In 48 years as a Grand Master Marine Tech, I never installed a "dry" brg., always packed with a brg. packer, always filled the hub completely full, always filled the brg. buddy 3/4 full & then pressed it in place. Brg. diaphragm presses out & excess grease squirts out. Tested this against just packing brgs. on one hub & full buddy on the other. 25 mile trip & then backed it into the lake. Left for 10 minutes & disassembled. Buddy side was cool & no water. Packed side cool & had quite a bit of water in hub. You did a good job on this video. Cooling a hot hub with lake water draws water in, & I'm a "greaser".
@@Maurice-c6z But soaking the hub in cold water after a long hot trip sucks water into any bearing... other than a bearing buddy which can compensate for the sudden contraction of the air in the bearing housing. You get the same effect on a car axle when the diff breathers rust/clog up.... the suction of the contracting air within the whole axle housing sucks water into the axle bearings and sometimes into the pinion bearing as well..... 4wd trucks should have extended breather hoses (take the cap installed OEM and remove it; fit an EFI fuel hose over the breather pipe and extend the hose up into the engine compartment and put the end up as high as possible at the firewall with a cheap plastic fuel filter on the end as an air filter...this allows expansion and contraction of the air without causing a vacuum or overpressure in the axle... A really serious water crosser will extend the breathers to just under the top of the roll cage bar....
Variation on the palm packing method is to put the grease in a ziplock bag with the bearing. Close the bag and pack it into the bearing, almost no mess this way.
Great idea. I'm an auto sparky, and am actually allergic to grease. For while we had a temporary manager who wanted me to grease lighting trailer bearings when I wasn't busy.
I was 100 miles from home, stopped for lunch and saw my boat trailer wheel about to fall off the trailer. My neighbor's girlfriend brought us my 16' flatbed trailer. With both trailers ass to ass we loaded the flatbed. Made it home. Now thanks to your video I'm replacing all bearings and races. Three axles in a day should be a good day. 😊 I sold a weed eater to the pawn shop for ten bucks. Thanks again.😊
great educational video. i spent years running trailers with bearing buddies and had no idea how they worked or how to repack. i’d just pump grease into them until the color changed. hand tested the hubs when on the road to make sure not hot. mostly short runs to the lake nearby with an occasional 300 mile and later 1,000 mile runs. fortunately never had a roadside failure…knock on wood. NOW I KNOW. thank you!
I used to work at a trailer manufacturing company and then a trailer axle manufacturer. You're right, first pack the bearings with a manual bearing packer, then install the Bearing Buddy and insert a flattened out finish nail between the axle and the inner seal (the 1 furthest from the Bearing Buddy), creating a vent. Pump the hubs with grease until it comes out the vent you created with the nail. Remove the nail and then you are completely packed and safe for travel.
Have always used the palm method of packing bearings, never had issues. Bearing buddies are an easy way to add additional grease to the outboard bearing, the inner not so convinced. Thanks for the great video
I worked in a triler shop in Florida as a youngster. Replacing bearings was our bread & butter. When you drive, the bearings will heat up. When you back it into the water, they will cool. Cooling will cause a vacuum and Bearing Buddies will stop them from sucking in water. Without them, you WILL have water in your hub. One caviat... you have to actually pump grease into them.
Me too. When I got my boat and trailer the first thing I did was go over the wheel bearings and seals, and install Bearing Buddies. Completely packed the hub with marine grease. However, I wanted to make sure this would not cause any overheating so took it out on a freeway run for half and hour (was a scorching hot day) and afterwards the bearing housing was not even warm. I don't like the idea of having any air in the wheel hub, which will contract a lot more than what grease will when the hub is submerged in cold water.
Over greasing can push the grease out the inside seal and all over your rim. I know this because I found this out years ago when I started using Bearing Buddys. Just grease until the spring starts to move about 1/16" to 1/8" out and stop. As long as there is a little pressure on the grease, the water won't get in.
I completely fill my hubs and have never had that issue. The Bearing Buddies let out any excess grease. My guess is the seal or the surface on which the seal sits was not 100%. Any seals I've used have a double lip, one to keep grease in, and the other to keep dirt out. From the inside, pressure acts on the lip to make it seal more, so the only way for grease to get out is to blow the lip out, or the seal/seal surface is bad.
Used the palm of my hand to pack hundreds of bearings,what I liked is I could see the grease Come out of the bearing completely on the exposed side,ensuring a good pack !
Sold my 4x8 bolt together Northen tool trailor to a neighber 20 years ago he used that trailor with the 480x8 tires and wheels to go back and forth from NC to TX 3 times. He put buddies on it and would add greece at 500 miles at 60-70 mph back and forth. He still owns the trailor and probably has 10,000 miles on it! Still same bearings and buddies. Not bad!
I drill and tap an 1/8" pipe thread hole between the inner bearing race and the seal. When greasing, I remove the 1/8" plug. It allows the air to escape the inner area while greasing. Re-install the plug, then re-pressure the bearing buddy.
I learned with the bearing buddies you can over grease and blow grease out the back seal......it winds up all over the inside of the wheels.....now every couple trips I will pop the grease gun on and pump until I just see the spring move or the blue disk....I know it's preloaded. No water and no grease on wheels......this is done AFTER I prepack bearings and hub. Also my trailers are marine trailers.
When i replaced the acle on my utility trailer, i replaced it with an axle the had drilled spindles. Spindles are drilled through to just in front of the seal. So you pump grease to the back of the inner bearing out to the front. Works really well. Still pack the bearings and hub full of grease before assembly.
Been using Bearing Buddy's on my boat trailer axle bearings in saltwater environments for 20+ years resulting in ZERO bearing failures. Just a couple of pumps on the grease gun into each hub before every trip to keep them full of grease. Bearing Buddy works on the principal of filling the air cavity, inside the hub between the inner seal and the bearing Buddy, completely full of grease under positive pressure, allowing no space for water/contaminates to enter the bearings.
I always thought the Bearing Buddy Bra was rain protection as well as a grease protector. I am an over greaser on a re-new or repack but most comes out when the axle is pushed through!! When tightening the adjustment nut i spin the hub.....what ever spills out I add into the cap or buddy. My repacks last me years of use. Never had a bearing failure!! 😊
I think the bearing buddy is best designed for boats. The bearings heat up on the road, and when backed into cold water they cool rapidly, possibly drawing in water. The device keeps the water out of the bearings. My small snowmobile trailer uses the same size tires found on golf carts. I have made 4 cross country trips with no issues without the buddy’s. My biggest complaint about the device is trying to remove them to service the bearings.
I used to go 450 miles North of Sault Ste. Marie into Northern Ontario, Canada 3 or 4 times per year to fish with an 18-1/2' aluminum closed bow boat & 90 HP Mercury outboard motor on a trailer. I bought bearing buddies and installed them after l cleaned and hand packed the bearings on that single axle trailer. I bought one of those little (6''?) grease guns to fill them with after l pulled it out of the lake. I'd stop after 50/60 miles and feel the hubs. If they were warm I'd give them a few pumps and take off again. In about 50/60 miles i'd feel them again. They'd always cool off and feel less than "warm." I've had guys tell me that my bearings couldn't be "cool," but they were. Even going into Canada for 2 weeks and filling that boat w/ food, gas & enough junk to fish, putter on the cabin, and all the paraphernalia you can imagine. It was heavy and l never ever had a problem with the bearings. They are on my tandem axle car hauler too. They were on it from Lorimore. I think the World of them. ben/ michigan
Not in the past, when I didn’t have something that was a regular grease packer for the bearings. I would take a sandwich bag and fill it with grease put the bearing in it seal the bag and then squeeze it in grease would go everywhere through it. it really worked well, that was like 60 years ago
@@MudflyWatersman They don't blow the seal out. The highest pressure that a BB provides is 3psi. If that makes your seal leak then you have a bad seal and the BB did you a favor and let you know. This info is critical in a marine application.
@billy-bo-dilly exactly, as an oyster fisherman I haul my boat every day, with bearing buddy's I've gone 10 years without replacing bearings, and they are in salt water every day
@@wasupfool5692 That's awesome. I had Bearing Buddies on a boat trailer that I used frequently and did not pull the hubs for 19 years. The bearings looked brand new. BBs are far superior to EZ Lube types in marine applications. EZ Lube hubs do NOTHING to keep water OUT of the bearings.
Good test video for the bearing buddy. Especially appreciate the breakdown after a dry fill to see how well it fills/missed the back bearing. I wonder how well the bearing buddy would have worked if starting from a bearing maintenance situation in which just replacing old grease in the bearings. Thanks man for the video. I’ll learned a lot watching you. Testing this out.
That bearing buddy and EZ Lube has so many RVers believing they never need to do annual wheel bearing maintenance. I still pull hubs and pack bearings with my $27.00 Rural King bearing packer. Cheap and so easy, to do it right. Plus, pull hubs and you can check your brakes.
I picked up a used boat & trailer with 4.80 X 8 tires in 1987 and I barely got it home on wasted bearings. I replaced the bearings & seals and installed Bearing Buddies using marine waterproof grease, then never worried about the bearings again for 25 years of heavy use dropping the boat into water at least 4+ times a week and trips of 700 miles or more. My trailer bearing worries were an occasional couple of slow pumps of grease to fill the Bearing Buddy until grease came out of the weep hole in the side of the Bearing Buddy and that was it, now if only Bearing Buddy can do something about those 'May Pop 4.80 X 8 Tires' on my trailer...
Best I can tell, bearing buddies help keep water out of the hub. You see a lot of boat trailers with a wheel missing on the way home. When the warm hub is backed into the water, it sucks dirty water into the hub. On the way home, the hub warms up, the water evaporates, and leaves the dirt behind to grind the bearings to powder.
Thank you for the information, always helpful to have the proper procedure. I have the ez lube system but added a bearing buddy bra to it and it helps keep water out the ez lube hub.
Not a fan Of the easy lube bearing buddy I just finished Repacking and replacing the seals on my cargo trailer Upgraded my springs Upgrade my springs to £4,000 springs And hand And hand A hand Reassembled All is I understand I understand the purpose of the bearing buddy for marine trailer Because because getting underwater Keeping the water out of the bearing Make sense Thanks for the info and videos Randy
Our Rockwood Roo has Dexter easy lube axles. When I greased them after the first year of use, two wheels took a whole tube of grease. Since then, only a few shots and are good.
Trust me, "...a few shots are we're good" is NOT good enough. Take those wheels off every two years, clean those bearings, and repack them manually. I have the same EZ Lube bearings on my 2011 KZ trailer. Previous owner never repacked bearings for 9 years. When I removed the bearings in 2020, they were blue from overheating.
Nice info, wish I would watched sooner. I just changed out bearing on a boat and took the whole thing apart and replaced races and bearings and pumped it full of what I had at the farm, Lucas X tra heavy duty grease. Says right on the label "perfect for high temps and high speed bearings". Then watching your video and flipping around went to the Lucas sight where they have their greases listed, and in a comparison chart, there it says "not for boat bearings"? Still had it on jack stands so went back and redid them with the right grease, and put on some bearing buddies. Figured their heavy duty bearing grease would be OK, guess not, Great channel
I have Bearing Buddy and other like products on my trailers. Your video just confirmed what I always believed to be the weak point. The Bearing Buddy just doesn't get grease to the inner bearing. If I have to pull things apart to repack the inner bearing I might as well skip the Bearing Buddy. As per this video, it probably is worthwhile for a boat trailer. Enjoyed the video.
You are not doing it right. That void in the trailer hub that will take half a grease cartridge to fill...needs to be completely filled manually by you. Grease being a solid is not compressible. So if that void is filled by you after you have packed the inner bearing.... any grease pumped in the zerk of the bearing buddy will "pressure" ALL the other parts of the bearings... and that filled void... equally... So the inner bearing HAS to be filled with grease just by pumping the grease in until the bearing buddy automatically relieves the pressure via the spring loaded cap and the built in vent hole.... There can be no voids and no grease free areas within the hub, both bearings and the bearing buddy... The only place any grease should ever come from is that built in vent hole...the whole system is self regulating.
Thank you. I have never seen anyone try and "pack" the bearing using a bearing buddy. I didn't think it would work. I have seen a lot of people use them on road trailers thinking they will act like EZ lube spindles. Obviously it does not.
Bought a new boat this year and the trailer came with "Vault Bearing buddies". They are filled with a heavy oil similar to tractor trailers. No maintenance, 10 yr warranty . New to me, we'll see how they hold up,
I repacked the bearings on our dairy farm 40 years ago. Lube with 140 gear lube, half full. Never lost a bearing. Just had to check the 96 bearings yearly for water contamination, and refill at the half full level. Wet bearings don’t chicken-track, as the heat is dissipated. My opinion…..
When I purchased my trailer new. The manufacturer told me to grease the hubs because they don’t grease them. Thank goodness he told me that because I had 400 miles to drive it home.
Not a fan of bearing buddies. I'm an old guy ,still hand pack all bearings. The problem I have with filling the hub is I believe it will overheat due to rollers pushing thru all of it. In younger years always packed bear handed and most likely cleaned up w/a spray solvent. R11 was best degrease. Might try Loctite 515 sealer. Doesn't set up easy to disassemble. Not cheap though
I put a little layer of grease on the rubber plastic bra on the inside where it slides onto the bearing buddy. For one to keep it on the bearing buddy and two to keep water from getting in when backing into the water, Then when I get home, I take the rubber caps (bras) off to make sure everything is dry.
Wearing gloves is a good thing, not just to keep your hands clean, but solvents and cleaners can get into your blood stream through your skin. After years of contact with solvents of various types, after 55-60 years, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. One thing the doctor asked me was what I did for a living, and I told him and he asked me about contacts with solvents and chemicals. He said that is just another way to have the chemicals get into your system....
I too have bladder cancer. I'm convinced after extensive research that it was caused by over 35 years of handling PVC pipe solvent and primer while not wearing gloves. I ignored the fine print warnings on the products and now I am paying the price.
I love buddies they keep my shop packed with trailer work. Every buddy trailer at the ramp has blows out seals from customers over filling with buddies blowning out the rear seal from the spring pressure . Keep installing that junk it makes me lots of 🤑💰Sure lube axles best in invention since the wheel ,if you have a grease nipple on your axle keep use it and keep that garbage off your trailer.
On marine stuff I would over grease on the rest of my trailers. I would use less. I have a liberty storage trailer that I tow for construction work that I bought in 1990 I’ll take everything apart and repack it and still the original bearings. I’ve changed the seals. Other than that things are working well I have an old holiday rapper 32 footRV, I’ve done the same with it has the original bearing in it. It’s got lots of miles on it but good maintenance is preventative program. Thanks, John.
As a lazy RVer I’m usually an over-greaser… just very infrequently! I tend to live by “If some is good then more must be better… especially if it’s ice cream!”😁
I've always over greased ever since I was a teenager doing my bicycles yearly. The grease displaces any area water can intrude into. I'm not to concerned about the rear seal as it gets replaced every time you pull the hub.
I’ve been using something similar on my utility trailer here in the north east for years. As you stated with proper maintenance, they won’t last a long time. My only criticism on this video would be as you expressed you need to clean everything thoroughly, the wheel studs are probably the most important as if there’s any lubrication on no studs it will affect the wheel nut torque value.I would think that if someone was able enough to install the buddies that they would know about keeping the wheel studs clean. Just my opinion.
Always hand pack and do routine checks. Every axle I've ever worked on with those has had the back seal blow out and grease slinging into the brakes. Over greasers
The best I have found is a synthetic wheel bearing grease that WILL not mix with water ever. Power Punch was my go to, bought a case of it years ago, still have half of them left.
I thought I knew everything there was about packing bearings but I learned a new trick today! I've NEVER heard of putting silicone sealant on the bearing seal and outer cap but I will start using that method now. Is using the sealant for all applications or just boat trailers that get submersed in water? Either way I see an advantage to prevent water from entering the inner hub cavity. GREAT video!!
Problem with Bearing Buddy is it will blow out the inner seal over time. Spring pressure grease will have to go somewhere. Both my trailers with Bearing Buddy's have the inner rim coated with grease from the inner hub seal. As long as you always have positive grease in the bearing, it does not matter if inner seal leaks. The good thing is that when the inner seal leaks, at least you know grease is flowing through the hub. Do not use bearing buddies on brake hubs as the grease from the inner seal will contaminate the brake linings.
The BB will not blow your inner seal. If pressure exceeds 3 psi, the spring moves out far enough to open a bypass. The grease will move into the open cavity in the front of the BB. If you are getting grease past your inner seal, the slight positive pressure is showing that your seal is compromised.
Geoff, your doing it wrong! First you need to use a double lipped rear seal. I use Redline from NAPA. A single lip seal can have seapage. You only grease till the piston just raises off its seat when the bearings are cold. As it heats up the grease will expand and the piston will come out a bit more. If you fill too full when cold then when the bearings heat up the pressure may not relive fast enough and it can blow out the rear seal.
I have never packed a bearing, but know about lubrication. Under greasing will cause damage and failure. Over greasing will just get slung off in service. Pleas err on the side of over greasing.
My bearing buddies have a pinhole relief for when they’re full. And now a few miles on the trailer when I grease it will push just a little old grease out the rear hub seal
The Pawn Shop in my town has barrels full of ten dollar weed whackers . And the place is sourrounded with apartment buildings full of people who will never ever even come close to owning a single blade of grass themselves ever in their lifetimes or living in a place where they can walk directly out the door to go outside . Stack and pack apartments everywhere .
IMO it's better to take the time and hand-pack the bearings using water-resistant or water-proof grease. To easy to blow out inner seal using bearing buddies.
The cheese can RTV dispenser is cool. How long will your RTV last in a can like that? Do you guys have or ever use lock and lube adapters on your grease guns? If not, you should, well worth the extra $!! Best money I've ever spent and did to my grease gun. They make a stubby and a long style, each has their place. Dont go generic.
Great video and instructions! I am an overgreaser. Rick Pierce of Bass Cat boats builds a great trailer! He is not a fan of bearing buddies because of people over greasing. And blowing out the seals so now what I do after a tear down is don’t use the grease gun after packing the grease in the axle. After you drive the boat to the boat ramp check and see if the inner bearing buddy has any wiggle to it. If it does do not put any more grease in it if it doesn’t pump new grease until the inner bearing buddy comes out just a fraction. Now you know you have just enough inner grease pressure to prevent any water and don’t use the grease gun again unless you have a seal blowout and only grease for emergency.
YES, this is the point I was going to make and 1st I read down and you nailed it. Also, watch the Timken video, and it will say NOT to fill the entire hub volume with grease ( will cause "churning", whatever that is). The Bearing Buddy is not intended to replace regular bearing maintenance. It is intended to instantly pressurize your hubs to prevent water entry.
Why is grease escaping out the front between the center spring loaded plug and the outer barrel? Shouldn't there be a seal there to prevent the grease coming out under spring pressure to the point where the inner cavity is no longer pressurized? I've had two sets of bearing buddies on my trailers, one that I installed and one that came on a new trailer from the factory. Only the second set leak grease from the front side as shown in your video. I figured there was something wrong with the 2nd set but yours after doing that too.
Great videos! But im totally confused. How do you know when you have applied to much grease, or to little grease? I have read to much grease is just as bad as not enough. How does one know? I would think packing the hub with grease would fall under the to much grease. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
There is a spring that pushes a seal inward. When the grease is pumped in and has filled all the voids, the seal will move outward. There is a hole for grease to come out which means it’s filled.
What grease do you recommend for trailer hub bearings? I watched your video with the dexter axle and the grease system through the spindle. I noticed you had red grease and I saw the tube for mystic JT6. Is that the grease you recommend? Or a different high temp grease. Great videos, information, and presentation. Thank you
If you put too much grease in the hub when the bearings start to turn it displaces the grease builds up pressure in the hub and will push the bearing buddy out of the hub. Never could be seen again.
Excellent video thank you for sharing. I have a boat trailer with this feature butt did know anything about them. Now I have enough knowledge to go through my trailer with some confidence. Ric
Judging by the copious amounts of shop towels/rags I go through, I think I am in the over greaser category. Is the use of sealant called in the BB instructions besides the 1980T (Threaded) models? I have repeatedly had the stainless steel BBs fall off the hub on rough roads and I wonder if the sealant will act like an adhesive and help retain them better? I have even replaced the hubs thinking the bore was too loose, but that hasn't made a difference. Seems that the interference fit is too loose and after 1 or 2 removals it loosens even further and tumbling down the road they go. I have even tried not adding grease after install to see if the pressure was causing it to push off, no difference. It is getting really expensive to keep replacing the lost BBs, especially the stainless ones. I have yet to lose a cheap knock-off BB like the ones from wal-mart, only issue is that they leak grease out the center where the genuine BBs don't.
Having purchased and used virtually every bearing packer on the market over the years, I haven’t found one that is better, faster, or cleaner then hand packing. I’m not one that uses gloves and it doesn’t hurt my hands. If it hurts you hands your doing something very wrong. Always pack the bearings from the small side not the big side.
I must be an overgreaser… because I was taught to pump grease until it came out the other end. Under greasing would be bad, right? Because the bearings wouldn’t have enough grease and may be dry.
I never knew those existed. I just thought if you didn’t have the grease fitting on the axle itself if you had to manually take everything apart and repack
I watched this video and remembered I need to replace the bearings on my 4x8 harbor freight trailer......Do you know what bearings and seals I need to go get???
Better to temporarily vent the seal using a small smooth wire such as a short finishing nail sanded smooth and cleaned before inserting it between the lip seal and spindle seal surface. Fill the hub from the bearing buddy grease zerk until the rear bearing is packed and grease comes out around the vent wire, then remove it and clean the back side of the seal and spindle.
could you do a video replacing bearings on an older hub without an inner seal . I have a two horse trailer that is 50+ years old and does not have a seal on the inside against the trailer
after years of struggling with bearing buddies on my small bass boat trailer, I've switched back to regular dust caps and completely repacking once a year. I've lost so many bearing buddies while trailering long distances. I've been stranded 100s of miles from home a few times due to wheel bearing issues. I now carry two complete hubs with me when trailer long distances. Not my buddy in my opinion.
I greatly appreciate your video, but per science it would’ve been nice if you simulated a couple thousand miles before you took it off, and also try out a couple different bearing buddies, like harbor freights and stuff like that
In 48 years as a Grand Master Marine Tech, I never installed a "dry" brg., always packed with a brg. packer, always filled the hub completely full, always filled the brg. buddy 3/4 full & then pressed it in place. Brg. diaphragm presses out & excess grease squirts out. Tested this against just packing brgs. on one hub & full buddy on the other. 25 mile trip & then backed it into the lake. Left for 10 minutes & disassembled. Buddy side was cool & no water. Packed side cool & had quite a bit of water in hub. You did a good job on this video. Cooling a hot hub with lake water draws water in, & I'm a "greaser".
Can't get proper preload if your bearings are dry!
Can't get a proper preload on the bearings if they are installed dry!
Yep, no bearing failures for us for over 40 years with the bearings buddies !
@@Chevytech1977 Grease does not migrate, a full bearing is all it needs or will ever use
@@Maurice-c6z
But soaking the hub in cold water after a long hot trip sucks water into any bearing...
other than a bearing buddy which can compensate for the sudden contraction of the air in the bearing housing.
You get the same effect on a car axle when the diff breathers rust/clog up....
the suction of the contracting air within the whole axle housing sucks water into the axle bearings and sometimes into the pinion bearing as well.....
4wd trucks should have extended breather hoses (take the cap installed OEM and remove it; fit an EFI fuel hose over the breather pipe and extend the hose up into the engine compartment
and put the end up as high as possible at the firewall with a cheap plastic fuel filter on the end as an air filter...this allows expansion and contraction of the air without causing a vacuum or overpressure in the axle...
A really serious water crosser will extend the breathers to just under the top of the roll cage bar....
Variation on the palm packing method is to put the grease in a ziplock bag with the bearing. Close the bag and pack it into the bearing, almost no mess this way.
I like that.
Great idea.
I'm an auto sparky, and am actually allergic to grease. For while we had a temporary manager who wanted me to grease lighting trailer bearings when I wasn't busy.
I was 100 miles from home, stopped for lunch and saw my boat trailer wheel about to fall off the trailer. My neighbor's girlfriend brought us my 16' flatbed trailer. With both trailers ass to ass we loaded the flatbed. Made it home. Now thanks to your video I'm replacing all bearings and races. Three axles in a day should be a good day. 😊 I sold a weed eater to the pawn shop for ten bucks. Thanks again.😊
great educational video. i spent years running trailers with bearing buddies and had no idea how they worked or how to repack. i’d just pump grease into them until the color changed. hand tested the hubs when on the road to make sure not hot. mostly short runs to the lake nearby with an occasional 300 mile and later 1,000 mile runs. fortunately never had a roadside failure…knock on wood. NOW I KNOW. thank you!
This is the 1st video I've ever seen on how to do this. I've learned a lot. Thanks for the info and a great video.
Glad it was helpful!
@@TheTrailerSmith yes sir! Thank ya!
I used to work at a trailer manufacturing company and then a trailer axle manufacturer. You're right, first pack the bearings with a manual bearing packer, then install the Bearing Buddy and insert a flattened out finish nail between the axle and the inner seal (the 1 furthest from the Bearing Buddy), creating a vent. Pump the hubs with grease until it comes out the vent you created with the nail. Remove the nail and then you are completely packed and safe for travel.
Have always used the palm method of packing bearings, never had issues. Bearing buddies are an easy way to add additional grease to the outboard bearing, the inner not so convinced. Thanks for the great video
I have used a ziplock to pack bearing. It works pretty well and not as messy.
I worked in a triler shop in Florida as a youngster. Replacing bearings was our bread & butter. When you drive, the bearings will heat up. When you back it into the water, they will cool. Cooling will cause a vacuum and Bearing Buddies will stop them from sucking in water. Without them, you WILL have water in your hub. One caviat... you have to actually pump grease into them.
did you go to school in Florida?
Used them for over 30 years with out one second of problems.
👍👍I am definitely an over greaser. "Hotter than a ten dollar weed eater at the pawn shop" is a keeper. Thank you for that. 😉👍
😁
Thanks for watching!
That phrase had me LMFAO
Me too. When I got my boat and trailer the first thing I did was go over the wheel bearings and seals, and install Bearing Buddies. Completely packed the hub with marine grease. However, I wanted to make sure this would not cause any overheating so took it out on a freeway run for half and hour (was a scorching hot day) and afterwards the bearing housing was not even warm. I don't like the idea of having any air in the wheel hub, which will contract a lot more than what grease will when the hub is submerged in cold water.
Over greasing can push the grease out the inside seal and all over your rim. I know this because I found this out years ago when I started using Bearing Buddys. Just grease until the spring starts to move about 1/16" to 1/8" out and stop. As long as there is a little pressure on the grease, the water won't get in.
I completely fill my hubs and have never had that issue. The Bearing Buddies let out any excess grease. My guess is the seal or the surface on which the seal sits was not 100%. Any seals I've used have a double lip, one to keep grease in, and the other to keep dirt out. From the inside, pressure acts on the lip to make it seal more, so the only way for grease to get out is to blow the lip out, or the seal/seal surface is bad.
Used the palm of my hand to pack hundreds of bearings,what I liked is I could see the grease Come out of the bearing completely on the exposed side,ensuring a good pack !
That’s a good point! Thanks for watching!
Sold my 4x8 bolt together Northen tool trailor to a neighber 20 years ago he used that trailor with the 480x8 tires and wheels to go back and forth from NC to TX 3 times. He put buddies on it and would add greece at 500 miles at 60-70 mph back and forth. He still owns the trailor and probably has 10,000 miles on it! Still same bearings and buddies. Not bad!
Smart move on gloves and glasses. Great video.
I drill and tap an 1/8" pipe thread hole between the inner bearing race and the seal. When greasing, I remove the 1/8" plug. It allows the air to escape the inner area while greasing. Re-install the plug, then re-pressure the bearing buddy.
I learned with the bearing buddies you can over grease and blow grease out the back seal......it winds up all over the inside of the wheels.....now every couple trips I will pop the grease gun on and pump until I just see the spring move or the blue disk....I know it's preloaded. No water and no grease on wheels......this is done AFTER I prepack bearings and hub. Also my trailers are marine trailers.
Excellent demonstration and guidance for use. Looking forward to your other you tubes! thank you
When i replaced the acle on my utility trailer, i replaced it with an axle the had drilled spindles.
Spindles are drilled through to just in front of the seal. So you pump grease to the back of the inner bearing out to the front. Works really well.
Still pack the bearings and hub full of grease before assembly.
Yes they work but, these are for land use only. Marine needs bearing buddies.
how's the acle now?
😂@@osmith5086
Been using Bearing Buddy's on my boat trailer axle bearings in saltwater environments for 20+ years resulting in ZERO bearing failures. Just a couple of pumps on the grease gun into each hub before every trip to keep them full of grease. Bearing Buddy works on the principal of filling the air cavity, inside the hub between the inner seal and the bearing Buddy, completely full of grease under positive pressure, allowing no space for water/contaminates to enter the bearings.
I always thought the Bearing Buddy Bra was rain protection as well as a grease protector.
I am an over greaser on a re-new or repack but most comes out when the axle is pushed through!! When tightening the adjustment nut i spin the hub.....what ever spills out I add into the cap or buddy. My repacks last me years of use. Never had a bearing failure!! 😊
I think the bearing buddy is best designed for boats. The bearings heat up on the road, and when backed into cold water they cool rapidly, possibly drawing in water. The device keeps the water out of the bearings.
My small snowmobile trailer uses the same size tires found on golf carts. I have made 4 cross country trips with no issues without the buddy’s. My biggest complaint about the device is trying to remove them to service the bearings.
I used to go 450 miles North of Sault Ste. Marie into Northern Ontario, Canada 3 or 4 times per year to fish with an 18-1/2' aluminum closed bow boat & 90 HP Mercury outboard motor on a trailer. I bought bearing buddies and installed them after l cleaned and hand packed the bearings on that single axle trailer. I bought one of those little (6''?) grease guns to fill them with after l pulled it out of the lake. I'd stop after 50/60 miles and feel the hubs. If they were warm I'd give them a few pumps and take off again. In about 50/60 miles i'd feel them again. They'd always cool off and feel less than "warm." I've had guys tell me that my bearings couldn't be "cool," but they were. Even going into Canada for 2 weeks and filling that boat w/ food, gas & enough junk to fish, putter on the cabin, and all the paraphernalia you can imagine. It was heavy and l never ever had a problem with the bearings. They are on my tandem axle car hauler too. They were on it from Lorimore. I think the World of them. ben/ michigan
Not in the past, when I didn’t have something that was a regular grease packer for the bearings. I would take a sandwich bag and fill it with grease put the bearing in it seal the bag and then squeeze it in grease would go everywhere through it. it really worked well, that was like 60 years ago
Bearing Buddies are the best thing since sliced bread in marine applications. The 3 PSI of positive pressure keeps the water out of the hubs.
Not when it blows the rear seal out
@@MudflyWatersman They don't blow the seal out. The highest pressure that a BB provides is 3psi. If that makes your seal leak then you have a bad seal and the BB did you a favor and let you know. This info is critical in a marine application.
@billy-bo-dilly exactly, as an oyster fisherman I haul my boat every day, with bearing buddy's I've gone 10 years without replacing bearings, and they are in salt water every day
@@wasupfool5692 That's awesome. I had Bearing Buddies on a boat trailer that I used frequently and did not pull the hubs for 19 years. The bearings looked brand new. BBs are far superior to EZ Lube types in marine applications. EZ Lube hubs do NOTHING to keep water OUT of the bearings.
Good test video for the bearing buddy. Especially appreciate the breakdown after a dry fill to see how well it fills/missed the back bearing. I wonder how well the bearing buddy would have worked if starting from a bearing maintenance situation in which just replacing old grease in the bearings. Thanks man for the video. I’ll learned a lot watching you. Testing this out.
That bearing buddy and EZ Lube has so many RVers believing they never need to do annual wheel bearing maintenance.
I still pull hubs and pack bearings with my $27.00 Rural King bearing packer. Cheap and so easy, to do it right.
Plus, pull hubs and you can check your brakes.
Annual wheel bearing maintenance also gives the opportunity to check the brakes.
@@rodgraff1782 i believe i said that, “you can check the brakes.”
I picked up a used boat & trailer with 4.80 X 8 tires in 1987 and I barely got it home on wasted bearings. I replaced the bearings & seals and installed Bearing Buddies using marine waterproof grease, then never worried about the bearings again for 25 years of heavy use dropping the boat into water at least 4+ times a week and trips of 700 miles or more. My trailer bearing worries were an occasional couple of slow pumps of grease to fill the Bearing Buddy until grease came out of the weep hole in the side of the Bearing Buddy and that was it, now if only Bearing Buddy can do something about those 'May Pop 4.80 X 8 Tires' on my trailer...
Best I can tell, bearing buddies help keep water out of the hub.
You see a lot of boat trailers with a wheel missing on the way home. When the warm hub is backed into the water, it sucks dirty water into the hub. On the way home, the hub warms up, the water evaporates, and leaves the dirt behind to grind the bearings to powder.
Thank you for the information, always helpful to have the proper procedure. I have the ez lube system but added a bearing buddy bra to it and it helps keep water out the ez lube hub.
Not a fan Of the easy lube bearing buddy I just finished Repacking and replacing the seals on my cargo trailer Upgraded my springs Upgrade my springs to £4,000 springs And hand And hand A hand Reassembled All is I understand I understand the purpose of the bearing buddy for marine trailer Because because getting underwater Keeping the water out of the bearing Make sense Thanks for the info and videos Randy
This guy and his comments are cool. Enjoyed this video.
Thanks for watching!
Our Rockwood Roo has Dexter easy lube axles. When I greased them after the first year of use, two wheels took a whole tube of grease. Since then, only a few shots and are good.
Trust me, "...a few shots are we're good" is NOT good enough. Take those wheels off every two years, clean those bearings, and repack them manually. I have the same EZ Lube bearings on my 2011 KZ trailer. Previous owner never repacked bearings for 9 years. When I removed the bearings in 2020, they were blue from overheating.
Thanks Trailer Smith! Very helpful! 🙂
Remember that God loves you!
Nice info, wish I would watched sooner. I just changed out bearing on a boat and took the whole thing apart and replaced races and bearings and pumped it full of what I had at the farm, Lucas X tra heavy duty grease. Says right on the label "perfect for high temps and high speed bearings". Then watching your video and flipping around went to the Lucas sight where they have their greases listed, and in a comparison chart, there it says "not for boat bearings"? Still had it on jack stands so went back and redid them with the right grease, and put on some bearing buddies. Figured their heavy duty bearing grease would be OK, guess not, Great channel
I have Bearing Buddy and other like products on my trailers. Your video just confirmed what I always believed to be the weak point. The Bearing Buddy just doesn't get grease to the inner bearing. If I have to pull things apart to repack the inner bearing I might as well skip the Bearing Buddy. As per this video, it probably is worthwhile for a boat trailer. Enjoyed the video.
You are not doing it right.
That void in the trailer hub that will take half a grease cartridge to fill...needs to be completely filled manually by you.
Grease being a solid is not compressible.
So if that void is filled by you after you have packed the inner bearing....
any grease pumped in the zerk of the bearing buddy will "pressure" ALL the other parts of the bearings... and that filled void... equally...
So the inner bearing HAS to be filled with grease just by pumping the grease in until the bearing buddy automatically relieves the pressure via the spring loaded cap and the built in vent hole....
There can be no voids and no grease free areas within the hub, both bearings and the bearing buddy...
The only place any grease should ever come from is that built in vent hole...the whole system is self regulating.
Thank you. I have never seen anyone try and "pack" the bearing using a bearing buddy. I didn't think it would work. I have seen a lot of people use them on road trailers thinking they will act like EZ lube spindles. Obviously it does not.
Fantastic hands on, as always my friend.
Thank you for watching!
Good for you on the P P E ,💪👍 it works!
I’m sure I’m an over greaser with amsoil blue marine grease. I’ve never had any bearing issues ever but I do “flush” in new grease every year.
Bought a new boat this year and the trailer came with "Vault Bearing buddies". They are filled with a heavy oil similar to tractor trailers. No maintenance, 10 yr warranty . New to me, we'll see how they hold up,
Yup,I have them too. 5yrs later, no issues.
I repacked the bearings on our dairy farm 40 years ago. Lube with 140 gear lube, half full. Never lost a bearing. Just had to check the 96 bearings yearly for water contamination, and refill at the half full level. Wet bearings don’t chicken-track, as the heat is dissipated. My opinion…..
@@duanebaalson2287 chicken-track?
When I purchased my trailer new. The manufacturer told me to grease the hubs because they don’t grease them. Thank goodness he told me that because I had 400 miles to drive it home.
Not a fan of bearing buddies. I'm an old guy ,still hand pack all bearings. The problem I have with filling the hub is I believe it will overheat due to rollers pushing thru all of it. In younger years always packed bear handed and most likely cleaned up w/a spray solvent. R11 was best degrease. Might try Loctite 515 sealer. Doesn't set up easy to disassemble. Not cheap though
I put a little layer of grease on the rubber plastic bra on the inside where it slides onto the bearing buddy. For one to keep it on the bearing buddy and two to keep water from getting in when backing into the water, Then when I get home, I take the rubber caps (bras) off to make sure everything is dry.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Ask me why.. I’ve been roadside with bearing issues before. No fun.
Wearing gloves is a good thing, not just to keep your hands clean, but solvents and cleaners can get into your blood stream through your skin. After years of contact with solvents of various types, after 55-60 years, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. One thing the doctor asked me was what I did for a living, and I told him and he asked me about contacts with solvents and chemicals. He said that is just another way to have the chemicals get into your system....
Prevents Parkinson's as well
I tried gloves. Always end up with a rip in them within 5 minutes of putting them on. Nothing but a waste of money!
I too have bladder cancer. I'm convinced after extensive research that it was caused by over 35 years of handling PVC pipe solvent and primer while not wearing gloves. I ignored the fine print warnings on the products and now I am paying the price.
I love buddies they keep my shop packed with trailer work. Every buddy trailer at the ramp has blows out seals from customers over filling with buddies blowning out the rear seal from the spring pressure . Keep installing that junk it makes me lots of 🤑💰Sure lube axles best in invention since the wheel ,if you have a grease nipple on your axle keep use it and keep that garbage off your trailer.
The rubber caps work great over my regular bearings
On marine stuff I would over grease on the rest of my trailers. I would use less. I have a liberty storage trailer that I tow for construction work that I bought in 1990 I’ll take everything apart and repack it and still the original bearings. I’ve changed the seals. Other than that things are working well I have an old holiday rapper 32 footRV, I’ve done the same with it has the original bearing in it. It’s got lots of miles on it but good maintenance is preventative program. Thanks, John.
As a lazy RVer I’m usually an over-greaser… just very infrequently!
I tend to live by “If some is good then more must be better… especially if it’s ice cream!”😁
“…..more is better” ALWAYS applies to ice cream. Always!
Nice hat. Thanks for the info. Your wife will appreciate the clean hands too!!
I've always over greased ever since I was a teenager doing my bicycles yearly. The grease displaces any area water can intrude into. I'm not to concerned about the rear seal as it gets replaced every time you pull the hub.
Great video. Not sure if I’m an undergreaser or not but not an overgreaser.
I’ve been using something similar on my utility trailer here in the north east for years. As you stated with proper maintenance, they won’t last a long time. My only criticism on this video would be as you expressed you need to clean everything thoroughly, the wheel studs are probably the most important as if there’s any lubrication on no studs it will affect the wheel nut torque value.I would think that if someone was able enough to install the buddies that they would know about keeping the wheel studs clean. Just my opinion.
Always hand pack and do routine checks. Every axle I've ever worked on with those has had the back seal blow out and grease slinging into the brakes. Over greasers
The best I have found is a synthetic wheel bearing grease that WILL not mix with water ever. Power Punch was my go to, bought a case of it years ago, still have half of them left.
After 40 years and many boats, I prefer vortex oil, bath in salt water. No guess work. You can see the oil level. Oil changes are a snap.
The oil is not pressurized, thusly water can get in there if a seal leaks.
I thought I knew everything there was about packing bearings but I learned a new trick today! I've NEVER heard of putting silicone sealant on the bearing seal and outer cap but I will start using that method now. Is using the sealant for all applications or just boat trailers that get submersed in water? Either way I see an advantage to prevent water from entering the inner hub cavity. GREAT video!!
My tendency is to over grease, but I learned to temper it long ago.
What exact grease type and manufacturer are y'all using? My dad taught me how to "palm pack" bearings as a kid. Still do it to this day 👍
Problem with Bearing Buddy is it will blow out the inner seal over time. Spring pressure grease will have to go somewhere. Both my trailers with Bearing Buddy's have the inner rim coated with grease from the inner hub seal. As long as you always have positive grease in the bearing, it does not matter if inner seal leaks. The good thing is that when the inner seal leaks, at least you know grease is flowing through the hub. Do not use bearing buddies on brake hubs as the grease from the inner seal will contaminate the brake linings.
You are spot on.
You don’t know how to use them.
The BB will not blow your inner seal. If pressure exceeds 3 psi, the spring moves out far enough to open a bypass. The grease will move into the open cavity in the front of the BB. If you are getting grease past your inner seal, the slight positive pressure is showing that your seal is compromised.
Geoff, your doing it wrong! First you need to use a double lipped rear seal. I use Redline from NAPA. A single lip seal can have seapage. You only grease till the piston just raises off its seat when the bearings are cold. As it heats up the grease will expand and the piston will come out a bit more. If you fill too full when cold then when the bearings heat up the pressure may not relive fast enough and it can blow out the rear seal.
I have never packed a bearing, but know about lubrication. Under greasing will cause damage and failure. Over greasing will just get slung off in service. Pleas err on the side of over greasing.
My bearing buddies have a pinhole relief for when they’re full. And now a few miles on the trailer when I grease it will push just a little old grease out the rear hub seal
use barrier cream as well if no gloves.. also for cracked fingers take Hemp seed oil,, or even hand cream with UREA..
Enjoyed the video! Learned a few things, Thanks !😊
So glad! Thank you for watching!
The Pawn Shop in my town has barrels full of ten dollar weed whackers . And the place is sourrounded with apartment buildings full of people who will never ever even come close to owning a single blade of grass themselves ever in their lifetimes or living in a place where they can walk directly out the door to go outside . Stack and pack apartments everywhere .
I don't know how many brake drums I've pulled of that were packed with grease due to bearing buddys
IMO it's better to take the time and hand-pack the bearings using water-resistant or water-proof grease. To easy to blow out inner seal using bearing buddies.
The cheese can RTV dispenser is cool. How long will your RTV last in a can like that?
Do you guys have or ever use lock and lube adapters on your grease guns? If not, you should, well worth the extra $!! Best money I've ever spent and did to my grease gun.
They make a stubby and a long style, each has their place. Dont go generic.
Always great information!
Thanks for watching!
Great video and instructions! I am an overgreaser. Rick Pierce of Bass Cat boats builds a great trailer! He is not a fan of bearing buddies because of people over greasing. And blowing out the seals so now what I do after a tear down is don’t use the grease gun after packing the grease in the axle. After you drive the boat to the boat ramp check and see if the inner bearing buddy has any wiggle to it. If it does do not put any more grease in it if it doesn’t pump new grease until the inner bearing buddy comes out just a fraction. Now you know you have just enough inner grease pressure to prevent any water and don’t use the grease gun again unless you have a seal blowout and only grease for emergency.
YES, this is the point I was going to make and 1st I read down and you nailed it. Also, watch the Timken video, and it will say NOT to fill the entire hub volume with grease ( will cause "churning", whatever that is). The Bearing Buddy is not intended to replace regular bearing maintenance. It is intended to instantly pressurize your hubs to prevent water entry.
I am an over greaser. In my 50 yrs of working on things I can't remember too much ever causing a problem.
Why is grease escaping out the front between the center spring loaded plug and the outer barrel? Shouldn't there be a seal there to prevent the grease coming out under spring pressure to the point where the inner cavity is no longer pressurized? I've had two sets of bearing buddies on my trailers, one that I installed and one that came on a new trailer from the factory. Only the second set leak grease from the front side as shown in your video. I figured there was something wrong with the 2nd set but yours after doing that too.
Great videos! But im totally confused. How do you know when you have applied to much grease, or to little grease? I have read to much grease is just as bad as not enough. How does one know? I would think packing the hub with grease would fall under the to much grease. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
There is a spring that pushes a seal inward. When the grease is pumped in and has filled all the voids, the seal will move outward. There is a hole for grease to come out which means it’s filled.
What grease do you recommend for trailer hub bearings? I watched your video with the dexter axle and the grease system through the spindle. I noticed you had red grease and I saw the tube for mystic JT6. Is that the grease you recommend? Or a different high temp grease.
Great videos, information, and presentation.
Thank you
If you put too much grease in the hub when the bearings start to turn it displaces the grease builds up pressure in the hub and will push the bearing buddy out of the hub. Never could be seen again.
When using bearing buddies aren't you forcing the old dirty grease from the front bearing into the inner bearing?
They work for me! Never had a problem with them
On my boat trailer using AMSOIL marine grease.
Excellent video thank you for sharing. I have a boat trailer with this feature butt did know anything about them. Now I have enough knowledge to go through my trailer with some confidence. Ric
Glad I could help! Best of luck to you! Thanks for watching.
Thank you for your knowledge and videos USA 🇺🇸
Thank you for watching!
Judging by the copious amounts of shop towels/rags I go through, I think I am in the over greaser category. Is the use of sealant called in the BB instructions besides the 1980T (Threaded) models? I have repeatedly had the stainless steel BBs fall off the hub on rough roads and I wonder if the sealant will act like an adhesive and help retain them better? I have even replaced the hubs thinking the bore was too loose, but that hasn't made a difference. Seems that the interference fit is too loose and after 1 or 2 removals it loosens even further and tumbling down the road they go. I have even tried not adding grease after install to see if the pressure was causing it to push off, no difference. It is getting really expensive to keep replacing the lost BBs, especially the stainless ones. I have yet to lose a cheap knock-off BB like the ones from wal-mart, only issue is that they leak grease out the center where the genuine BBs don't.
i have a question about hub size. I have a 5 on 5 Dexter what are the pros or cons of it vs. a 5 on 4.5 hub 3500 lbs. axle
I have heard pro's and con's about filling the hub with grease. In your opinion, what is better for you?
Never been a fan of hammering seals into place - too much error to having it cock. I always use a press whenever I can to get a perfect seat.
Having purchased and used virtually every bearing packer on the market over the years, I haven’t found one that is better, faster, or cleaner then hand packing. I’m not one that uses gloves and it doesn’t hurt my hands. If it hurts you hands your doing something very wrong. Always pack the bearings from the small side not the big side.
Over greaser. Cleaning up is better than waking up in the middle of the night wondering if I put enough in.
I must be an overgreaser… because I was taught to pump grease until it came out the other end. Under greasing would be bad, right? Because the bearings wouldn’t have enough grease and may be dry.
I never knew those existed. I just thought if you didn’t have the grease fitting on the axle itself if you had to manually take everything apart and repack
Great video. What is your opinion on a, grease needle for packing bearings ?
How often do you add grease to your daily driver hubs. I thought so.
I watched this video and remembered I need to replace the bearings on my 4x8 harbor freight trailer......Do you know what bearings and seals I need to go get???
If you drill a small hole, 1/16" on the inner seal, grease will pass through the oughter😂and inner bearing and not ge5 air locked.
Better to temporarily vent the seal using a small smooth wire such as a short finishing nail sanded smooth and cleaned before inserting it between the lip seal and spindle seal surface. Fill the hub from the bearing buddy grease zerk until the rear bearing is packed and grease comes out around the vent wire, then remove it and clean the back side of the seal and spindle.
Great video.
could you do a video replacing bearings on an older hub without an inner seal . I have a two horse trailer that is 50+ years old and does not have a seal on the inside against the trailer
after years of struggling with bearing buddies on my small bass boat trailer, I've switched back to regular dust caps and completely repacking once a year. I've lost so many bearing buddies while trailering long distances. I've been stranded 100s of miles from home a few times due to wheel bearing issues. I now carry two complete hubs with me when trailer long distances. Not my buddy in my opinion.
I greatly appreciate your video, but per science it would’ve been nice if you simulated a couple thousand miles before you took it off, and also try out a couple different bearing buddies, like harbor freights and stuff like that
What about Harbor Freight Bearing Buddies; any opinions?
My trailer has grease Sirko on the end of the axels .
how do you feel about Vortex hubs on boat trailers. Pro/Con
If you put new bearing on the axle, shouldn't you replace the inner races, also?
My 2 horses trailer came with the bearing bubbie.
How do I get one of those Texas Custom Trailers Truckers caps you got on?
Just push a small cable tie or similar under the seal. The air will come out,then the grease