Boat Trailer Bearings

[lazyMlazyK]

I’m trying to determine the size bearings needed for this old trailer. Not sure of the year of manufacture at this point. Has anyone replaced bearings on an EZ Loader 4.8 from the late 70’s or early 80’s? Any insight? Looking at putting in some Vortex hubs but need to determine spindle size. Does anyone here have good/bad experiences to share using Vortex hubs? It's a pretty small and light trailer. Boat is a 1980 Lund VFR 15.5’

 

[Kickemup]

Take the bearings off and clean them up. There will be a number that will tell you what size they are.

 

[Mgx2400]

Bearing buddies is where it's at

 

[Tikka280ai]

Looks like a 3500 pound axle to me. I think all bearings for a certain weight rated axles are the same.

 

[wby257]

Bearing buddies is where it's at

Unless you pack the bearing either with the palm of your hand or bearing packer. Using bearing buddy's do not pack bearing with grease.


I would take the hub off and take a bearing out clean it up and take in and a place like O'Reilly can help you out. If there is no play in the hub I would just repack the bearings.

If you have a Mic you can measure the spindle and bearings

 

[raider]

there are only 2 sizes of bearings for that size trailer - take them off and measure with a mic to find out, or take the bearings to any auto parts store and they can measure them for you...

i've had turbo lubes on 2 trailers, both have failed... i'm taking a 1 year old trailer in this spring to have them removed despite their 80k warranty, and replaced with regular greased bearings...

if your bearings are in good shape when cleaned (no or little slop), repack them, reinstall, and put on solid dust caps... if they have visible lines or seem loose, replace them... a new set with seals and new dust caps and the grease to repack might run you $60, and if checked every 2500 miles will outlast whatever you are carrying on the trailer - period...

been down this road 2 too many times already - just trying to save you a headache...

fwiw, i have friends who buy new pj, gator, diamond c trailers with oil bath axles and immediately remove them and put on regular greased bearings, cuz if you're gonna pull them much, they just don't last...

if bearing buddies seal as well as you hope they will, adding grease will push out the rear seals... add water to that - fine, for a while... when it freezes - failure...

good luck...

 

[eyexer]

oil bath bearings are damn joke. especially on lightweight trailers.

 

[all4eyes]

there are only 2 sizes of bearings for that size trailer - take them off and measure with a mic to find out, or take the bearings to any auto parts store and they can measure them for you...

i've had turbo lubes on 2 trailers, both have failed... i'm taking a 1 year old trailer in this spring to have them removed despite their 80k warranty, and replaced with regular greased bearings...

if your bearings are in good shape when cleaned (no or little slop), repack them, reinstall, and put on solid dust caps... if they have visible lines or seem loose, replace them... a new set with seals and new dust caps and the grease to repack might run you $60, and if checked every 2500 miles will outlast whatever you are carrying on the trailer - period...

been down this road 2 too many times already - just trying to save you a headache...

fwiw, i have friends who buy new pj, gator, diamond c trailers with oil bath axles and immediately remove them and put on regular greased bearings, cuz if you're gonna pull them much, they just don't last...

if bearing buddies seal as well as you hope they will, adding grease will push out the rear seals... add water to that - fine, for a while... when it freezes - failure...

good luck...

Bearing buddy has a system for these now. Think mine will be swapped this year to there system. Looks to be just unscrew the turbo lube cap and screw on a bearing buddy.

 

[guywhofishes]

I recall a system that has a hollow spindle, when you grease the zerk the grease gets shot into the rear bearing and old grease and water move out toward the front cap. What system is that and wouldn’t it be good/best?

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(I’ve used BBs for decades with success but they seem less intelligent since they don’t sweep contamination out)

 

[2400]

I'm for taking it apart, cleaning the bearings, replacing them if needed, repacking them with Mystic JT-6 red grease, putting it back together with new seals and being done for a couple more years.

 

[nytebyte]

Not sure what kind of bearing system its called but I have the one where you pump it in and the old comes out the back. Never had any trouble with them. You pump the new in the front of the bearing cap and the old comes out the back of the spindle. Seems like a good idea to me. Probably should pull it all apart and give it a good cleaning just because as far as I know its never been done and its on a 2000 trailer

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Had many a trailer with oil bath and grease type. Never had an oil bath fail. I think for the most part nowadays especially is the CHEAP Chinese bearings they put in trailers! When we bought our last 2 enclosed trailers i had a buddy take them apart and we put new Timken bearings in them right from the get go. He showed me the Chinese bearings that came out of them and they were loose as a goose so to speak. Unbelieveable is all i can say. Some guys can run them and not have any problems at all. If i would do that they would fail in the middle of the night in the middle of no where when we would be in a hurry.
Spend the few extra dollars and put Timken bearings in your trailer.

 

[wby257]

Had many a trailer with oil bath and grease type. Never had an oil bath fail. I think for the most part nowadays especially is the CHEAP Chinese bearings they put in trailers! When we bought our last 2 enclosed trailers i had a buddy take them apart and we put new Timken bearings in them right from the get go. He showed me the Chinese bearings that came out of them and they were loose as a goose so to speak. Unbelieveable is all i can say. Some guys can run them and not have any problems at all. If i would do that they would fail in the middle of the night in the middle of now where when we would be in a hurry.
Spend the few extra dollars and put Timken bearings in your trailer.

I agree Timken make a good bearing, If you pack the bearing good and put new seals in, you will not have a problem for many yrs.

 

[MuskyManiac]

Surprised to hear some don't like the oil bath system. That's what came on my 2005 trailer and I pull it somewhere almost every weekend. What issues are you guys having with them?

 

[eyexer]

Not sure what kind of bearing system its called but I have the one where you pump it in and the old comes out the back. Never had any trouble with them. You pump the new in the front of the bearing cap and the old comes out the back of the spindle. Seems like a good idea to me. Probably should pull it all apart and give it a good cleaning just because as far as I know its never been done and its on a 2000 trailer

when that happens it means the seal is blown.

 

[Allen]

I recall a system that has a hollow spindle, when you grease the zerk the grease gets shot into the rear bearing and old grease and water move out toward the front cap. What system is that and wouldn’t it be good/best?

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(I’ve used BBs for decades with success but they seem less intelligent since they don’t sweep contamination out)

Guy, I have these on my boat, utility, and toon trailers.

So here's the rub with them, because you had to know that nothing's perfect in the world of trailer bearings. That center grease zerk does just as you describe, it shoots grease in behind the inner bearing. If your are going to do more than 2-3 shots of grease, it had best be warm out and you had better have the trailer on jackstands so you can continuously spin the wheel. This helps the grease come through the bearings and out the outer bearing. It's a frigging mess if you are actually "changing" the grease in this manner. I suggest having a 2'x2' piece of cardboard under the wheel to help catch the grease, and roughly 25 paper towels per wheel to help clean things up.

If you do NOT spin the wheel and get carried away with the grease gun, you WILL blow a seal. No, not the marine mammal, you sick bastard!

I'm pretty sure these kind of spindles are now available from a few different manufacturers. Mine are EZ Lube, but there's also Sure Lube and ???. The only ones I know the brand of on mine are on my boat trailer because I just had them installed a couple summers ago.

- - - Updated - - -

Not sure what kind of bearing system its called but I have the one where you pump it in and the old comes out the back. Never had any trouble with them. You pump the new in the front of the bearing cap and the old comes out the back of the spindle. Seems like a good idea to me. Probably should pull it all apart and give it a good cleaning just because as far as I know its never been done and its on a 2000 trailer

Yep, seal is done for. Get it fixed and be sure to follow the instructions I have up above to help your seals last longer. Been there, done that!

 

[nytebyte]

Thats the way they are made . Nothing wrong with the seals. Its has a hole for the old grease to go out, not around the rear seal. I think they are called surelube bearings

 

[Allen]

Interesting, that's a design style I have not run across. When you grease them, where does the grease zerk end up putting the grease in order to get fresh stuff into both the inner and outer bearing?

 

[nytebyte]

Best way for me to explain it is to google Sure-lube bearing

 

[raider]

the issue i've had with the turbolube types is the rear seal not holding up... when oil heats up it expands and that builds pressure in a sealed system... the easiest place for the pressure to go is between the rubber seal and the shaft at the rear of the hub... if it does this, even if it leaves you with enough fluid to cool the bearings, water will leak in through the failed seal when loading and unloading a boat creating a mess inside the hub...

now i pull my boats quite a bit - i'm guessing between 5 and 10,000 miles per year, on long trips, in the heat of the day... i'm probably way over the average user... trouble is you have to watch the color of the fluid very closely through the cap, which isn't the easiest on the setups i've had, for changes in color... water will initially mix with the fluid and make it look milky... left inside it will start to rust the bearings and races and turn an orangish color... if they fail at highway speed, you're gonna b calling your insurance man...

looking at an oil level or color is really the only check with an oil bath system as they tend to torque the nut really tight, whereas with a greased hub you just give it a shake to see if it is tight, and feel the outer hub to check for heat... if it is tight and cool, you're good to go... with the oil bath, you'd better b checking the inside of the hub all the time to see if it's leaking cuz that's about the only tell other than color...

the other problem is they are not a standard size bearing(at least not when i had trouble)... with a standard grease hub assembly, most of your bigger cenex stations have bearing and seal kits hanging in the store that will at least get you home... most trailers have a 1 or 1 1/4 or 1 3/8 inner and outer bearings - some run a different inner and outer... they are available cheap everywhere... i have a whole extra hub with bearings and races and a seal and grease in the truck at all times for my boat trailer... with a jack, hammer, needle nose, screw driver and channel lock i can replace a hub along side the road in 10 minutes with little or no mess - with the oil bath - not so much...

i'd pull a 30 year old trailer coast to coast with $100 worth of parts and tools with more peace of mind than pulling an oil bath system across the state...