Maintaining Your Trailer’s Wheel Bearings
George VondriskaDescription
An important maintenance step for any trailer is making sure the trailer’s wheel bearings are greased. If you neglect this you could get caught on the road with burned up bearings. Bearing Buddies provide a simple solution for this issue. Once they’re installed (which is simple) you simply connect a grease gun to the Buddies and pump in wheel bearing grease. Carefully match the size of the Bearing Buddies to your trailer. Be sure you get the right stuff, wheel bearing grease, for your grease gun. Follow the instructions for installing and maintaining the Bearing Buddies, and you’ll have a more worry-free trip. Bearing Buddy reduces air and moisture penetration into the hub, it does not replace routine maintenance including repacking and inspection of the axle assembly.
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This isn’t what Bearing Buddies are for and you’re really not greasing the bearings. You’re confusing Bearing Buddies with Dexter EZ Lube axles, which have channels to route grease through both bearings and then push out through the front instead of blowing out rear seal. Bearing Buddies are really for boat trailers. Towing the boat down the road gets the bearings and grease warm. Then the trailer is backed into the water to launch the boat, and the rapid cooling effect of the water causes the air in the cap to contract which causes a slight vacuum and pulls water into the bearing assembly. When this is done repeatedly the water contaminates the grease, which can destroy the bearings. Bearing Buddies allow you to pump in a reserve of grease to displace that air pocket and the whole front is a diaphragm on a spring. When the trailer is dunked and everything is rapidly cooled, the diaphragm contracts so there is no vacuum in the bearing assembly to draw water in.