Bearing Buddy mess
I was in my local Six Robblees store yesterday. While waiting for help I looked at a trailer wheel hub hanging on the wall behind the counter. It was so full of grease and junk I couldn't really fig...
Forum Discussion
jerseyjim wrote:Still way, way 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.
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.
