How to lube hubs on trailer???

[AirTool]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: How to lube hubs on trailer???

BKH

1. Exactly.....scrape on the larger side towards the taper.

2. Saw the tool used in a shop with a pneumatic grease gun. "P-tchit, P-tchit, P-tchit"....done.

3. My Dad "Let" me pack the bearings. Now that I think about it...maybe I was tricked. I'll be glad when my son is old enough that I can "Let" him do the bearings.

AirTool

[scoke]

Blast from the past thread...

I've got the blue Kodiak oil bath bearings.

Does anyone know what kind of "bearing lube" I can buy aftermarket to refill? for some reason one of the Kodiaks is completely empty.

[Chexi]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: How to lube hubs on trailer???

Probably goes without saying, but be sure you also check all your lugs for appropriate tightness. You don't want a slightly loose wheel on a long drive. It could result in snapping your lugs. That is no fun at all. Believe me... I know from experience. Mix in a single axle trailer and it's really a party.

[AirTool]

Re: Blast from the past thread...

I've got the blue Kodiak oil bath bearings.

Does anyone know what kind of "bearing lube" I can buy aftermarket to refill? for some reason one of the Kodiaks is completely empty.

Switch them over to grease IMO.

[scoke]

Re: Blast from the past thread...

I've got the blue Kodiak oil bath bearings.

Does anyone know what kind of "bearing lube" I can buy aftermarket to refill? for some reason one of the Kodiaks is completely empty.

Switch them over to grease IMO.

The "plan" is to switch over to grease but we'll be trailering (hopefully) less than 6-8 times this whole year.

I am towing to the lake today, run it and change the oil. Tow it Sunday and then once a weekend until we start skiing in 3 weeks. Then it will be kept at the lake on a lift and the trailer will be sitting in my carport. With that said, we'll have all summer to switch them to grease.

But my concern is towing to the lake for the next two trips and the risk of having a hub/bearing blowout.

I saw someone said "90w" oil. Today I'll stop by a few stores and see what they think/say.

[Quinner]

Re: Blast from the past thread...

Switch them over to grease IMO.

Air Tool,

Curious about your comment, my Eagle Trailer has the oil bath hubs, first set for me, so far no issues, why do you recommend they would be switched over to grease? Are there known issues with the oil bath hubs?

Thanks

[j2nh]

Airtool, on the previous page you posted a pic of Kodiak bearings on a Ramilin and the setup is exactly like mine. Are those oil bath? Confusing.
That is the transparent blue cover that comes with the Kodiak pro lube oil bath bearing but mine appears to have no oil in it. Trailered the boat home from the dealer put it in my garage and haven't looked at it since. I will check it when I get home, I remember glancing at them and thought the rubber button on the cover was to access a grease zerk fitting.

On my last boat I asked the dealer about converting to oil bath and they recommended I stay with grease based on their experience. Less hassle, more dependable.

Scoke. You can buy the Kodiak oil on their on-line store. $9 and it is a synthetic.

[AirTool]

I really drew some attention today didn't I?

Sorry I don't have time for complete responses....can elaborate later if needed.

1. yes I have the same set up shipped from Ramlin with GREASE. The blue cover with the oiling oil on the centerline was designed for oil bath. Someone there in parts told me the oil bath design wasn't "proven" and had some problems. I believe they have been shipping this oil bath config w/grease for some ten years. The threaded cover design is convenient. IMO they should make a grease version without the oiling hole to reduce the chance of water intrusion. IMO again.

2. If you use oil in the setup YOU MUST USE THE REAR SEAL DESIGNED FOR OIL. Ramlin ships with a seal designed for grease. You might be able to put grease in using the rear OIL seal. Don't rely on me....check for yourself.

3. My cover o-rings cracked badly after just a few months and leaked some water in.(but first tow was 1050 miles at 70 in the middle of August) I called Kodiak in Dallas? and the nice parts guy there shipped me 10 o-rings and 2 extra covers for a very fair price. He also recommended staying with GREASE.

4. IMO they don't use bearing buddies because the pressure causes grease to oooze out the back seal into the brake drum area. BBs and disk brakes might work together but drums might be a problem. Comments welcome. The blue cover comes off easy and you can pump a whole new tube of grease (best while spinning the wheel jacked up) and catch the old tube all out the front. None should leak out the back. Then put the cover back on slightly more than hand tight.

5. call the kodiak parts/office number TODAY for their recommendation on oil. Maybe you can pick up an equal oil over the counter at an industrial trailer supply shop.

AirTool

[j2nh]

Not sure they have been shipping Ramlins in this configuration for that long. My 05 Ramlin came with the standard "bearing buddy" type fittings.

Are you are saying that to grease these I need to remove the transparent blue cover, screws off, and then I will find a zerk fitting? Then if I pump a tube in through the zerk grease will ooze out below the zerk?

Agree on the Bearing Buddies pushing grease out the back seal, I have seen it happen many times. The drum breaks also make it tough to see the back seal.

[scoke]

pretty sure some 2007 trailers had the Kodiak, oil bath. Then late in the year they switch to the Kodiaks but having grease.

I have the oil bath. the son of a gun leaked all the oil out. fairly certain the rig is greasless and just oil. that's my concern.

I gathered on the 2008's they are Kodiaks but grease only.

[AirTool]

Not sure they have been shipping Ramlins in this configuration for that long. My 05 Ramlin came with the standard "bearing buddy" type fittings.

Somewhere on this site there is a post of someone who had this setup on a late 90's model. Maybe it was aftermarket or repair or one-off. I don't think this is a "new" setup.

Are you are saying that to grease these I need to remove the transparent blue cover, screws off, and then I will find a zerk fitting? Then if I pump a tube in through the zerk grease will ooze out below the zerk?

I'm saying "should be able to" as long as they used the greasable spindles.

screw off the cover, wipe out the grease and you might find an zert offset in the end of the spindle. If so and likely ther is, jack up the axle, get a fresh tube of your favorite grease, start pumping and reguarly spin the wheel. If your hub was FULL of grease, it will all come out immediately. If only the bearings were packed, and no grease pumped in....nothing may come out but air. If only air, get a second tube of grease and eventually grease will come out. Unless your seal in the back is absolutely worthless, all the grease should come out the front. If water comes out, your bearings have been wet. The hub volume is very large....having it packed full will help keep the water out, capture water that's intruded, prevent rust and provide a nice reserve of grease should you get a hot bearing and start loosing melted grease out of the hub.

[scoke]

interesting turn of events.

Interesting turn of events....

So I called Kodiak directly regarding what lube to put in the oil bath. I could have ordered it straight from them but I was towing in 2 hours.

So I talked to one of the service guys, very nice. He agreed that he didnt recommend oil baths for boats, sure land use was awesome but not what we do. He agreed with swapping out the bath with grease is not a bad thing.

So he said any "bearing lube" or "gear oil" would work. I bought 85w-90 from Advance Auto Parts for $4. I filled 1/4 of the way up and it towed just fine for a 15 mile drive.

Hopefully we have 5 more tows left then its on a lift. we'll just keep lubing it per trip.

[AirTool]

Re: interesting turn of events.

Interesting turn of events....

So he said any "bearing lube" or "gear oil" would work. I bought 85w-90 from Advance Auto Parts for $4. I filled 1/4 of the way up and it towed just fine for a 15 mile drive.

Is 1/4 full enough? I would have thought fill to the centerline hole.

AirTool

[scoke]

Re: interesting turn of events.

Interesting turn of events....

So he said any "bearing lube" or "gear oil" would work. I bought 85w-90 from Advance Auto Parts for $4. I filled 1/4 of the way up and it towed just fine for a 15 mile drive.

Is 1/4 full enough? I would have thought fill to the centerline hole.

AirTool

1/4 for long term? probably not at all. for a test ride to see what would happen, I felt comfortable with it.

We had towed about 150 miles with NO oil in it and had ZERO heat on the hubs in any form or fashion, which was very weird to us.

Towing again on Friday and I'll probably fill it to halfway.

[Quinner]

Here's a couple good diagrams showing Oil Bath and standard Grease Hub's.

According to Eagle trailers, there are not any known issues with the Oil bath, more of a user preference, FWIW.