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Always check your bearings and lube. I lost my bearings on the way home from Hillsdale last weekend. I put several deep groves in my spindle and I'm having my second axel in 3 years put in this week. I'm putting some bearing buddies in this time.
Sorry to hear about that Nate.I have a 06 Champion trailer with self lubricating hubs.Just exactly what do I need to be doing maintenance wise?Had Cabelas look at trailer last year and said it was fine.Thanks.
repack bearings every spring new bearings every other year imo
Been there Nate, it SUCKS. You were luckier than I, mine blew at night coming home and ground my spindle flat. Had to get a snatch-n-grab by a wrecker, that was my 1st attempt for a new graph. I had the spindle replaced and they really botched it up, 2-3 trips per tire. Then I replaced the axle, which the first guy ended up buying, axle shop said NO to bearing buddies. He told me it would negate my warranty. Then he told me with annual maintenance by them that I would have a lifetime warranty and he would pay for a snatch-n-grab if anything happened. We'll see about that, so far that end of the deal is excellent!!!! Which brand of axle are you running and is it a straight or drop axle?
Those buddy bearings put the lube shops out of business...as long as you grease 'em.;):)
The biggest problem with bearing buddies is that guys tend to over-grease them. I have seen guys pump and pump until grease blows out the back seal. This is way too much! Bearing buddies are designed to keep a constant pressure inside the hubs if you follow the directions. Once you pump it so full it blows the rear seal, bearing buddies are worthless as all the water is coming in from the back around the blown seal.
Pump enough grease into them so that you can still "rock" the spring loaded plunger and you are good to go. Need to check them a few times after packing the bearings as the air works out of the hub but once you get them full, they are fool-proof.
I pull my hubs every spring and put new seals in and replace the bearings if need be. With bearing buddies I rarely need to replace bearings. Maybe once every five or six years.
Just make sure you are properly filling them and they will keep you from being stranded on the side of the road.
Keith
I'm running a straight 3500 lb axel. I just took it out tonight and I'm dropping it off at Croft Trailer tomorrow.
I have oil bath hubs on my 07 Stratos. A first for me so I am not real familiar with them...sounds like from what I have read there is a lot less maintenance but if water gets in then it can go to hell real quick. But it's awful nice not having to worry about the grease and the mess....
damn Nate..nobody has that kinda luck except me. I burned one up by Hiawatha 2 summers ago, that was a real pain. cracked my windshield on I35 later that night...
I have a croft axle and hubs now...haven't had any problems so far.
That's gonna leave a mark... uhh... never mind... already did. Good luck with future bearing preventative maintenance. Get into the habit of feeling the "heat" of your bearings at every stop. Takes a minute, but indicates trouble way ahead of this type time/money disaster.
I have bearing buddies on my old boat- several thousand miles with no problems. I opted for oil bath on my new boat and I think I am going to like them in a big way- time will tell.
Xpress uses the new Vortex axle and hub with 100,000 mile/6 year warranty. You can grease the hubs if you want as long as you lithium base grease, but these hubs are designed to be maintenance free. The difference is that the spindle has a hole running through it, so unlike bearing buddies you put as much NEW grease to the rear bearing as you do the front bearing, instead of packing old grease and sludge to the rear bearing and seal.( like the bearing buddy does) With the new style hub, you pump grease into the grease fitting, it runs through the spindle to the rear bearing, and forces the old grease back out the front. When you see fresh grease coming out the front, you SCREW the grease cap back on the hub, and you have completely re greased and packed the entire hub with fresh grease, and can't blow the rear seal from too much pressure.