Grease Guns

[muelldawg]

What has your experience been in using a small grease gun to replace grease in wheel bearings?

I have my bearings repacked every spring and last summer still had bearings burned out. No doubt they were repacked improperly.
Our TT has "buddy boy" bearings set up so can easily apply extra grease in emergencies.

My idea is to carry a small grease gun. Any recommendations on type of gun that has worked well for you?

[coolbreeze01]

Curious how these burned bearings were discovered? Once your bearings are properly packed, you won't need a grease gun.

[Ron3rd]

muelldawg wrote:
What has your experience been in using a small grease gun to replace grease in wheel bearings?

I have my bearings repacked every spring and last summer still had bearings burned out. No doubt they were repacked improperly.
Our TT has "buddy boy" bearings set up so can easily apply extra grease in emergencies.

My idea is to carry a small grease gun. Any recommendations on type of gun that has worked well for you?

Just wondering, why would you repack every year?

[RollandB]

gbopp, yep, hate auto correct. ,thanks for catching it.

[Huntindog]

seaeagle2 wrote:
If they're really bearing buddies, they don't serve any purpose on a travel trailer. If you over fill bearing buddies, you can easily blow out the rear seal. Their purpose is to maintain a slight positive pressure so when boat trailer hubs are submerged in water, the water doesn't get into the hub assembly. You probably have a spindle lube type set up, I had those on my last boat trailer, and if you do it right, you can acutally see the old grease being flushed out, and the seals remain intact. Boat trailers take way more abuse than TT,s and I never lost a wheel bearing.

X2
And to expand on why they maintain a positive pressure...

When a hot hub is submerged in cold water, it cools really fast. Without bearing buddies this fast cooling will create a vaccum inside the hub. This can easily suck water past the seals.

[seaeagle2]

If they're really bearing buddies, they don't serve any purpose on a travel trailer. If you over fill bearing buddies, you can easily blow out the rear seal. Their purpose is to maintain a slight positive pressure so when boat trailer hubs are submerged in water, the water doesn't get into the hub assembly. You probably have a spindle lube type set up, I had those on my last boat trailer, and if you do it right, you can acutally see the old grease being flushed out, and the seals remain intact. Boat trailers take way more abuse than TT,s and I never lost a wheel bearing.

[Huntindog]

Grease is not the reason most bearings fail.
Improper adjustment is. Too loose or too tight... Most that don't know what they are doing adjust them too tight... They take all of the play out. Proper adjustment will leave a slight amount of play. This is to allow for expansion of the parts at running temps. At temp they should be very close to zero play. Most bearings have a spec for this, but you need dial indicator setup to measure it... But following the manufacturers adjustment procedure EXCACTLY will get the bearings in proper adjustment as well.

[gbopp]

Old Duck wrote:
I have a small grease gun but only use it on the suspension zeros and zeros on my riding mower.

Zerks. Don't you just hate auto correct? :E

[azdryheat]

Bearings too tight. Find a new mechanic or learn to do it yourself.

[12thgenusa]

The only reason to repackage bearings is if they were cleaned and inspected. Bearing grease does not get used up, evaporate, disappear or go bad. Bearings should be inspected anytime the hub is removed for brake inspection or repair. Any additional repack is just a waste of time and money.

[path1]

I don't carry grease gun any more. My road "ER kit" has a set of packed bearings in an old plastic butter container and inside a plastic bag. I use cheap Walmart "syne tech" because you can get at every Walmart nation wide if I need any. Used to use Ford racing high temp grease with very high "dropping point" grease at $17.00 bucks a tube. Not anymore. If you see high temps you have other problems no matter what type of grease you have. I have not seen temps over 160 on our hottest days.

IMO Something else is going on if your repacking every spring and are still having problems.

I would start at the axle area. Hopefully you have an axle sticker on your axle tube to look up your axle spec's. Making sure you have enough weight carrying capacity and 10% spare capacity for the weight your placing on it. If tire wear is normal that means your trailer is pulling somewhat straight. http://www.amazon.com/Milton-S448-Tread-Depth-Gauge/dp/B0002STSQM If bad wear on tires, and you have been using the right PSI in tires, you could have a bent axle or a spindle that might on been put on wrong from day 1. Then spend some time at a place that has cross reference on bearings (not your normal auto part store), look up what you have and get biggest weight spec you can get for your size. I never had a problem with import bearings, even though I try to buy US made. 🙂 to match my offshore tires and rims, lug nuts.

[B_O__Plenty]

If you had your bearings serviced and they still burned out, it wasn't from a lack of grease. My guess is that whoever did the work did a poor job and probably over tightened the bearings when they were done. There are hundreds of posts on here regarding this issue.

B.O.

[Downwindtracke1]

The problem with small grease guns is that the cartridges have limited number of types of grease. The axels on our TT call for a lithium based grease. Hand loading is messy. Pistol grip guns produce less pressure I think, but are much easier use as they are one handed.

[RollandB]

I have a small grease gun but only use it on the suspension zerks and zerks on my riding mower.

[janechucknicode]

muelldawg wrote:
What has your experience been in using a small grease gun to replace grease in wheel bearings?

I have my bearings repacked every spring and last summer still had bearings burned out. No doubt they were repacked improperly.
Our TT has "buddy boy" bearings set up so can easily apply extra grease in emergencies.

My idea is to carry a small grease gun. Any recommendations on type of gun that has worked well for you?

One my Buddy bearings, and I travel approx 8000 a year, depending on the weather hot, wet or just bad roads. at 2500 miles 1-2 squirts AND THAT IS IT, then at the end of my trips Iinstall NEW if I can find them US made bearings. and hand grease them prior to installation.
DO NOT OVER grease you Buddys you will blow the seals.