Repack or replace 10 year old bearings

[Jeff d]

Haven't pulled the hubs apart yet but I have the wheels/tires off right now to get new tires put on tonight on my tandem axle trailer.

Based on how the rest of the boat was maintained I can only assume that the bearings were lucky if they got the occasional shot of grease in the bearing buddies.

So, should I pull them apart, clean them and regrease or replace the bearings (Assuming they look fine)?

The boat has 270 hrs on it so I can't imagine the trailer has too many miles on it.

I've replaced trailer hub bearings on another trailer as a preventative maintenance item and it was quite easy accept for driving out the races and putting the new ones back in. I didn't have a press or a proper driver so I used a brass hammer. It worked fine without damaging the races but it took a really long time to drive them in evenly. That was on a single axle trailer though so, this would be twice the amount of work.

[Jeff d]

BTW I've checked the hubs with my hand for excessive heat every time I've had the trailer out for a longer haul and have never felt anything unusually warm so I'd expect not to see anything too horrifying when I pull them apart.

[93Prostar190]

My vote is that you clean the old bearings up and check for any scoring if you dont see any on the rollers or anywhere on the bearings they will be fine ... if you see scoring, then you are already there ... new bearings would provide peace of mind.

I suspect that if the grease looks good, never overheated, and was in good shape like water never intruded in the hubs the bearings will be fine.

Good luck.

[Bert]

If they are rolling good now just clean and repack. No need to replace. Install new seals. When you have em apart if you see a bearing that is scored up just change that one. Believe it or not but a lot of bearing failures are from over greasing them which can result in running hotter and blown seals.

[Jeff d]

Does anyone know what seals I'd need for an '00 Maristar 230 VRS trailer?

If not I'll just pull one apart and bring it to the trailer store with me.

[Footin]

Make sure you get double lip seals.

I personally would replace everything.

[Matt L.]

Quit being so dang cheap! Replace the bearings and seals. Cheap = blown out hub and sitting on the side of the road. That's way more expensive than 4 sets of new bearings and seals. If yours are 10 years old you've gotten your money's worth already!

Not that I know by experience.....OOPS.....Stranded boat at an unfamiliar lake required a return trip with parts to R&R the spindle and replace all bearings in a storage lot in 105 degree heat. Lake was on a very rough road that may have contributed to the faliure.

Good luck!

Matt

[CruisinGA]

Matt makes a good case for replacement; and I certainly can't say that's not a good idea, but if it were me, I would likely completely clean in my parts washer, repack and reinstall.

[Jeff d]

I knocked off the bearing buddies (Or whatever equivalent it has on there) on 2 of the wheels last night. The grease was pretty new looking in there so I think I'm gonna add this to my winter project list. I'm tired of sweating to death every night working on the boat. The last time I knocked some of those off of a trailer the grease was completely liquefied and ran out everywhere.

I don't have any big boat travel plans for the remainder of the season so I'll just continue to keep an eye on them heating up and clean/repack/replace them when it's cooler and I have fewer boat related projects on the table.

[oldairboater]

I have been dragging boat trailers for thirty eight years. My daddy was dragging them before that with me in the truck. The first hubs I remember was Daddy drilling out and adding grease zerts to grease the bearing without doing a complete bearing job. He would hold the cap in and add a few shots of grease. Then buddy bearing came out or we finally got enough money to afford them and they made life easier. If my bearings don't have excessive play and the hubs aren't running excessively warm-------I just grease them. I have never lost a bearing or spindle yet. I do a lot of preventive maintenance but bearing aren't one of them. I check play when doing tires and a give each bearing some grease before each trip. If the play feels excessive----I snug the bearing down but never over tighten it. The people you see on the side of the road replacing bearings don't know how to grease a buddy bearing or bought a trailer while being too cheap to get buddy bearings. I have buddy bearing on ever trailer I own including my motorcycle trailer and travel trailer plus three boat trailers. Oil bath hubs suck---nothing but a leak that is going to happen.

[gimmemoedmb]

Buy new bearings. They are cheap and if the old ones look good, repack them and keep them in your toolbox as spares in case you lose a bearing on the highway someday. Then you have one all packed and ready to go so you are stuck on the side of the road for the shortest time possible.