Just a quick video on what I do to maintain and keep grease in the bearings on a trailer. It's a good idea to do this regularly to prevent any damage or trailer failure.
You’re supposed to be able to rotate the wheel as you’re pumping in the new grease. This requires jacking up the trailer. Also, removing the whole dust cover isn’t necessary, just remove the rubber cap.
Don't take a hammer and dent the dust cover. Just take a standard screw driver and pop out the rubber plug. And if you have to remove the cover, a small cold chisel tapped at the connection point where it contacts the hub. I use a dust cover driver to put the cover back on. I put hundreds of them a year. I own a trailer repair business. And use marine grease.
@@robertbarbeau862 he can do whatever the hell he wants it’s his trailer and he’s trying to help people. Hop off your high horse and go make your own video instead of bashing this dude’s.
Having had five boats and now a travel trailer, I've found through experience that pumping grease in via that zerk fitting is questionable as it might result in too much grease which causes excessive grease blow out at the inner bearing seal. I now always remove the hub and hand pack the bearings.
Same here to much grease can be a bad thing. Plus by pulling apart and hand packing is a good chance to inspect bearings for damage and replace seal. Seals are cheap replacing axel due to bearing failure not so cheap
@@jbjohnson6228 it may not blow out completely but it sure makes a mess on the inside of the wheel itself. My boat trailer didn't have brakes but if it did............................ When you think about it, does your car or truck have zerk fittings on the hub of the axle? Mine don't.
@@jbjohnson6228 TOF may be a keyboard expert, but he is also spot-on with his comment. I wonder how many people will watch this video and end up totally neglecting the inner bearing race? It's not real fun to pull the wheel, but its really the only way to get both inner and outer races lubed properly. Pulling the wheel every now and then in the driveway is bit of a pain, but it is a lot easier than jacking up a fully loaded trailer on the side of the road and swapping hubs, or worse if you're not carrying a spare hub.
That will depend on how many miles you put on your trailer. For me I will grease the bearings every 6 months or so. I will look for signs of additional wear that will tell me I may need to do more maintenance like visible signs of rust or large amounts of water or even foreign particles or metal shavings. Other than that it would be a good idea to do it on an annual or bi-annual basis. Depending on how much you drive. For a small amount of work to keep you rolling safely, it's well worth it to me.
Ha ha ha. I never press the grease too fast. I've had grease push out of the gun and make a huge mess. Maybe it's just my bad memory there. Thanks for the kind words.
I watched the Timken video today when I installed new hubs & bearings. Really glad I found it, otherwise I'd have likely overpacked my hubs with grease.
Are you referring to using two different greases, thereby allowing them to mix together? Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, addressed this question years ago. The notion that changing brands of oil or mixing brands of oil can cause problems is pure nonsense. All that matters is that the lubricants meet manufacturers specifications. Different oils and greases might have different additives or detergents, so if you mix them 50/50, you'll have half as much if additive A, but you'll also have additive B. In the case of mixing synthetic lubricants with traditional lubricants, you can actually buy these. They are considered superior compared to traditional, but not as good as pure synthetic. They're more expensive than traditional, but not as expensive as pure synthetic.
The only thing you have to be careful with is blowing the grease seal out of the back of the hub, seen it too many times and causes bearing failure within short time.
That is why I hand pack my bearings also a good time to inspect bearings and replace seal which I do atleast once a year and like this year found out that one of my bearing cages had come apart. Plus a good time to also retention the bearings
Can you please tell me if your grease color is normal? Looks pink to me. Mine is the same color, and I think it's fine, but my dad thinks that color may indicate it is emulsifying with water and should all be replaced.
Depending on the type and brand grease you use, that color is fine. The video shows the 1st time I checked the grease on this particular trailer and it is fairly new. I had this one less than a year and only had 2,000 miles on it or less. Not sure if other types of grease would give you a pink color due to wear.
You are supposed to Jack up the side and rotate the tire while adding the grease to prevent rear grease seal blow out. This goes for trailer bearing with zerk type grease fittings. Not bearing buddies type.
On a passenger vehicle, rotating tires to extend tire tread life makes sense. For most people, boat trailer tires will be at end of life due to age and sun damage long before tread wear. Because of this, its unusual to rotate boat trailer tires.
I have an air grease gun (Harbor Freight $20). The gun seems to work (primes just fine) but when I load the grease it doesn't push out the old stuff. Pressure in tank is accurate but no grease coming out. Any suggestions?
Not sure if I can help here. The only thing I can think of is that the pressure is not as much as it seems or maybe the old grease is really gummed up. Not too sure. Sorry.
I wouldn't ever use a powered (air or battery) to grease a hub. Use a hand held. The powered ones put too much pressure and will blow the seal out. I repair hundreds every year. I own a trailer repair business.
You know you don't have to take the whole thing off just pop off the rubber dust cover. And you don't want to much grease In there or you could blow out the seal in the back
Its tough to clean a greasy rim. If you use a strong cleaning agent you can damage the galvanized coating on a rim. I always lean toward dawn dish soap and a lot of throw away rags. hope that helps.
From my experience, if you have a greasy rim, it usually means you've over packed the hub with too much grease. As the grease heats up and expands while towing, it has to find somewhere to go. If you've ever greased your vehicles wheel bearings, you'd never over pack those.
That looks like a lot of greasy pumpkin man. I’m thinking all you need to do is put like 3 to 4 pumps of it in. You can’t over grease it. You could fuck your breaks up and your bearings.
So far so good. That's why I take the bearing cap off completely so I can see the grease. I think if the cap were on and I filled the space completely, the grease would have no room, then it would blow out the seal for sure. Thanks for the feed back
totally awesome, thanks for the clear how-to video
Thank you for the compliment.
You’re supposed to be able to rotate the wheel as you’re pumping in the new grease. This requires jacking up the trailer. Also, removing the whole dust cover isn’t necessary, just remove the rubber cap.
Thanks man! I watched this with a co-worker and we both thought it made sense and was very well put.
There's a dust cover on the cap which will allow access to the grease zert without having to take the cap off.
Don't take a hammer and dent the dust cover. Just take a standard screw driver and pop out the rubber plug. And if you have to remove the cover, a small cold chisel tapped at the connection point where it contacts the hub. I use a dust cover driver to put the cover back on. I put hundreds of them a year. I own a trailer repair business. And use marine grease.
@@robertbarbeau862 he can do whatever the hell he wants it’s his trailer and he’s trying to help people. Hop off your high horse and go make your own video instead of bashing this dude’s.
@@skinnyslims5327 Ain't helping if you'all bashing them covers in.
@@skinnyslims5327 I'm thankful for these instructional videos. I'm also thankful when somebody who knows better gives me better information.
Dont half ass it
thank you so much for this video !!
Nice work. Thank you
Awesome job!
Having had five boats and now a travel trailer, I've found through experience that pumping grease in via that zerk fitting is questionable as it might result in too much grease which causes excessive grease blow out at the inner bearing seal. I now always remove the hub and hand pack the bearings.
Same here to much grease can be a bad thing. Plus by pulling apart and hand packing is a good chance to inspect bearings for damage and replace seal. Seals are cheap replacing axel due to bearing failure not so cheap
So many keyboard experts, rear seal will not blow out
@@jbjohnson6228 it may not blow out completely but it sure makes a mess on the inside of the wheel itself. My boat trailer didn't have brakes but if it did............................
When you think about it, does your car or truck have zerk fittings on the hub of the axle? Mine don't.
@@jbjohnson6228 TOF may be a keyboard expert, but he is also spot-on with his comment. I wonder how many people will watch this video and end up totally neglecting the inner bearing race? It's not real fun to pull the wheel, but its really the only way to get both inner and outer races lubed properly. Pulling the wheel every now and then in the driveway is bit of a pain, but it is a lot easier than jacking up a fully loaded trailer on the side of the road and swapping hubs, or worse if you're not carrying a spare hub.
Made it look easy
That worked perfectly. Thanks for the video!
Awesome. Thanks for watching.
When should you consider doing this VS taking the whole wheel hub assembly apart and cleaning the bearings and housing?
That will depend on how many miles you put on your trailer. For me I will grease the bearings every 6 months or so. I will look for signs of additional wear that will tell me I may need to do more maintenance like visible signs of rust or large amounts of water or even foreign particles or metal shavings. Other than that it would be a good idea to do it on an annual or bi-annual basis. Depending on how much you drive. For a small amount of work to keep you rolling safely, it's well worth it to me.
I almost had a seizure watching that grease slowly fall on your grease gun like that. Good vid, good maintenance tip.
Ha ha ha. I never press the grease too fast. I've had grease push out of the gun and make a huge mess. Maybe it's just my bad memory there. Thanks for the kind words.
According to TIMKEN wheel bearings should not be over greased as it causes churning of the grease resulting in added heat build-up and friction.
I watched the Timken video today when I installed new hubs & bearings. Really glad I found it, otherwise I'd have likely overpacked my hubs with grease.
Why didn't you remove the rubber cover. To pump the grease into the grease zerk. Would of made a lot easier. Still a good video though.
Is that a venture custom traler
Im no expert but ive always been told to never mix up grease as it may have ill effects causing failure?
Are you referring to using two different greases, thereby allowing them to mix together? Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, addressed this question years ago. The notion that changing brands of oil or mixing brands of oil can cause problems is pure nonsense. All that matters is that the lubricants meet manufacturers specifications. Different oils and greases might have different additives or detergents, so if you mix them 50/50, you'll have half as much if additive A, but you'll also have additive B. In the case of mixing synthetic lubricants with traditional lubricants, you can actually buy these. They are considered superior compared to traditional, but not as good as pure synthetic. They're more expensive than traditional, but not as expensive as pure synthetic.
Only thing to worry is you have high temp grease not a cheap white grease or low temp grease
The only thing you have to be careful with is blowing the grease seal out of the back of the hub, seen it too many times and causes bearing failure within short time.
That is why I hand pack my bearings also a good time to inspect bearings and replace seal which I do atleast once a year and like this year found out that one of my bearing cages had come apart. Plus a good time to also retention the bearings
Can you please tell me if your grease color is normal? Looks pink to me. Mine is the same color, and I think it's fine, but my dad thinks that color may indicate it is emulsifying with water and should all be replaced.
Depending on the type and brand grease you use, that color is fine. The video shows the 1st time I checked the grease on this particular trailer and it is fairly new. I had this one less than a year and only had 2,000 miles on it or less. Not sure if other types of grease would give you a pink color due to wear.
@@homemadechow3532 Thank you very much for the reply! I am of the same mind, and I appreciate the advice.
Should jack up axle check bearing play before hand
So it's okay to pump greese into there without jacking up the trailer?
Yes sir
You are supposed to Jack up the side and rotate the tire while adding the grease to prevent rear grease seal blow out. This goes for trailer bearing with zerk type grease fittings. Not bearing buddies type.
arent you suppose to rotate the wheel as you do it ? and why not just the rubber cap off?
On a passenger vehicle, rotating tires to extend tire tread life makes sense. For most people, boat trailer tires will be at end of life due to age and sun damage long before tread wear. Because of this, its unusual to rotate boat trailer tires.
Yes you are supposed to jack up the side and rotate the wheel as you are adding the grease to prevent blow out of rear grease seal.
I have an air grease gun (Harbor Freight $20). The gun seems to work (primes just fine) but when I load the grease it doesn't push out the old stuff. Pressure in tank is accurate but no grease coming out. Any suggestions?
Not sure if I can help here. The only thing I can think of is that the pressure is not as much as it seems or maybe the old grease is really gummed up. Not too sure. Sorry.
I wouldn't ever use a powered (air or battery) to grease a hub. Use a hand held. The powered ones put too much pressure and will blow the seal out. I repair hundreds every year. I own a trailer repair business.
You know you don't have to take the whole thing off just pop off the rubber dust cover. And you don't want to much grease In there or you could blow out the seal in the back
What's the best way to clean that greasy rim.
Its tough to clean a greasy rim. If you use a strong cleaning agent you can damage the galvanized coating on a rim. I always lean toward dawn dish soap and a lot of throw away rags. hope that helps.
Dawn dish soap or wd-40 (is a degreaser)
Use dawn dish soap to clean wheels
From my experience, if you have a greasy rim, it usually means you've over packed the hub with too much grease. As the grease heats up and expands while towing, it has to find somewhere to go. If you've ever greased your vehicles wheel bearings, you'd never over pack those.
Why put so much in? Why not just do like all other fittings just a hand full of squeezes and put back together enough but not busting anything out
Why don't you just take off the rubber plug on the cap??? That's what it's for.
Some people need locked up
That looks like a lot of greasy pumpkin man. I’m thinking all you need to do is put like 3 to 4 pumps of it in. You can’t over grease it. You could fuck your breaks up and your bearings.
Way too much grease gonna blow out the bearing
So far so good. That's why I take the bearing cap off completely so I can see the grease. I think if the cap were on and I filled the space completely, the grease would have no room, then it would blow out the seal for sure. Thanks for the feed back
Blows out the rear seal,,,, he'll realize that if he ever pulls the wheel off - his rim will be caked in grease