Bearing Buddy mess

Hope he was a better boater than he was tower.

I tow three boats and fish a bit, I took off the BB and threw them away. put just plain old caps on.

Bearing Buddies are great ! Obviously 10 shots every time the boat trailer leaves the water might be too much...but, say 2 shots every couple weeks when using the boat trailer shouldn't be too much to damage the brakes or anything else.

FWIW, when I had my TTs (2) I greased the Bearing Buddies twice during the summer season. Never any kind of a problem.

MY feelings on Bearing Buddies is that the inner bearing is always getting the old grease... Best to hand pack every year. The guy putting 10 shots in no doubt doesn't have much problem with old grease...but....

jerseyjim wrote:
but, say 2 shots every couple weeks when using the boat trailer shouldn't be too much to damage the brakes or anything else.

Still way, way too much.

The purpose of BBs is to hold positive pressure in the bearing, so water doesn't get in, especially after running down the road warm, then being plunged into cold water at a boat launch. It lets the hub and air and grease contract with the cold without sucking water in.

The design of BBs is such that you can look and tell how full they are. If you see the plate go low, it means the grease has gone somewhere. Where? It doesn't evaporate - it's going past a seal which it shouldn't be doing. If it's the outer seal (which is the BB itself), you can see it, and things will be an obvious mess. If it's the inner seal, you're filling up your brake hub with grease. You don't refill it if it goes low, you take things apart and find the problem.

There is no need to refill a bearing buddy, ever. That only happens when repacking the bearings. Same as without them.

They are NOT like EZ-Lube axle stubs, where when you push in new grease, old grease comes out through the bearing.

Edit:The correct way to repack marine bearings is to use a long grease needle to fill the area between the bearings with grease after the hub is set in place, from inside to outside. That displaces the air which would be between the bearings/spindle/hub, which is what expands and contracts the most. An EZ-lube spindle does the same thing, but has its own set of issues - if the grease is too stiff or is pumped in too fast, it's going to get forced past the inner seal.

I ran BB's on both of my trailers. Other than one blown inner seal I had ZERO problems. BB does warn about inner seals.

Before BB's I replaced af few bearings...

Of course.. I did not overfill.

Way too much grease. :)

Whether it is ten shots every tow or two shots a month, eventually the seal will give and grease the brakes. On true "Bearing Buddies" the grease has nowhere else to go but past the inner seal.

Not to be confused with the greasing systems that come on almost every new towable RV.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Whether it is ten shots every tow or two shots a month, eventually the seal will give and grease the brakes. On true "Bearing Buddies" the grease has nowhere else to go but past the inner seal.

Not to be confused with the greasing systems that come on almost every new towable RV.

Are you suggesting that there isn't an issue with grease blowing past the inner "double lip" seals on the glorious Ez-lube axles? I have dealt with a trailer right out the factory that had grease blown all over the brakes from incorrectly greasing them. There are many here that think they are the greatest invention ever. I'll go with the opinion of the owner and head mechanic at a family dealership where I bought several trailers. He told me, almost two decades ago, that they are a gimmick and nothing but trouble. He said it's common to find blow seals and greasy brakes from DIYers who think they are magic, and they are best ignored in favor of regular, real maintenance. Since I do my own work, his only gain was a few bucks in seals, not like he was trying to sell bearing repacking jobs.

If the TT bearings are properly packed, there is no reason ever to pump more grease in before the next inspection or brake service.

In the boating world it is a tough call. Hub needs venting and is periodically submerged. You would think something could be invented that actually works.