Trailer Axle - Grease Seal Replace

[jgalt]

I have a 1946 teardrop camper with a leaky wheel bearing oil seals and have a few questions. The axle looks original to me, it has a spline, inner and outer roller bearings, and finally an oil seal.

- I can't get the inner bearings off. Were these presses onto the axle shaft? If so, what do I use to pull the bearing (pickle fork, gear puller, slide hammer, etc.) ?

- I'm guessing that tractor supply is a good bet for replacements, does that sound right?

- The axle has bearing buddys installed, and the spindle was pumped full of grease. Shouldn't I grease the bearings only (press wheel bearing grease into the bearings), like a car is done? And shouldn't I just toss those bearing buddys anyway?

Thanks!

[SteveH]

jgalt,

It sounds like your inner bearings are corroded in place. At least, I've never seen any trailer bearings that were pressed on. I believe I would try a wheel puller first, and if that doesn't do it, I'd use heat and the puller. Either way, the bearings will probably be damaged and need replacement.

The thing is, you can't replace that bad grease seal without removing the inner bearing, so you may be stuck with having to replace it also.

[Nitetimes]

Here's how I'd go about it. First donate those bearing buddies to the local landfill. Next, if you don't already have the hubs off you need to remove them, remove your outer bearing, then you can use a puller or or get behind the hub with a large hammer and pound it off of the seal. To get the bearing off what I usually use is a fairly thin chisel, just tap it between the race and the spindle shoulder, keep moving it around til it pops loose. As long as the bearing has spun it will usually loosen up with minimal persuasion. Don't worry about the shoulder, as long as you don't get crazy on it it won't be hurt, it's just a stop for the bearing besides if you bung it up a bit just grind or file it back to smooth. Be careful not to tear up the area the seal rides on tho.
You can try a gear puller but the bearing race is usually not much bigger than the shoulder on the spindle so it usually won't have anything to grab ahold of.
As for greasing, just pack your bearings with a good high speed bearing grease and put a thin layer on the races in the hub, replace the seals, put it all back together, put the spindle nut on and tighten it snug while spinning the hub then back it off a little, do this several times, the last time you snug it back it off to the first available cotter pin hole, put your cotter pin in, bend it over taking care to make certain it won't rub the grease cap (I've seen them cut thru), put the grease cap on and your done. You shouldn't have to touch them for at least a couple of years.

Replacement bearings should be able to be found anywhere that sells bearings, it's best to take them with you so they can get the numbers off of the side of them. You will need to take one of each bearing and race (from the hub) also take the seals with you. Try to make sure you take parts with the numbers on them. They might be hard to see unless you clean all the parts really well. And some aren't numbered at all so they'll need to measure them.

[angib]

And some aren't numbered at all so they'll need to measure them.

Nitetimes,

Thanks, that's a useful description.

It agrees with my experience, except in one way - I get my bearings from a 'bearing factor' (fancy old English phrase for a shop that sells bearings) and there's no need to measure the old bearings - the old man that runs the shop can see the size while the bearings are still in my hand - yup, he can see the difference between 25mm and 1 inch - he's never been wrong yet! He is a grumpy, cantankerous old man, and you do have to receive a compulsory lecture about how bearings aren't made as well as they used to be, but then I think there's a rule that you're allowed to be like that, if you're that good.

Andrew

[jgalt]

Thanks for all the help! I was able to get the bearing and grease seal loose with some medium hammer tapping from behind.

The spindle surfaces and bearings all look fine, and the oil seal even seemed in good shape to my surprise - it had sealer on the back (an attempt to stop the leak I guess), so it felt like it was coming apart. Since I couldn't find a new seal in stock locally, I just cleaned well and reassembled using a bit of sealer on the oil seal outer edge.

The hub was pumped completely full of grease, and I'm thinking that this is the reason it was slinging the grease. I'll toss the bearing buddys and see how it works. I can imagine that bearing buddys might be good for boat trailers that go under water, but I can't see using them on a camper trailer.

[Woody]

Explain again why Buddy Bearing aren't the way to go again? I am not seeing it makes that big of a deal to have them or not to have them. What is it exactly? Thanks

[David Grason]

.....He is a grumpy, cantankerous old man, and you do have to receive a compulsory lecture about how bearings aren't made as well as they used to be......

"A bit of a carmudgeon" as a British friend of mine would say.

[jgalt]

Bearing Buddy's are a way to lube the bearings without disassembling the axle. The 'Buddy' goes on in place of the grease cap, and has a grease gun fitting.

It's clear to me that lubing this way will completely fill the hub with grease. Usually the bearings are lubed directly, and care is taken not to put too much grease.

The problem comes when overfill, or pressure from normal rotational forces, makes the grease come out past the grease seal - quite a mess.

[Nitetimes]

The problem comes when overfill, or pressure from normal rotational forces, makes the grease come out past the grease seal - quite a mess.

The bigger problem comes from them actually pushing the seal out of the hub completely. Then you wind up with dirt and water in your hub. It only takes a little dirt in the hub to trash the bearings, hub, axle and possibly the trailer when the hub falls off and you drag it down the road.
This is not theoretical, I cannot count the number of times I have seen it happen in the 15 years I have been doing trailer repair.

[Woody]

The reason I ask this is I have had buddy bearings on every trailer I have owned. Mostly because that was the way they were made. I have had some grease sling out, but usaully due to overfilling. Simple fix however, the trailer place I use had thicker rear seals, which are recomended by the manufacture, that are designed for that very problem. Have never had a problem, so I was just curious. Some of my trailers have at least or around 100,000 miles on them and with regular maintenance they have yet to fail, knock on wood. My new 3500# axle for my teardrop had them installed on it when I had it made, or I should say it came with the hub assembly. To me I think this a non-issue, considering all the other things that could go wrong, this one is rather slight. Granted it may have the potential to fail like everything else could. like I said Iwas just curious