Reusing Bearing Buddy's

[eeboater]

I was out in the garage this morning and noticed that my trailer already has a set of Bearing Buddy's on it. Can you guys think of any reason I should not reuse the bearing buddy's? It saves me about 20 bucks... In addition to that, it says to me that the bearings have to be in better condition than I thought they would be.<br /><br />Sean

 

[glasply1]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

That was nice of you to put your photo next to your posting. Do you need help with your bearings?

 

[tommays]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

if you dont dammage them takeing them out they will be fine.<br /><br />You still need to check the bearings front and rear to get a baseline on there condition.<br /><br />The Rear bearing is far more likely to have minor dammage.<br /><br />I got 9 years out of my last set before they started getting slight pitting from water.<br /><br />tommays

 

[Pony]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

EE, Are they actual Bearing Buddies?? or an imposter brand?? If they aren' true BB's then switch them. I just replaced my bearings last week because the previous owner used one of the numerous fake BB's and used the wrong bearing grease. I had pitting..........<br /><br />Otherwise I agree with Tommays. If you gently tap them out with a rubber mallet when removing them from the hub.....reuse them.<br /><br />Also as Tommays said check them anyways........usually a rear seal with go bad (commonly from age/use and often overfilling of BB's) and then you can get water intrusion in there. If they are bad, its an easy cheap fix.

 

[BillP]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

...and clean the BBs where their springs slide. Old grease collects dirt and gets hard, then the springs don't slide smoothly. That makes you pump too much grease in before they slide out and the rear seal gets trashed. I learned that the hard way.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

While in there it's a good idea to pull the whole axle assy apart and clean it up and then reassemble with a new grease seal on the axle.<br /><br />Mark

 

[eeboater]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

Hmmmmm you know, I'm not sure Pony... I guess they could be imposters - never considered that. How can I tell? Do they have thier name printed on all of them. The only reason I thought they were BB's was because they have the zirk fitting in the center of with a spring putting pressure on the sliding piece of metal in the middle.<br /><br />I'm going to be checking out the bearings no matter what. if they are trashed, its new BB's and Bearings for this trailer!

 

[heycods]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

Originally posted by eeboater:<br /> Hmmmmm you know, I'm not sure Pony... I guess they could be imposters - never considered that. How can I tell? Do they have thier name printed on all of them. The only reason I thought they were BB's was because they have the zirk fitting in the center of with a spring putting pressure on the sliding piece of metal in the middle.<br /><br />I'm going to be checking out the bearings no matter what. if they are trashed, its new BB's and Bearings for this trailer!

EE if your going in there be sure to replace seals, they are cheap, and a real life bearing saver. IMHO

 

[Pony]

Re: Reusing Bearing Buddy's

EE, true Bearing Buddies as far as I know have the little logo on them......the bra they come with has the name on it too. <br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br />I know for a fact that Fleet Farm carries a similar looking impostor. There aren't a lot of places near us that actually sell the real ones. Sounds like you may have real ones as "most" of the imposters are simply elongated hub caps with a grease zirk......that being said the imposter set I had on my trailer from the previous owner had a small spring in them, but the body was plastic.<br /><br />If you need to buy some.....another issue you will most likely have like I did, is that every store I went to was out of stock on Marine Bearing Grease..........either they dont have it or dont carry it until spring.<br /><br />Northern Tool and equipment sells the real ones, but they Menomonee Falls store is closing in a few weeks and they were out, but the Hwy 100 store should have them. Tom's Trailers in Menomonee Falls should also carry the grease and BB's but they were closed for an annual vacation when I needed the stuff.......until the 20th they should be open now though. <br /><br />In the end I bought mine online from iboats, along with the bras......luckily i had enough marine grease in the grease gun. Its expensive for grease online with shipping unfortunately.