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How To Grease Boat Trailer Wheel Bearings

How often should you grease boat trailer wheel bearings?

The most effective way to keep your rig rolling is vigilance. How often to grease boat trailer bearings? Keep the bearings greased and take them apart and service them at least once per year.

Do I need to grease my trailer wheel bearings?

Proper lubrication helps maintain functionality and reliability of your trailer’s axle(s). Bearings should be lubricated approximately every 12 months or 12,000 miles unless otherwise specified by the axle manufacturer.

How much grease do you put in a trailer wheel bearing?

It is equally important to retain the grease around the bearing. For traditional greases (NLGI Nos. 1 and 2), pump a ring of grease into the entire circumference of the wheel hub and coat the hub cap inner wall. The housing should only be half full of grease.

Can you over grease trailer wheel bearings?

They keep grease packed into the hub. munchy wrote: More grease is never the right answer. Overgreasing can actually cause the rollers/balls to slide over the bearing surface rather than roll over them.

Can you mix Marine grease with regular grease?

Don’t Mix Grease, but Change If Needed If you can, start with completely clean parts and new grease. Otherwise, greasing more often will flush out the old incompatible grease faster.

Do you grease boat trailer rollers?

When the pin and split pin are in place, put grease all over them to ward off rust. Going through this procedure with all the rollers should take you around 20 minutes in total. Getting the boat on and off the trailer should now be a lot easier. Check your winch cable regularly for signs of wear.

How do you know when to grease trailer bearings?

With a larger travel trailer, you should grease your trailer wheel bearings every 10,000 miles or once a year, whichever comes first. If you have a smaller travel trailer, however, you’ll need to grease your wheel bearings every 2,000 miles. This is because the wheels are smaller and spin faster.

Do you grease trailer hitch ball?

You do not need to grease your trailer hitch ball. That is entirely up to you. However, greasing it is recommended. Greasing will help ensure that the trailer hitch ball keeps its structural integrity, and it will help prevent it from squeaking.

Can you put too much grease in a Bearing Buddy?

Can Bearing Buddy Bearing Protectors Be Over-Filled with Too Much Grease It is possible to over-fill a hub that has a Bearing Buddy bearing protector such as #BB1781. The convenience of easy filling through the zerk fitting can often mean we can be tempted to keep adding more grease.

How do you keep water out of boat trailer bearings?

Grease-Filled Protection Grease is kept around your boat trailer bearings by a seal on one side of the hub (preferably a double-lipped seal) and pressure from froma rubber plug or grommet positioned on the outside of the hub.

Is Marine grease good for wheel bearings?

Bottom Line. The story today is not much different than it was years ago: Automotive bearing grease is OK in a pinch, marine wheel-bearing grease is better, and synthetic marine-wheel bearing grease is best. The name brands are familiar, with a few new players offering new formulations.

What is the difference between marine grease and regular grease?

Technically marine grease has additives that make it hydrophobic (repels water). Standard grease is somewhat hydrophobic but not nearly as good as marine grease and standard grease will mix much more readily with water. Marine grease is much more resistant to this mixing.

Can you use red grease for wheel bearings?

Lucas Oil Red ‘N’ Tacky Grease The Lucas Oil Red ‘N’ Tacky Grease is actually an all-purpose product, so it isn’t designed specifically for wheel bearings, but this grease has all of the key properties that you want to see in a wheel bearing lubricant.

How often should you grease a bearing?

Using the chart and the formula, the bearing only needs 8 grams of grease every 10,000 hours. If your grease gun delivers around 1.35 grams per stroke, that means the bearing needs 6 strokes every 13 months; you could average it out to a stroke every 8 weeks or so.

Why does my trailer hitch make so much noise?

Most of the time, sound is coming from the contact your trailer coupler is making with your hitch ball. If after you grease your hitch ball well, you still hear sound, rest assured. Some sound can come from the two friction points in the hitch head where the rotating sockets are sliding against the hitch head itself.

When should I repack boat trailer bearings?

The axle manufacturers recommend that you repack your trailer bearings once annually or every 12,000 km. If you are over-do for trailer wheel bearing maintenance, we would be happy to help you.

How do you know when a Bearing Buddy is full?

The air pockets inside the hub cavity and Bearing Buddy® will work their way out past the piston (or blue ring) on the Bearing Buddy®. You should see the piston extend out or the blue ring past the front of the Bearing Buddy® when it’s properly filled.

Are bearing buddies a good idea?

Bearing Buddies are a great way to keep grease in a trailer hub. I recommend them as long as you are aware that it’s very easy to put too much grease in a hub with these which will blow out the seal. They have no problem being used on longer road trips so the would work well for you.

Do bearing buddies grease both bearings?

Expert Reply: Bearing Buddy pumps grease into the center of the hub all the way back to the grease seal. It would then fill the cavity inside the hub and continue to the inner bearing.