I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it said not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks

Fred wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it said not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks



Regardless of the grease problem, the best thing you can do with a used
trailer is pull the bearings, toss them, and replace them with new
bearings. All it takes is a few bucks and modest mechanical skills.

Why take a chance?





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You di that with every car you buy? Same bearings, a lot less use. Nothing
wrong with pulling the wheels and inspecting the bearings. If they are bad,
and it's pretty obvious when they are then replace them. You won't hurt
anything if the grease you added was wheel bearing grease.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Fred wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it said
not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used
before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks



Regardless of the grease problem, the best thing you can do with a used
trailer is pull the bearings, toss them, and replace them with new
bearings. All it takes is a few bucks and modest mechanical skills.

Why take a chance?





--
__________________________________________________ __________
Email sent to will never reach me.

Lawrence James wrote:

You di that with every car you buy? Same bearings, a lot less use. Nothing
wrong with pulling the wheels and inspecting the bearings. If they are bad,
and it's pretty obvious when they are then replace them. You won't hurt
anything if the grease you added was wheel bearing grease.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Fred wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it said
not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used
before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks



Regardless of the grease problem, the best thing you can do with a used
trailer is pull the bearings, toss them, and replace them with new
bearings. All it takes is a few bucks and modest mechanical skills.

Why take a chance?


I usually don't back my car into salt water over the hubs and then let
it sit in the parking lot for eight hours or more while I go
boat-riding. Nor do I subject my car to the kinds of abuse the typical
boat trailer sees.

New trailer wheel bearings are a small investment that help assure safe
operation.


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Besides it's a lot cheaper to replace the trailer bearings than a hub that's
been ruined. Not to mention the peace of mind knowing that you won't freeze
a bearing going to the ramp.
Jack
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Lawrence James wrote:

You di that with every car you buy? Same bearings, a lot less use.
Nothing
wrong with pulling the wheels and inspecting the bearings. If they are
bad,
and it's pretty obvious when they are then replace them. You won't hurt
anything if the grease you added was wheel bearing grease.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Fred wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that
the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it
said
not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used
before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks



Regardless of the grease problem, the best thing you can do with a used
trailer is pull the bearings, toss them, and replace them with new
bearings. All it takes is a few bucks and modest mechanical skills.

Why take a chance?


I usually don't back my car into salt water over the hubs and then let
it sit in the parking lot for eight hours or more while I go
boat-riding. Nor do I subject my car to the kinds of abuse the typical
boat trailer sees.

New trailer wheel bearings are a small investment that help assure safe
operation.


--
__________________________________________________ __________
Email sent to will never reach me.

It is extremely easy to tell if a bearing is bad or not with a visual
inspection. I don't replace good parts. You don't even know how old the
trailer is, how much it was used, or if it even was used in salt water. You
just offhanded recommend replacement with no other info about the situation.
Does that sound like well thought out good advice to you?

"Jack Rye" .# wrote in message
news:sl0jb.26287$Rd4.22857@fed1read07...
Besides it's a lot cheaper to replace the trailer bearings than a hub
that's
been ruined. Not to mention the peace of mind knowing that you won't
freeze
a bearing going to the ramp.
Jack
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Lawrence James wrote:

You di that with every car you buy? Same bearings, a lot less use.
Nothing
wrong with pulling the wheels and inspecting the bearings. If they
are
bad,
and it's pretty obvious when they are then replace them. You won't
hurt
anything if the grease you added was wheel bearing grease.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Fred wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that
the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it
said
not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used
before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do
you
recommend I do? Thanks



Regardless of the grease problem, the best thing you can do with a
used
trailer is pull the bearings, toss them, and replace them with new
bearings. All it takes is a few bucks and modest mechanical skills.

Why take a chance?


I usually don't back my car into salt water over the hubs and then let
it sit in the parking lot for eight hours or more while I go
boat-riding. Nor do I subject my car to the kinds of abuse the typical
boat trailer sees.

New trailer wheel bearings are a small investment that help assure safe
operation.


--
__________________________________________________ __________
Email sent to will never reach me.

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 18:41:04 -0500, "Fred" wrote:

I bought a used boat and trailer, and before towing I noticed that the
bearings needed grease. I bought the blue grease. On the label it said not
to mix with other grease. Not knowing what kind of grease was used before,
I added the blue. What kind of damage may be caused, and what do you
recommend I do? Thanks
Fred,
The bases of many greases are not compatible with other greases
and can cause a breakdown of the lubricating qualities and premature
failure. You should remove the hubs and flush out all the grease with
a good solvent and re-grease with your choice of wheel bearing grease.
You can take this opportunity to inspect the bearings for pending
failure (look closely for signs of brinnelling or corrosion) but you
can not always see signs that a bearing is close to failing so I would
agree with Harry and replace with good quality (not Chinese) bearings
- NTN-Bower-Timken. This will at least let you know you are starting
out with new, quality bearings which will last you for years if
properly maintained. The cost is minimal compared to shearing a
spindle and spending several hours on Sunday afternoon on the side of
the road guarding your boat while someone tries to round up a new
spindle, bearings, seals and someone to weld the new spindle on etc.
Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions.

I would like to thank everyone for all there help and suggestions. I
decided the best thing to do was to have my boat dealer repack and inspect
all bearings. As the season is almost over here, I decided to also
winterize and prepare the boat for storage. The dealer suggested I may want
to change my water pump impeller. The engine ran great and the water temp.
was normal. Do you think I should change it? The boat is three years old
with 115 hours on engine. Thanks

Fred,
The bases of many greases are not compatible with other greases
and can cause a breakdown of the lubricating qualities and premature
failure. You should remove the hubs and flush out all the grease with
a good solvent and re-grease with your choice of wheel bearing grease.
You can take this opportunity to inspect the bearings for pending
failure (look closely for signs of brinnelling or corrosion) but you
can not always see signs that a bearing is close to failing so I would
agree with Harry and replace with good quality (not Chinese) bearings
- NTN-Bower-Timken. This will at least let you know you are starting
out with new, quality bearings which will last you for years if
properly maintained. The cost is minimal compared to shearing a
spindle and spending several hours on Sunday afternoon on the side of
the road guarding your boat while someone tries to round up a new
spindle, bearings, seals and someone to weld the new spindle on etc.
Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions.

Fred wrote:
I would like to thank everyone for all there help and suggestions. I
decided the best thing to do was to have my boat dealer repack and inspect
all bearings. As the season is almost over here, I decided to also
winterize and prepare the boat for storage. The dealer suggested I may want
to change my water pump impeller. The engine ran great and the water temp.
was normal. Do you think I should change it? The boat is three years old
with 115 hours on engine. Thanks

Fred,
The bases of many greases are not compatible with other greases
and can cause a breakdown of the lubricating qualities and premature
failure. You should remove the hubs and flush out all the grease with
a good solvent and re-grease with your choice of wheel bearing grease.
You can take this opportunity to inspect the bearings for pending
failure (look closely for signs of brinnelling or corrosion) but you
can not always see signs that a bearing is close to failing so I would
agree with Harry and replace with good quality (not Chinese) bearings
- NTN-Bower-Timken. This will at least let you know you are starting
out with new, quality bearings which will last you for years if
properly maintained. The cost is minimal compared to shearing a
spindle and spending several hours on Sunday afternoon on the side of
the road guarding your boat while someone tries to round up a new
spindle, bearings, seals and someone to weld the new spindle on etc.
Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions.




Three seasons is about right for changing the impeller, especially if
the motor has not been operated in shallow, sandy waters, as inshore
fishermen often run their motors.

Is your dealer going to install Bearing Buddies or something similar on
your trailer bearings? They're cheap, and they'll let you keep your
bearings packed with grease. Have someone show you how to fill the
Bearing Buddies so you don't blow out the seals on your trailer axles.
It's a one-minute lesson.

--
__________________________________________________ __________
Email sent to will never reach me.

Bearing buddies will be installed. What is the proper way to fill them. I
thought you just pump in grease until the indicator shows full.

Three seasons is about right for changing the impeller, especially if
the motor has not been operated in shallow, sandy waters, as inshore
fishermen often run their motors.

Is your dealer going to install Bearing Buddies or something similar on
your trailer bearings? They're cheap, and they'll let you keep your
bearings packed with grease. Have someone show you how to fill the
Bearing Buddies so you don't blow out the seals on your trailer axles.
It's a one-minute lesson.

--
__________________________________________________ __________
Email sent to will never reach me.