So being a boat owner for years, I learned real quick how to keep the trailer bearings in working order.
Every season they should be inspected and greased. Shops will charge upwards of 200 dollars for 5.00 bucks worth of grease.
Learn to do this yourself, save tons of money and come with the grips of understanding the mechanical workings of your axle.
I've seen many boats on the side of the road with no tires, burnt axle, etc,,,,..
So I took a week and worked on Double A's rig. Rebuild carb, new fuel lines, rebuild fuel pump, change out and repair poppet valve and replace Thermostat and changed the lower unit oil
Took the time to show Double A how to regrease/replace his trailer bearings and now he is set for a season of fishing with no doubt of save travel.
First off, I named his boat the party animal,,, He's blasting the 1987 sticker on the windshield.
Had some fun at his expense
Well here we go..
Standard wheel removal.. break lugs free before you jack
Wheel is off
Inspect and remove line and such that could tear your seal, like this boat had
Next is the bearing buddy removal, if you have just a hub cap it works the same.
Strike once with the mallet or hammer {hammer not prefferred} one direction, then opposite, repeat... Take turns striking from each side
As you can see its just pressed in
Now for a little pet peave about Bearing Buddies.
It is common for owners of trailers with bearing buddies to swear off trailer bearing maintenance with a false sense of security that the Bearing buddy keeps the water out and greased bearings.
Bearing buddies DO NOT keep water out, they help.
Bearing buddies Do NOT prevent bearing wear
All they do is spring load a supply of pressurized grease into the hub, which aids in keeping water out and pushing grease to the bearings. Bearings will still wear, water will always get in eventually.
Here is how a BB works, That spring on the inner lip compresses grease behind the plate and forces grease back applying pressure
Heres the plate on the backside
OK back to the tutorial
With the BB out of the way, Its time to remove the cotter pin that is locking the castle nut in. Both pictured in the grease
With the castle nut off the entire hub will slip off the axle spindle
Here is the spindle, notice the discoloration from being hot at some point in time. {probably PO burnt bearings}
With the hub off, the front bearing slides out, the bearings on this boat were in like new condition, I did not pull the race out, as they were in like new condition also.
With the front bearing out its time to knock out the back seal and bearing. You will need a long punch and make absolutely sure you are striking the meaty part of the back bearing and not any part of the flimsy seal as it will warp and no longer function as a seal.
Here is the back side and a view of the seal
How to place the punch to catch that back bearing
Sucessful removal
Now clean inside the hub and use solvent based cleaners to clean old grease from the bearing cavities
In this pic you will notice the race I spoke of earlier, That race accepts the tapered bearing, the bearing spins on the spindle and race and the race is wedged into the hub. Now if you have to replace worn bearings you MUST replace the race as well.
Same method for removing the race as the back side bearing and seal, Strike with a punch from opposite end. Now when installing new races, Use an exact fitting socket or pipe. DO NOT scar the inner lip of the race with punches or screw drivers, it will destroy a new bearing
See the angled race inside?
Here is the complete hub components. Cleaned and ready for regreasin and installation.
When regrease, make sure you push the new grease up and through the cage that holds the roller bearings
Made two quick vids on how to push the grease through
Reinstall greased bearing in the back fitting on the race perfectly, make sure to smear some grease on the race first. Then tap the seal back in
pack a handful of grease inside the hub and slip back on the spindle
Slide the front bearing back on, then the washer spacer between the bearing and castle nut, hand tighten the castle nut, then use your wrench and tighten the castle until you cannot freely spin the hub, this is setting the bearings to the race.. Once you cannot spin the hub, back off until the hub spins freely and make sure there is no side to side play in the hub.
Backing off the castle should only be 1/4 turn or so, Once your comfortable with the friction of the hub, slide the cotter pin through the castle nut into the hole in the spindle and bend the cotter, locking the castle nut
Tap the Bearing buddy back on, shoot some grease in with a grease gun until the spring is compressed and reinstall tire and thats it!
Only tools you will need are a Mallet, Crescent wrench, long punch and pliers for the cotter pin
You older boat guys, do yourself a favor and inspect and regrease. Save ya tons of money from having to pay a guy or having a tow truck pick your rig up from the side of the freeway.