Trailer rebuild, thoughts on bearing buddies

[mabbore]

I am in the process of rebuilding my entire braking and hub assemblies on my trailer. I have used bearing buddies in the past, but have still blown up bearings. Any thoughts?

[michael hunter]

I am not a fan of BBs. The idea is to keep a positive pressure inside the hub so the water will not be sucked in when submerged. The problem is the amount of pressure pumped into the hub . Too much and you blow grease out of the seal at the rear. If you have drum brakes it will get all over the brake shoes. I have them on all my trailers but I don't pump them up with grease. I just use a high quality marine bearing grease and check the bearings every year.

[Supra-in-steamboat]

Also not a BB fan. In order to grease my BBs I had to roll the trailer forward or backwards 2-3 times, otherwise they would not get enough grease. I admit the sealed bearings I switched to are more labor intensive. Every spring I pull them apart and grease. Trailer shop says the sealed bearing should be fine for multiple seasons but for the hour it takes once a year it is worth it to not have a bearing failure. Good luck with the rebuild.

[wotan2525]

I'm happy with my BBs. Once a year I just give them 5-6 pumps of grease. I've taken my drums apart many times and have never found grease inside of them. The only time I've seen the grease seals fail is when the BB is overfilled.

[Kma4444]

I've towed lots of trailers. nautical and otherwise, and I'd vote for external grease capabilities always. I am alright with the spring loaded ones like the BB, but my favorites are the ones that just allow the grease to come back out around the outer bearing. Pump it a few times, wipe out the old grease that pushes out and away you go.

[CJD]

My BB's are filled with oil and a sight window. That's a first for me, but so far, so good.

[michael hunter]

I'm happy with my BBs. Once a year I just give them 5-6 pumps of grease. I've taken my drums apart many times and have never found grease inside of them. The only time I've seen the grease seals fail is when the BB is overfilled.

Yes but how do you know the BB is not already full ant the5-6 pumps of grease will over fill them. After years of adding grease where does all that grease go?

[wotan2525]

Yes but how do you know the BB is not already full ant the5-6 pumps of grease will over fill them. After years of adding grease where does all that grease go?

I don't know where the grease goes, but you can see the outer spring move out as you fill them with grease. As long as the spring doesn't "bottom out" they seem to work fine. If I had to guess, I would say the grease seeps out the back side of the seal due to the pressure being applied.

[Jetlink]

To check your bearing buddies, all you need to do is press on/around the grease fitting. If it moves, you have enough grease. If it doesn't move or bottoms out, you need to add grease until it no longer bottoms out. I have over 6,000 miles on my trailer since I purchased the boat back in 2010 and who knows how many more miles on top of that and the bearings are still great today. I even did my due diligence before hauling all the way to TN and back for the reunion and pulled the bearing buddies off and cleaned out all the grease for the first time since owning the trailer. It is the overfilling of the bearing buddies that will eventually lead to failure. Too much pressure time and time again will eventually blow out the seal and then lead to issues down the road.

[FloridaBoy]

if you are going to rebuild the hubs and brakes maybe go disc with wet lubrication. my trailer has it works good less maitenance.

[mabbore]

Ok, so a side question here. I ended up rebuilding the trailer bearings. I also put totally new drum, brake assemblies, lines, and brake acutatior. (got everything from etrailer for less thatn $400 shipped (: )I towed the boat for the first time yesterday about 25 miles stop and go. I was blow away, the brakes helped soooo much, I could not tell there was even anything back there.

However, I was smelling some excessive brake smells. I am wondering if this is just the brake pads just braking in, or what. I replaced the 10" drum setup on 1 axle. Do I need brakes on both axles to tow my SunSport? any ideas from anyone

[Blackntan90]

I would think a Sunsport will need brakes on both axles, my Mariah has brakes on both axles and it is smaller (in freeboard, anyway) than a Sunsport. I have 4 10" drums, and the shoes are the same as the Chevy S-10 so that is nice and easy to find parts. I think with disc brakes, you only need them on 1 axle. This is probably because they are so efficient. And easier to service! Hope this helps!

[mabbore]

interesting, does anyone have a factory late 80s sunspot trailer? what is the drum configuration? 2 or 4

[mabbore]

anyone.... some of you must have an original sunsport trailer.

[wotan2525]

My 87 Saltare only has drums on 1 axle. It can get scary to try and stop it on the highway.

[mabbore]

yeah, I was just worried because my new brakes were smelling pretty bad. I was not sure if they were braking in, or burning up.

[cadunkle]

My 87 Saltare only has drums on 1 axle. It can get scary to try and stop it on the highway.

My Saltare wasn't scary but was not stopping as quickly as it should, with drums on both axles. Turns about to backing on 3 wheels and one had plenty of meat but totally covered in grease inside. Truck stopped it alright but at beignning of this season I noticed it didn't stop as quickly and when in a hurry to slow down the truck brakes would smell pretty noticeably. Redid the whole thing. New clinders, hardware, shoes, lines, etc... Also did all new wheel bearings though old weren't that bad. Stops on a dime now.

Cost more than I wanted to spend for a surprise expense but totally worth it for peace of mind. Another surprise expense was adding a reverse lockout solenoid to the master, as after new brakes trying to back up even the slightest incline would lcok the trailer brakes and truck just spun tires if pressing the issue. They work well! I do have bearing buddies, give 2-3 pumps a few times a season or before/after any long trip. I'll see next season if there is any seal failure or grease leakage inside the drums, but I try not to overdo it. With the old seals that were at least 5 years old, maybe original as they were made in USA which is hard to find now, only one had failed and was greasing the brakes.