Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

[Begester]

Im just finishing up de-winterizing my boat and noticed that on one of the trailer tires, grease has been pushed out and is oozing down one of my tires, does anyone have any guesses on what this is? I've got an EZ-Loader tandem axle trailer with brakes.

Whats the best fix for this or should I not worry about it? I bought the boat about 1.5 years ago and havent done much of anything with the trailer.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

The grease is not coming from the tire -- it's coming out of the axle seal in the hub. Yes, this is an issue because if grease can get out, water can get in.. Although the seal is cheap and easy to replace, you do need to remove the wheel and hub, pop out the seal and replace it. But as long as you are that far, it would be a good time to remove, clean, and repack the wheel bearings and replace all the seals. Never have a better chance to inspect things. Any pitting or evidence of cracking or wear on the races or rollers indicate the need to replace the bearings.

 

[Jeff-in-PA]

Re: Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

Never have a better chance to inspect things. Any pitting or evidence of cracking or wear on the races or rollers indicate the need to replace the bearings.

Bearings and races should have a shine to them ( after cleaning). If they are dull or have any marks in them, they are worn and should be replaced.

Jeff

 

[Begester]

Re: Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

Thanks for the help. Is this a pretty intuitive/easy job? I'm pretty mechanically inclined but I'd rather do it right and not risk making matters worse or potentially creating a safety hazard.

Where does one get these seals? Would any boating store have them and are they generic?

Got a trip about 180 miles each way that I'm taking over Memorial Day Weekend and want to get everything in tip top shape.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

Bearings and seals are available at any auto store, any farm store, any marine dealer, right here on iBoats, Cabelas, Bass Pro, WalMart and a gazillion other places that sell fishing/boating stuff. But if you buy them at a Marine dealer you will likely pay double what you would at a discount store or even an auto store like NAPA/AutoZone, etc.

Removing races is not a simple job if you've never done it and have never looked at the procedure in many of the on-line sources. Packing bearings is also something that you can do by hand or with a bearing packer. Again, do some reading. Installation of a new race requires that they be pressed in or driven in using a bearing driver. Do it wrong and you will (I repeat will) have a bearing failure on the highway. Finally, proper adjustment of the bearings after reassembly is also necessary. Again, there are a multitude of on-line sources for instructions. Simply Google "Wheel Bearing Replacement", "Packing Wheel Bearings", and "Wheel Bearing Adjustment".

 

[Begester]

Re: Silver grease oozing out of one of my trailer tires, what does this mean?

Thanks again for the help. After looking into this a little more, I noticed that my Bearing Buddies are gone on one side of the trailer, not sure how that happenned, but I noticed this when comparing the leaking side to the good side of my trailer...Either both of my old Bearing Buddies fell off or someone walked away with them (?). I'll install the new ones, check the bearings and hopefully will be back in business