Anyone use bearing buddy's

[LeeB]

Has anyone used bearing buddy', or Red eye bearing protectors? Good or Bad. How often do you grease your hubs? We just got a new little guy and pulled it 350 miles on one side there is a lot of grease on the axle by the hub but not on the other side. I will clean it all off and try a short trip and see if it happens again. Thanks

Lee

[Arne]

Bearing buddies are pretty much for boats which get submerged in water. The down side to them is they are a pain to get off, so most bearings don't get inspected on a regular basis.

On a tear, it is pretty simple to remove the cap, check bearing snugness and regrease.... for me bearing buddies are a pain (on my boat trailers) and not necessary on a tear... just load them up with grease.

[Laredo]

they're a major hit with popup camper owners, particularly those who have the dinky little wheels.

[Nitetimes]

Yep, I'm gonna put my 2 cents in here. After 15 years building and repairing trailers I would not recommend those things to anyone. I have seen way too many ruined bearings and spindles and hubs caused by them. The biggest problem is that they are spring loaded and you can't see how much grease is in there. What happens more often than not is people tend to put a few squirts of grease in them every other time or so that they use the trailer just because it is easy to do. That's where the problem starts, the grease does not evaporate so it just keeps filling the hub cavity until it can't hold any more and out pops the grease seal. Ten miles down the road, off comes the wheel and hub. Bearings, hub, spindle and possibly wheel are now all shot, requiring axle replacements along the highway somewhere. I say stay away from them. Consider how often you grease the front wheel-bearings on a 2 wheel drive pickup or car, some of them are lucky to be greased every 5 years and they get more of a workout because you steer with them. If you use a good quality grease when you pack your bearings, doing them once a year is all you need.
OK, it was more than 2 cents, sorry.

[LeeB]

Thanks to all the info. have only had boat trailers so I see your point of view will not use them sounds like more trouble don't need that.

lee

[Joanne]

Yep, I'm gonna put my 2 cents in here. After 15 years building and repairing trailers I would not recommend those things to anyone.

As some of you know, I'm starting with a boat trailer. I took the hubs off to inspect and clean the bearings. The bearings and races were all pitted from rust in spite of the bearing buddies. I have new hubs on order but I won't be using any kind of bearing buddy type dust cap.. I'll just service the bearings as needed.

Joanne

[steve wolverton]

My tear is built on a boat trailer frame. I have bearing buddies. I don't have any complaints. You do have to be careful to not overfill them and push grease out of the seals. After driving 7 hours on the maiden voyage the hubs were not warm - I didn't feel any heat on them or the tires. My teardrop is really light though.

Steve

[Joanne]

My tear is built on a boat trailer frame. I have bearing buddies. I don't have any complaints. You do have to be careful to not overfill them and push grease out of the seals. After driving 7 hours on the maiden voyage the hubs were not warm - I didn't feel any heat on them or the tires. My teardrop is really light though.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I don't think that there is anything intrisically wrong with the bearing buddies. They don't cause bearings to fail or run hot. The problem lies with how people use them. It's obvious that the prior owner of my trailer never cleaned or inspected the bearings, but just pumped more grease in. Grease had leaked out of the inner seal and made a mess of everything. I will clean everything up and hopefully not have to deal with that again.

Congrats on your cute trailer! When you travel I'll bet you get a lot of people who want to know more about it. Quite the conversation starter!

Joanne