Bearing buddies vs oil bath

[Blownbillybob]

So jus came back from DCB regatta Sunday night!!
By the way had a good time!!👍🏿

Drove from needles to Barstow stopped for gas! Checked all six wheels no oil spray from bearing cap no temp what so ever?? Drove from Barstow to Santa Nella truck stop on I5. Check all six wheels. Same no oil no temp what so ever?? Drove from Santa Nella to SF wiped out front passenger outer wheel bearing?? JUS made it home DAM!!!!

So no signs of water in the oil but don't know how much oil was in it?? There is oil spray on the back side assuming when the bearing went out it lost the seal! The weird thing was no temp what so ever in any of the hubs????

Trailer was loaded level!

Any ideas anyone!!!

 

[Jimmy]

So jus came back from DCB regatta Sunday night!!
By the way had a good time!![emoji1531]

Drove from needles to Barstow stopped for gas! Checked all six wheels no oil spray from bearing cap no temp what so ever?? Drove from Barstow to Santa Nella truck stop on I5. Check all six wheels. Same no oil no temp what so ever?? Drove from Santa Nella to SF wiped out front passenger outer wheel bearing?? JUS made it home DAM!!!!

So no signs of water in the oil but don't know how much oil was in it?? There is oil spray on the back side assuming when the bearing went out it lost the seal! The weird thing was no temp what so ever in any of the hubs????

Trailer was loaded level!

Any ideas anyone!!!

How do the oil bath bearing on a trailer work?

We have a few white metal bearings suspended in oil on some of the bigger gear at work but they have 2 hyd pumps constantly circulating oil.
And if they arent fully surrounded in oil its only seconds before theyre rooted.
We're looking at changing the bearing type on a big ass fan from roller bearing to white metal because they dont last.

So if the principals are the same oil i thought would be better.

 

[fishing fool]

I had oil bath and switched to grease.
My thoughts are if you loose oil or one of the caps there is no lube for that bearing. With grease if you loose a buddy bearing there is still grease there to lube. You would be able to drive get home clean and replace.

 

[BUDMAN]

Get rid of the oil bath and switch over to grease. No way to add oil or check them. With grease/bearing buddies you can at least squirt a little grease into them before a long trip.

 

[BassLakeCruiser]

I've also heard that the warm/hot hub when entering the water will cool rapidly and contract/create a small amount of vacuum, thus pulling in water. If I remember correctly. Always good to carry a spare bearing set too, we do on longer trips at least.

 

[TPC]

I had them and will never go back to oil bath. Grease with the buddy caps is da finest' kine'.

If the brakes over heat, or the wheel over heats from a flat the seals usually go, you lose the oil and the bearing grenades in minutes. They fail for other reasons like being parked in the same position to long too. Just to easy for this kid. I'm talking months.

Grads warned everyone about them years back and Grads was spot on. He had a MFSOB of a time getting it all dealt with and it was really expensive and labor intensive, and most likely trip ending if you can even locate the damn things.

When your tire grenades, and one or two eventually will, in a few miles more you could light a cigarette off the rim they are so hot. Then, you see the oily wet hub because the heat migrated over and fried the seals.

So not only are you dealing with a tire and possible rim replacement on the side of the highway at 113F in Bug Scratch Az., you gotta get the whole MF'n hub and spindle assembly replaced. A complete unit because it's all shredded and molten waste.

Also, I was walking through one of the Walmarts here at the river and I'll be fucked with a red hot poker, they had every possible trailer greased style wheel bearing and seal you could possibly be looking for in the unlikely event the wheel bearing grenades.. And for just a few bucks on top all that.

Two tires grenaded on our 5th wheel in the Az triangle on I15.
The rims were so hot the powder coating was smoking, the chrome covers on the Tijuana lug nuts expanded and pulled right off.
2 thousand miles later same grease wheel bearings and seals.

So:
Same happened on our oil bath bearing boat trailer and I had to replace the complete assemblies.
Luck was with me in that case, it happened as we rolled into the Launch ramp parking lot.
I don't even want to experience that again.

 

[hallett21]

I had them and will never go back to oil bath. Grease with the buddy caps is da finest' kine'.

If the brakes over heat, or the wheel over heats from a flat the seals usually go, you lose the oil and the bearing grenades in minutes. They fail for other reasons like being parked in the same position to long too. Just to easy for this kid. I'm talking months.

Grads warned everyone about them years back and Grads was spot on. He had a MFSOB of a time getting it all dealt with and it was really expensive and trip ending.

When your tire grenades, and one or two eventually will, in a few miles more you could light a cigarette off the rim they are so hot. Then, you see the oily wet hub because the heat migrated over and fried the seals.

So not only are you dealing with a tire and possible rim replacement on the side of the highway at 113F in Bug Scratch Az., you gotta get the whole MF'n hub and spindle assembly replaced. A complete unit because it's all shredded and molten waste.

Also, I was walking through one of the Walmarts here at the river and I'll be fucked with a red hot poker, they had every possible wheel bearing and seal you could possibly be looking for in the unlikely event the wheel bearing grenades.. And just a few bucks on top all that.

Did you ever get your trailer worked out? The one that extended your Catalina trips unexpectedly

 

[TPC]

Did you ever get your trailer worked out? The one that extended your Catalina trips unexpectedly

Yeah and the last time was the worst experience.
We sold the boat separate, gave the buyer the trailer free.

 

[ToMorrow44]

Bearing Buddies. Never had a problem with them, never lost one. The spring holds a little pressure on the grease and keeps water from getting in. The key is setting up the bearings and checking the bearings for play.

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Well , I seem to be the exception here , I have oil bath on my 05 Extreme triple axle with 4 wheels having disc brakes . It's now been almost 13 years and I have never touched the bearings outside of topping off with 50wt oil maybe once ! This includes 13 years of towing across the desert from So Cal to Havasu , Mead etc . I've had bearing buddies in the past and could get barely 1 season out of them before they leaked or fell off ...