RB wrote:
My trailer lost a bearing buddy somewhere along the way to and from the
launch ramp the other day. I didn't realize the bearing buddy was gone
until I got home. The launch ramp is in sal****er. I did wash the
bearing/axle/hub area down well when I got home.

Guess I'd better pull the wheel and do some maintenance. Should I remove
all the old grease still in there and try to clean the bearing?

An option is to assume the packed in grease kept the sal****er out, just
stick a new bearing buddy on, and shoot some more grease to it.

You need to assume that sal****er contaminated the bearing area. The
dirt and dust is not nearly an issue as I've seen trailers (not for
boat use) that don't even have dust covers go for miles and miles with
no protection and as long as they were packed on a regular basis be
just fine. (Why someone wouldn't buy a $5 dust cap is beyond me, but
people do it.)

If it was just this one trip that the bearing buddy was gone, you'll be
ok, you just need to clean it out and get a fresh pack and grease in
it. Like someone else said, the hour that it will take to do that will
save you a days worth of lost time, tow bill, bearing and race
replacement later.