Just seen the recent post revived here....
Geez!! I was just looking into a local guy who can repack my bearings and he charges $125 per hour. I just learned about ez lube fittings and wondering if mine has them. I'll have to check when I get home.
First of all... someone charging $125 per hour to repack wheel bearings is not expensive..... IT'S EXTORTION !
If the trailer has the ez lube fittings, that is fine in itself as you can grease it on the fly....if the assembly is a bearing buddy product - like others have posted, do not over grease them.
My opinion for piece of mind is just having a standard solid cap setup on the trailer as it will last and be just as effective, same as on any standard 2WD front end vehicle with no issues.... no extra parts to worry about with other bearing assemblies that might fail (and not having to spend the extra money for the 'convenience')
I generally pack the hub cavity as much as it will hold grease around the spindle by hand (hub in position around the spindle) and the bearing cap should be fully seated without trying to push out while rotating the wheel by hand (after installing the bearings and the mounting hardware in position before final adjustments), it should be good for the long haul !
If I were a real boat owner enthusiast (although I do own a scanoe and no boat trailer necessary) then I would go with the bearing buddies because of the submerging in water with the boat trailer wheels as they have pretty good seals for that purpose.
Like others have mentioned, it is not difficult to repack bearings yourself - go to the parts store and invest in a $5 to $10 bearing repack tool and solid repack them which is way more effective then trying to hand pack them (and not get extorted).....you will be surprised how much grease will hold in a bearing with a solid repack.
I always keep an extra bearing repack tool in my camper onhand just in case I ever would need one in an emergency.
Here is a visual of a solid repack process of bearings :
1 - I cleaned inner and outer bearings with solvent and brakeleen :
2 - Inner bearing in center position of lower portion of bearing repack tool :
3 - Placing the top of cone assembly over the top of wheel bearing and snug in place, evenly seating wheel bearing surfaces CENTERED in position on upper and lower cone surfaces (very important) :
4 - Attach grease gun to shaft fitting and apply grease - as you can see the old black grease that was still in the inner bearing I could not get to after cleaning, forcing it's way out during the solid repack process :
5 - Both inner and outer bearings shown repacked SOLID and FULL as grease will not run dry anytime in the distant future :
Do not forget about having that freeze plug block heater installed on the engine block (installing in one of the freeze plug holes) to keep the block all toasty and warm parked outside in sub freezing temps as I seen the pad heaters are mentioned as now onhand ....
I highly recommend applying the more costly
Blue 587 RTV Silicone as it is
oil resistant unlike the standard blue RTV brand, and the oil resistant Blue 587 RTV cures better and faster too, while the pad will not unpeel or loosen at the corners compared to the other RTV brands :
Hope these images help to ensure your winter haul to the far north.
