Trailer Maintainence

[nexis420]

Hi, was just wondering how often you should grease up your trailer bearings.. my trailer is one year old, prolly dunked about 40 times, stored in a heated storage all winter,, I was looking into getting bearing buddies, is this a good idea? Is the process complicated without bearing buddies, i assume you must remove the wheel and bearings etc? Thanks for your help.

 

[Freshwater_Doug]

A few notes...

Hey Nexis,

Usually you should be good for a few years without maintenance, unless your trailer sits in the water for some time. I've seen some people use their trailers as a dock for their machine...usually at the end of the season they're the ones on the side of hwy 400 with a blown hub.

I usually jack up one side at a time and check for wheel play - there shouldn't be any. You can also spin the wheel and listen for a hummm. No humm is good. Also, pop off the dust cap and see what the grease looks like. (A pair of large channel lock plyers works great.) Anything milky or light brown should be re-greased. You can put more grease in the cap and reinstall or just install the bearing buddies. They allow you to inject more grease through the grease fitting.

If you do take the wheel hub/bearing assembly apart then the thing to remember is that you want them installed just right. It's not difficult to do but don't over tighten the retaining nut or else you'll burn them out. The retaining nut should be just snug.

A few other notes about maintenance....check your lights and grounds! Dielectric grease works great for protecting grounds and making sure your lighting is working properly. Also, check your chains and hardware.

Though if your trailer is pretty new, I'd figure that everything is still A-1.


Cheers!
--T8

 

[glenwhitt]

yup

look for leaking seals, play in the hub, and any noise when spinning. I have bearing buddies so i can see if grease is needed just from looking at the red post that sticks out with the zirk on it. I replaced all races, bearings, and seals late last year on my trailer. Got everyting i needed from napa for like $30.00 or something. Used red bearing marine greas in them also. So far so good

 

[nexis420]

Cool thanks Doug, i appreciate such a detailed answer that helps a lot, My seadoo and trailer have always been stored inside even in the summer time and it is only a year old, i dont make very long trips, 50-100km at most, i will use your advice before heading out for my first trip, thanks again !

 

[cbjrumble]

I would be surprised if your trailer is as new as your Seadoo that you don't have a bearing buddy system already in place. You should just be able to hook up a grease gun and squirt some in.

Home Depot has a grease gun for $13 bucks, a tube of Multipurse Lithium grease is $3. I grease my trailer once a year, and I will travel from Ohio to MA 4 or 5 times this summer. Not to mention weekend trips to the local lake.