Thread: The Vault- Maintenance free hubs?

I have vortex zero maintenance hubs. Five year warranty. I had oil bath before, they weren't reliable.


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Don't know much of anything about the Vault but do know that the Vortex that Ranger and some others had their problems. Looking at them they should be truly maintaince free. Main thing on oil bath hubs is keep an eye on sight glass looking for the oil to see if it's clear or milky. If it starts looking milky that means it's got water in it. Other than that Jack it up every once in awhile get under trailer place your finger on hub next to wheel, spin wheel. If you have a bad bearing you can feel the roughness through the hub. Then grab wheel on the outside and try to shake it back and forth to check for excess play. We ran oil bath hubs on the front axles of our big trucks starting in early 80's once we learned not to mess with them they would run forever unless a seal went out which was rare.

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My new-to-me rig also has the vault bearing system. Says it has a ten year warranty with 0 maintenance required. After towing my boat for an hour this weekend I touched the hubs just to check for any heat. They were cold to the touch.


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Yeah. I knew that they were advertised as maintenance free, but I wasn't sure how reliable the advertising was. I have never owned anything that was actually maintenance FREE.


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Me either, hoping someone with actual long term experience can chime in here and tell us what to expect.


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I have these on my trailer. 2000 Ranger 522. Only problem I have had was when I replaced the whole rear hub assembly because when a bought the boat the brakes and rotors were too far gone to put money into. When my mechanic filled the hubs he did not fill it all the way up. After a while the oil turned milky white and I thought I had bad seals but I decided to drain and refill them myself before replacing the seal. I filled them to the top and sealed the drain plug with high temperature gasket sealant per manufactures instruction. That was 3-4 yrs ago and have not had a problem since. Some like to drain and refill with new oil every year. If you do get the Hub Oil from Pacific that is made for these oil bath hubs. My mechanic says just use a good 90W oil but the Hub Oil will keep your hubs cooler. We usually drive 150 to over 200 miles one way every month for the MCC tournaments so mine have held up pretty good so far.

Originally Posted by SUPERTECHMRI

I have these on my trailer. 2000 Ranger 522. Only problem I have had was when I replaced the whole rear hub assembly because when a bought the boat the brakes and rotors were too far gone to put money into. When my mechanic filled the hubs he did not fill it all the way up. After a while the oil turned milky white and I thought I had bad seals but I decided to drain and refill them myself before replacing the seal. I filled them to the top and sealed the drain plug with high temperature gasket sealant per manufactures instruction. That was 3-4 yrs ago and have not had a problem since. Some like to drain and refill with new oil every year. If you do get the Hub Oil from Pacific that is made for these oil bath hubs. My mechanic says just use a good 90W oil but the Hub Oil will keep your hubs cooler. We usually drive 150 to over 200 miles one way every month for the MCC tournaments so mine have held up pretty good so far.

Thanks for the info , but the oil filled hubs are not what we are talking about here. This system is called "The Vault". It is a sealed bearing system packed with a specialty grease that turns to oil as it heats up. There is no window to check if it gets milky, there are no drain ports for servicing.


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