Bearing maintenance

[wetskier2000]

I grease my bearing buddies (or whatever knock off they might be...) pretty religiously, I add grease until clean grease comes out. However, maybe I'm not doing this right... These entire assemblies were new when installed 10 years ago and get 3-4000 miles on them per year. Here's the mess I found inside. Why??

[SilentSeven]

whoa. That's...um...spectacular. And as you've observed....not correct. Without seeing all the bits, it's a bit hard to know what's going on.

You should never have that that much grease in the braking system. By design, the grease is supposed to be contained within the cylinder of the brake drum hub. Within this cylinder you have the inner and outer bearings that carry the wheel load. The outer side the grease entry point is the bearing buddy and on the inner side the grease is contained by the grease seal installed in the hub. When the outer entry point fails, you get grease on the outside of the rim. When the inner seal fails, you get grease (mostly) on the inside for the rim. IMO, it looks to me like something is not fitting correctly or is broken in a manner that is allowing grease outside the brake drum hub into brake assembly.

Just curious - what does the other wheel look like?

I'm guessing you either have failure of the inner grease seal or maybe a crack in the brake hub. If the grease seal has failed, you should see massive amounts of grease on the inside of the tire rim. To see if the hub has cracked (unusual for sure), you'll need to blast the hub clean with brake cleaner and inspect. IMO, the most likely problem is some massive failure of the inside grease seal maybe compounded by pumping too much grease into the bearing and/or the wrong parts being used. Or...maybe the axle is worn so badly that the seal doesn't seal.

If this was my trailer, I'd do the following.

1 - disassemble the entire brake assembly
2 - toss the shoes, they are grease soaked and now junk
3 - remove ALL the grease using brake cleaner. inspect the brake hub for cracks
4 - inspect the axle seal point for groves and scoring...this is bad as you can't replace this part of the axle.
5 - install a new grease seal in the hub, make sure you have the correct seal that fits to the axle
6 - assess if the bearings (races, rollers) are good and replace as required
7 - rebuild an absolutely clear brake assembly using new shoes, etc.
8 - do a test fit of the entire assembly. Verify the inner seal is correctly riding on the hub and there is no play in the bearings
9 - assuming all looks good, repack the hub and bearing with grease and assemble
10 - do not pump up the buddies yet, do a short test drive. see if the system looks sealed.
11 - do a gentle pump up of the buddies, just enough to push against the spring. repeat test drive. check again for leaks
12 - do a final grease pump being careful not to overfill the buddies

This is only to solve the grease issue. To verify the brakes work as designed, you still need to make sure the wheel cylinders are OK, the trailer master cylinder is OK, the system is correctly bled and the star wheels are adjusted.

[wetskier2000]

I have not pulled the other side yet, but you're right, it will be interesting to see what that side looks like. I'll clean up this port side and get a look at the seals...

The root cause could be just wear and tear, I suppose. The trailer gets 1 trip to/from the local ramp in March and November then round trip to FL in February. It's like a cop car, mostly sits around then asked to go 0-120 once a year.

The other possibility is that the parts just didn't fit in the first place. I have noticed some grease on the wheels, nothing ridiculous and I can't tell you the timing. But when I got this trailer used 10 years ago, I converted it from seized disks to drums because I knew it was going to mostly sit around. I felt drums could handle that better. Maybe the conversion parts were not an exact fit.

I'll report back after I get really greasy today.. thanks!

[bturner]

All great advice from SilentSeven.

Since you made the post and asked the question, these would be my thoughts.....

• As it would appear you live in the NE, at 3000 - 4000 miles per year I would consider this to be on the high side of what most people put on their trailers. I personally put 300 - 400 but even in the days when I did trailer 1500 would have been a big year. If I were doing that much trailering I would strongly consider converting to disc brakes. They're much easier to maintain and you would have seen that seal problem quickly. If I had to guess, those brakes were useless for many seasons based on the amount and condition of the grease. If you're looking for a hobby, stick with the drums and pull them apart every year to make sure everything is still working properly. If you want a reliable, lower maintenance brake system, convert over to discs.
• I've owned both drum and disc systems with bearing buddies for years. I never pumped them up until clean grease came out. My understanding and successful usage of this system was to pump them just until the spring loaded plate moved so that there was slight pressure within the system. The idea was (as I understand it) that the slight positive pressure would keep water out when you put the boat in the water. It would seam to me that pumping it up as you state would put a lot of pressure on the rear seal and that grease is going to go somewhere. If there was old grease on the front plate obstructing movement or sealing the grease from moving past the outer plate, that might add even more pressure on the seal and make things even worse. I religiously clean the front plate a couple times a year of if I ever seen any grease that had leaked out on them for just this reason.

When I had bearing buddies and drums, I pulled them apart if not every year, every other year (every year with drums as that was the only way to see the rear seal). I'm hoping that this didn't happen in a single season or two. If so, out of curiosity, where did you think all that grease was going if it wasn't coming out the front?

The good news is that you're way out front of this and doing either option is something that could easily be done in a long day or over a weekend.

[wetskier2000]

The reason I converted to drums was based on my experience with my own cars. I've seen quite a few calipers seize or just get lazy on cars that are seldom driven. On the other hand, I'll go move some old piece of crap that's been sitting for years and the drum brakes still work. I will consider both options this time...

[core-rider]

wetskier2000... SilentSeven and bturner are correct except for 1 thing... this system doesn't have a spring to keep the system pressurized against water intrusion. You simply have a zerk fitting in the spindle that carries grease to the rear wheel bearing, then as you continue to pump grease it moves forward to the front wheel bearing assuring they both have adequate grease.

The issue I've seen with mine is the older grease seems to make a "dam" of sorts in the center of the hub and it seems there is less resistance to push the grease seal out the back of the hub than move grease towards the front bearing. This causes the exact issue you see in your pic above.

It's a PITA, but it's better to completely tear apart the assembly, clean/inspect/replace any worn parts, then repack the bearings with grease at your own determined schedule. I now upon reassembly have started to pump grease through the spindle until I see clean grease exit the holes in the rear of the spindle and wipe away the excess. Then reinstall the hub assembly with the seal and rear bearing packed with new grease, fill the void in the hub with grease directly with a grease gun after installing the rear bearing and drum assembly, then installing the front bearing and directly adding more grease before installing the dust cap. This way I know everything is greased adequately and the seal isn't pushed out the back. I'll usually pop the dust cap off for inspection at the beginning of the season to make sure everything is fine and if needed repeat the above process. It's much better than having to clean/replace all of the brake assembly because that seal is pushed out... I don't ever want to do that again!

[SilentSeven]

Just amplifying a few comments made.

bturner is spot on that disc brakes are a lot simpler. I've had both and would never want to go back to drums.

You mention Florida...are you launching into salt water or brackish water. That changes maintenance schedules up a bit.

core-rider made a good observation on a zerk fitting vs a bearing buddy. It does look like you have zerks. I would convert to bearing buddies as part of the rebuild. As bturner mentioned, they use a spring loaded system to keep a slight positive grease pressure in the system. You can use the movement of the spring cap to detect when you have sufficient grease in the hub. This will help you avoid what appears to have happened here - way too much grease being added combined with a compromised seal. It's even possible that you blew out the seals by adding too much grease. Finally, some personal experience on bearing buddies - it's worth getting the brand name item. I've not had good luck with the knock offs - they either leak past the cap or the hub machining is poor and they fall out.

[wetskier2000]

OK, you guys have done some very good sleuthing!! Turns out the bearings are either EZ Lube or Accu Lube which appear to be the same. The trailer came fitted with these from Owen's and Sons in St Pete. It's a fantastic aluminum trailer BTW which replaced our rusted out Ramlin that came with our Nautique. There is no plate surrounding the Zerk as found in the Bearing Buddy models. But, it seems I was adding grease as the manufacturer suggested by purging the old stuff each time.

It does see lightly brackish water in FL. I do the bearings before leaving NH and before leaving FL. If we also ski in NC on the way home, they get done again. I haven't had any failures in the 10 years we've had this 1998 model trailer we bought used.

I have the port side all cleaned up and there is only 1 seal inboard of the inner bearing. It currently appears to measure quite a larger diameter than the axle stub. I think I've just worn them out with all the mileage and created the current situation. I'll try a local parts store for a cross reference so I can assemble the trailer without brakes for now while I decide drum versus disc and find a parts source.

Again, thanks very much for all the help on this. You've all made a difficult task much easier!

[MN Ryan]

Do you replace the seals every time you do the bearings? You should.

I have the EZ Lube spindles on my trailer. I replace seals and repack bearings each fall (I trailer 1500 miles/year), but I don't generally pump any more grease in throughout the summer. I always hand check my hubs for temperature during/after longer hauls.

[wetskier2000]

That would be really hard to do while on the road on vacation.... What's the EZ about having to change the seal with every greasing? However, I definitely should not let them go for 30-40K miles... hindsight... Maybe annually?

[MN Ryan]

Sorry, by "do the bearings," I meant pull them apart, inspect, and repack them not just pump grease into them. I do this annually before I put it away in the winter. Some guys would say annually is overkill, but it makes me sleep better at night.

[SilentSeven]

You can tell we are all bored and waiting for spring....by all the "help" you are getting.

I agree with MN Ryan on recurring seal replacement but I do it on demand.... Seals IMO are the most fragile hub item and should be inspected frequently.

I tow about 1K miles per year and track specific maintenance by wheel (see my little log below). My longest continual tow is about 300 miles one way.

Annually, each wheel gets a careful grease pump that just moves the bearing buddy spring cap and a short mechanical inspection. The inspection is 1/ spin test checking for rough bearing sounds (races failing) 2 / push/pull check looking for excessive bearing play (loose castle nut) and 3/ visual check for inner seal grease leaks (new seal required). Any condition will warrant pulling the bearing buddy off and doing further work...typically a full rebuild (seals, bearings, repack).

While towing I use a laser thermal gun to regularly check the temp of each hub. Any hub that runs above expected temps gets a rebuild. Typical hub temps on my rig after maybe 20 miles on the HW are about 100F (front hubs) to 110F (rear hubs). I also keep an eye the brake discs...they should be shiny and warm. If not, then the braking system needs a look-see.

This approach has served me well, kept maintenance manageable and I haven't suffered any road issues.

[MN Ryan]

Dang, and I thought I was a bit OCD.

[wetskier2000]

Yes, the boats NEED to come out now!!! We might ski this weekend.

The saga continues... I installed the new seal and then thought about how the **** I'd test it. I put it all back together, greased it then pulled the hub/drum off again. Sure enough I had a little pile of grease where it seemed it might be inboard of the seal. Yes, where it would end up in the brakes. But I wasn't sure... So I cleaned it up and applied a line of grease where the seal and inner bearing reside. I put on the hub/drum, then removed and sure as ****, the seal isn't where it's supposed to be. It's sitting on the hole the grease comes out of for the inner bearing. Now what he says scratching certain body parts....

The seal seated inside the drum by about 1/4". I removed it and installed the other new one flush with the innermost surface of the hub/drum. It seems to be installed just fine there, plenty of bite. I retested as above and voila... Seal slides back beyond the grease hole and the grease fills the area it's supposed to.

I am not sure if this was incorrect seal placement or there's a mismatch between the axle stub and the hub/drum. The latter is possible since the stub was original to the disc brake setup and I converted to drums. However, I'm quite confident in the solution...

[SilentSeven]

MN Ryan .... lol. Yeah, maybe a bit OCD. Honestly the chart is simply CRS syndrome mitigation...CRS as in Can't Remember..uh...Stuff.

But I've been 'that guy' doing a full hub rebuild with crap for tools in some campground 200 miles from home. Not my idea of fun. So...I've learned that a little wheel bearing OCD goes a loooong way. Love me some thermal laser gun!! My wife thinks I'm half crazy and I get the best looks when I pull into the gas station for fuel and measure each hub.

wetskier2000 - Hey! Sounds like you found the problem! Now join the dark side of OCD bearing management!