Lawrence James wrote:

Your trailer will be fine. I'm guessing you have bearing buddies with a
grease fitting on each wheel. You should give them a little grease a couple
times during the boating season. I usually do it the same time I'm hitting
the outdrive fittings. Preferably with marine grease. If you hear any
rumblings or grinding from a trailer wheel it should be checked. Good luck
with your new boat, I hope it serves you well.

"Fred" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the responses. I will try to answer the questions to give
you more to go on.



I'd ask some more questions before I gave advice on replacing the
bearings.
Like how old is the trailer?
four years old

Where did the previous owner use it?
short trips to put in

How
often was the trailer and boat used.
boat has 115 hours on it


How many axles on the trailer?
tandem axel

How
big is the boat?
20 foot Celebrity


Was it used in fresh water or salt water?
fresh water

Thanks.



All he asked was if he was going to have a problem because of the grease
he
used. And all of you tell him to replace the bearings.




Buy new bearings complete with races for ONE wheel as a spare, Probably
best to get a spare hub so you have the outer race installed (or even a
complete spare wheel).
Carry the spares on any trip of more than a couple of miles.

At the end of each season, strip each hub, wipe out as much grease as
possible and solvent degrease the bearings, hub and inner races. Check
the races and rollers in the bearing for any pitting, replace if they look
doubtful or are visibly pitted or significantly worn. If you aren't sure,
compare with your unused spare bearing.
If you have been experiencing excessive grease leakage behind the wheel,
replace the rubber axle seal.

Repack the bearing and hub with grease, replace on the axle and tighten
the nut down. Make sure the bearings have seated properly, back off the
nut until the wheel can just be wobbled laterally with the trailer jacked
up if you grab it with your hands at 3 & 9 o'clock positions. If the hole
for the split pin does not line up with the castellated nut, back the nut
off a little more till it does. Use a BRAND NEW split pin. If your nut
is not retained by a split pin, ignore this bit and find out what's
reccomended for your hub.

I use the blue Lubrimatic water resistant marine and wheelbearing grease
(ISTRM its an OMC brand). 4 Years on the same bearings with no trouble
without bearing buddies and launching in salt water most of the time. I
either launch locally or drive a couple of hundred miles on each trip
(single axle unbraked trailer, around 500Kg max weight, our legal speed
limit for trailers is 60 Mph and I dont hang about on an open road). I
always remove the caps and drain the water out of the bearings when I've
hauled out, then gun in a bit of fresh grease after about 5 or 10 miles or
when I get home for local outings. The hubs always run cooler than the
tyres or the tow car's hubs. It doesnt hurt to run the bearings wet with
clean water if there is plenty of grease in there. Rust needs Oxygen as
well as water and as long as there is sufficient waterproof grease, the
air cant get at the individual water droplets.

Carry the above mentioned spares (dont forget the split pin), a jack that
can lift your trailer when its fully loaded, wrenches for the hub nut and
the wheel nuts, a loaded grease gun of your chosen grease and a roll of
kitchen tissue, latex gloves and a bag for the trash and do your annual
strip down, inspect and re-pack EVERY year and you will almost certainly
never be stuck at the roadside.

Its NOT a good idea to mix different brands of grease as they can be
incompatible and break each other down if they are of different types. I
reccomend you strip, clean and inspect your bearings now as you dont know
what the previous owner used then stick to one type and brand of waterpoof
grease. Always keep a whole tin spare in stock, that way if they
discontinue it, you dont have to strip the bearings because you need to
change brands mid season. You can always use up any part tins you get
left with on less critical applications.


--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
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[dot]=.
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'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Uffa Fox designed, All varnished hot moulded
wooden racing dinghy circa. 1961