindle and through the inside bearing. The small hole that can be seen in the spindle picture is where the grease exits the hub, travels through the straight axle or torsion axle and exits out a grease discharge hole.
The great part of the Reliable Sure Lube hub is that you never have to repack the bearings or have to worry about blowing a seal out due to too much pressure. A Bearing Buddy uses the grease pressure to deflect the plate in the Bearing Buddyand the spring behind the plate keeps pressure on the plate to generate positive grease pressure. If the Bearing Buddy is put on a Reliable Sure Lube hub, you won't be able to generate grease pressure to deflect the plate in the Bearing Buddy. If you did, the spring is just going to push the plate and force the grease out the grease discharge hole on the back side of the torsion axle knuckle or straight axle.
Since you have your hub and inside grease seal removed, make sure the replacement seal is a seal with a double lip. Otherwise you can expect problems.
In 12 years towing trailers with the Reliable Sure Lube axles thousands of miles, I have yet to repack a bearing or have any problems. The only time I pulled a hub was with a disc brake caliper problem. When I started towing with the Sure Lube hubs, I was skeptical at first and bought a spare set of bearings, seal and dust cap.......they are hiding some place in the garage. A few pumps of grease a couple of times a year is all it takes. Another hint is if you don't give the hub a shot of grease for an extremely long period of time and allow the grease in the grease discharge hole to harden into a grease plug, then you can expect to blow the seal out when you do grease the hubs. Using a small nail or wire to clear the hardened grease plug out of the grease discharge hole before you grease the hub will eliminate the potential blown seal problem. Using the nail or wire is only required if it is several years between greasing the hubs.
If you are afraid of water entering the hub since it is not pressurized with grease, dope the edge of the dust cap with RTV sealant before you install it. The rear seal and the grease in the grease discharge hole will keep the rest of the hub water free inside.
