Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Can you install Bearing Buddies without removing bearings . Any other bearing tips would be appreciated. I will be putting on alot of miles this summer and i dont want any problems.

The bearing buddy's just tap in with a small hammer no need to remove the bearings.

I recommend you do not use bearing buddies.  Clean and repack or just replace bearings every three years and get in the habit of checking your hubs with your hand whenever you stop for gas, arrive at the lake, etc.  If you have trailer brakes a little warmth is normal, hot means the bearings are going bad.

The problem with bearing buddies -  the spring in the bearing buddy adds pressure in the hub and the hub is also completely full of grease.  When the grease warms as you travel, it expands and will push out thru the inner seal with the help of the spring force.  When the hub & grease cools, the bearing buddy shows low grease because some grease was forced out of the hub - so you pack it full again.  The cycle continues and will prematurely wear out the inner seal and eventually let water into the hub.

Just pack the bearings well and don't bother packing the hub full of grease.  Just install the bearings and use a regular dust cap sealed with a thin coat of red permatex.  (install the permatex around the lip of the dust cap before tapping it into place.)

Good point, I wish I had read this a month ago. I put Bearing Buddy's on and have only towed about 30 miles since then and there is grease all over the inside of the wheel. The pressure blew the grease past that inner seal just like you said. Now I am going to take it all back apart again and replace the seals and put regular caps back on. I am worried that the seals are damaged.

Bender,

You should still be fine for this year.  The grease passing by the inner seal is not a catastrophic failure, so I would just leave it be for this year.  Get in the habit now of feeling the rims whenever you stop to check for overheating, but I doubt one over filling of the bearing buddies will cause damage.  Just don't keep packing it full just because the bearing buddy doesn't show full anymore.

SMBassman