Salt water and trailer bearings

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Salt water and trailer bearings

Postby zeroready » Sat Jun 19, 2021 2:07 pm

Here in Key West our salt water is supposedly some of the most corrosive in the world, and it does seem that way. Everything deteriorates so quickly. So I replaced the hubs and bearings soon after I bought my DS2 and trailer. No idea how old they were but they just crumbled to mud when I took them out, almost nothing was left. It's been a little less than a year and I noticed the wheels were a little noisy when driving. I took the hub apart and the new bearings I put in less than a year ago were totally trashed and the grease I put in had turned to muddy rusty sludge. The bearings just fell apart when I took them out.

So for salt water sailors, how often should I expect to have to replace my trailer bearings? 3 months, 6 months, a year?
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Re: Salt water and trailer bearings

Postby jalmeida51 » Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:53 pm

Are you using bearing buddies or wheel bearing protectors? They replace the dust caps on the hubs. You pump grease in to them and with a spring loaded piston it puts a slight pressure inside the hubs with the higher pressure and the bearings full of grease they keep the water out If you are using them now you could have a bad set rear seals.

I have trailered many miles from Florida to Maine and never had a bearing failure by using bearing buddies. I always carried spare bearings seals, bearings. spare hub and a spare set of bearing buddies along with a grease gun. Trailering local you don't have to have these spares but it wouldn't hurt either.

The only time I had a bearing failure was trailering down in Tampa and I had no bearing buddies on my trailer.

John
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Re: Salt water and trailer bearings

Postby zeroready » Sat Jun 19, 2021 4:26 pm

No but I did see the bearing buddies at the parts store, I thought about grabbing them but didn't. From your recommendation I will definitely grab them and put them on though. Thanks!
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Re: Salt water and trailer bearings

Postby GreenLake » Sat Jun 19, 2021 4:28 pm

Totally agree with John here on the Bearing Buddies (or whatever the replacement brand are called). They must be correctly sized to your hub's diameter because they are just pressed in, like the caps that you probably have. Sometimes a hub is slightly out of spec, in that case, you may have to get one special ordered or you can try thread locker (green) to see if it helps hold the Bearing buddy tight.

On longer trips: definitely carry spares and pull over occasionally to check the temperature. And a grease gun to top them off. And an impact driver... Nothing is more frustrating that not being able to get a wheel off. (Some people carry a spare wheel, mounted on the trailer).
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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