Bearing Buddy Question

P

Pat Anderson

New member
On my last hub & brake install, just before we left for Lake Powell in 2014, the shop put Bearing Buddies on the hubs. Based on something I saw on the internet, I have always believed the right amount of grease to put in the Bearing Buddies was just enough so you can press the edge of the plate and it moves or flexes. Well, getting ready for a Sunday launch, I got out the handy dandy grease gun and went to work. None of the plates flexed or moved when I started. Now two of them move or flex and two don't. I am reluctant to keep pumping grease in them. Advice on what I should do would be much appreciated!
 
Boris, I never had oil filled bearings. Maybe the NEXT set will be! I am hoping that I won't need another set for a long time!


journey on":cg29ihgt said:
pat, when did you change from the oil filled bearings? I admit ignorance, if you posted elsewhere; I don't remember. Oh, and why?

Boris
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Mark. that is not what mine look like - no bra...there is a zirk in the center of the plate, a spring in front of the plate and a plate. When I put grease in, the plate moves out. I am just afraid to keep putting grease in.

localboy":3907b9nc said:
Instructions say to fill w/ grease until the blue indicator ring is level with the outer edge, so it must move on the spring. I bet your pair are somehow seized and are stubborn to move with just grease. Could be rust or maybe they just got jammed in the housing. I would pull them, clean them up and see I you can manually get them to move; maybe they just need some persuasion.

https://www.etrailer.com/Grease-Caps/Bearing-Buddy/BB1980A-SS.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGv7UOtZjSY
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I don't believe all Bearing Buddys have the blue indicator rings. I think those were the deluxe or something like that. (Probably they came out with those to help alleviate confusion).

With the "regular" ones, you do just as you were saying. Pump grease in until the plate just flops around a bit (in other words it's slightly lifted by the center spring). More than that is too much and can blow a rear seal.

There is a way you can take a look if it doesn't seem to be coming up to the "right amount of grease stage" and you just are not sure. I just re-did all my hubs/bearings/etc. and I had the same thing happen with one of my Bearing Buddys. I "knew" I should just pump a bit more grease in to lift the plate, but had a wee bit of doubt. So what I did is just knock off the bearing buddy and look inside. I found that, as I suspected, it just had not been filled yet. But easy enough to just remove it, ascertain what's REALLY going on, and then pop it back on. I'd rather do that than blow a seal or something.

Just tap around the perimeter with either a composition hammer or a regular hammer and a block of wood. You sort of "walk it" off with shocks around the rim. Look inside, then when you're ready, place it back on the hub, and lay a scrap of wood across it and pound it back in (as evenly as possible so it doesn't get crooked as you go in).
 
Pat
Easy to check and fix, jack the wheel up just enough so it spins freely. Take a rubber mallet or a hammer and a piece of wood and tap around the edge of the buddy as you slowly turn wheel. Walk the buddy out and clean the old grease out. Than you will know if the plate is stuck or not. Clean and reinstall useing your hammer and wood tapping buddy in squarely till it is seated in the hub. You will be able to tell be the sound as you hit it. It will change pitch. Refill with grease and enjoy
 
I too have Bearing Buddies, they have a blue indicator ring to push to determine if full. Two things I've learned over the years. ONLY FILL THEM when they're hot, that way you won't 'generally' have a problem with overfilling and blowing the inner oil seal, which I've done many times before figuring this out. I usually travel the 50-100 miles to the marina on the freeway, then as soon as I get out of the vehicle at the marina, I checked the Bearing Buddies. Any that are low (no movement when pressed side to side) I pump 1 or 2 pumps until 'just' off of bottom. Then I launch. That ensures that you have no voids to let water in.

And that brings up the second point. When filling the axles with grease for the first time, make sure you fill from the inside out. I use a stout straw pressed to the end of my grease gun with a rocket-tip type point. Then install the Bearing Buddy and top off as needed, but better to top off when hot.

I've also found that putting grease in the Bearing Buddy doesn't necessarily make it through the outer bearing into the inner void and to the inner bearing, therefore the need to fill from the inside out. It does eventually make it past the outer bearing under the spring pressure of the Bearing Buddy, but that's during traveling.

There a PITA, but so far, knock on wood, no bearing problems for 13 years.
 
Sunbeam, Spike and all, I have no clue how to replace seals, pack bearings and so forth. Mechanical things are a mystery to me, no matter how many YouTubes I watch. I never received any instructions with the Bearing Buddies, there is no blue indicator and no relief hole, so they obviously are not all the same. I will take my best shot at removing the Bearing Buddies, but I am not optimistic that I will be able to get them off, and IF I get them off that I will ever get them back on straight. It is a curse. If someone would like to spend an afternoon with me teaching me how to pack my bearings, there could be a BBQ and some beer at the end of the day!
 
I used to have buddy bearings--but I began to realize that pumping in grease being a plate does not guarantee that there will be good grease around the bearings. After pulling the "Buddy Bearing" cup/plate a few times, I realized that there can be moisture around the bearings, and the buddy bearing system does not allow you to see and correct this.

How does moisture get into the bearing area? Most common cause is to put the boat in the water with hot bearings. The material contracts, with the cold water, and moisture goes into this chamber. As the bearing heats up again, then this moisture becomes dispersed throat the grease pack, and then gets to the bearings, and have minor corrosion of the bearings. The advocates of the Buddy bearings say that the spring pressure keeps water out. I have not found that to be true. Water is going to get in with any system--except the oil bath...

I agree that the buddy bearing cup be tapped out--I know you can do it Pat!. You can correspond with us on the phone or internet for specifics when you hit a snag. Then you can take a finger in, (gloved hand), and scoop out the old grease. To do it right, it is best to undo the nut (held in place with a cotter pin). Then look at the bearings, clean any old or "cruddy grease"--then repack--as above. top off the grease with the buddy bearings.

I have come to like the "Posi lube" which injects new grease thru the center of the axle spindle, and displaces old grease. The EZ Lube system is similar, but injects the new grease in the back of the hub, thru a side of the hub, Zerk fitting (but I feel harder to use). When I am doing a lube before a trip, I pump in new grease until the old grease is fully displaced.

Here is a discussion we have had in the past:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=10063

Irregardless, Pat now has the Buddy Bearing, and I believe should visually check the grease, and bearings status. Keep the Buddy Bearing, and do a yearly check on the grease/bearings.

Why should you know how to change the grease, and get to the bearings? If you have a bearing go bad in remote areas, it is easier, and faster to change the bearings yourself, than call for "help"--which may not have the parts to fix it.

So...learn how, carry several extra set of bearings, cotter pins (I also carry a spare hub), some also carry a spare spindle. Have a jack which will pick up the trailer, chocks for the wheels, a lug wrench, and some simple basic tools--water pump pliers, long nose pliers, screwdriver (to remove the spindle nut)--extra grease, and a grease gun. I now have a Lincoln commercial air powered grease gun, and it makes to greasing so much easier.
 
"Bearing Buddy" is a name brand. Like "Kleenex". There are other bearing protectors on the market with very similar ideas/looks/engineering. Fulton makes one and they do not have the blue indicator ring.

The main idea is the same, however. The piston is held by a spring and the piston floats/moves. The zerk is attached to the piston. The spring maintains a certain back-pressure on the piston and expands and contracts with heat etc due to the spring. If the piston is not free moving, something is jammed up/binding. IMO the only way to figure out what is to remove them, clean them up and see if you can free them up. I suppose you could try to lube them with something like Break Free and tap them lightly with a punch/hammer to see if they would free up...but no guarantee that would work. Don't hit it so hard as to damage it either.
 
Dr Bob we have the King Trailer version. I prefer it for the very reason you mentioned; new grease pushed throughout the entire bearing/hub assembly from the back and old grease forced out, all without disassembly. Best to do it with the trailer jacked up so one can spin the entire wheel as you inject the new grease. I usually only re-pack every other year.
 
Just to clarify, removing/replacing the bearing buddies doesn't mean you have to re-pack bearings, do anything with brakes or etc.

Basically, if you did not have bearing buddies at all, you'd just have a dust cap there. Many land trailers have just that. The bearing buddy comes in due to the fact that we immerse our trailers at launch and retrieve. If water gets into the hubs and bearings, it's not good. The bearing buddy is simply a spring loaded plate that puts a little bit of positive pressure on the whole deal. This means (or hopes to mean) that the pressure it is putting on the grease is more than the pressure of the water that's "trying" to get in. Presuming they work as they are supposed to, the grease wins and the water doesn't, and your bearings live to see another day (trip).

There are other ways to do this, some likely much better (oil types, ones where you can push grease right through to clean grease, etc.). But as far as I know, if your spindles (ends of axles) are set up for just regular dust caps, then you can use bearing buddy type caps, but you can't just suddenly use the other types (without changing parts of your axle). Since my axles are doing fine, I'm sticking with bearing buddy type caps, and working with them.

So anyway, if you don't have any "extra" grease pushing that little metal plate out (and presuming your bearings were packed correctly when it was done), then you basically have a dust cap (which is what you'd have without the bearing buddy). If you put grease in until the little plate flops, you have something better (how much better is something people debate) that puts a little positive pressure on the grease. If you put in too much grease (like pump it until the plate comes all the way out) then you have TOO MUCH positive pressure and will likely blow out the seal that's on the inside of each hub.

My bearing buddy's are the type that has neither a hole or a blue ring, and this type is still commonly for sale. They also have one with a blue ring. I don't think there is anything inherently different in how it works, but it's just that some people tended to overfill them, and they added one more thing to try to keep this from happening (you could also just push on the plate and see how things stand).

The BB's are just a friction fit in the open end of the hub. That's why you tap them out by going around the outside (moving it a wee bit at a time). You tap them in more all at once and flat so they don't get crooked. One thing to know is that once you have done it, you'll get it. It's not hard. The first time I did mine I bought a new one and then tapped out the old one (so I had a replacement on hand in case I muffed it up), but I didn't end up needing it.

If you like, watch a youtube video on bearing buddys and you will see it, which might be easier than reading about it.
 
Sunbeam, I get all that! I was just bemoaning my lack of ANY mechanical skills. I lost an entire wheel, hub and all, on the way to Lake Powell in 2011. If Jim Martinson, Laurna Jo, had not been our travelling companion, we would have been up sh*t creek. We likely lost the wheel in Washington but did not discover it was gone until Pendleton. Jim called ahead to the NAPA in LeGrande, and they had the parts waiting for us (yes, we crossed the Blue Mountains on three wheels). I just mentioned my lack of mechanical prowess to express my doubt about my ability to get my Bearing Buddies off and put them back on...you are evidently quite experienced and skilled with mechanical and a number of other things, I envy you!
 
I understand. Believe me, there are plenty of things I'm not capable of or don't quite get. And then sometimes people who do get that particular thing make it sound so easy.... (and I'm thinking "Oh sure, for YOU!")

Amazing that you ran on three wheels and apparently it was not bad enough to notice for awhile! (And great you were "buddy trailering" at the time.)
 
I feel your pain, Pat. I fear nearly everything electrical. I do somehow manage to fumble-f**k my way through most of it, though...and I haven't burned anything down...yet.

:mrgreen:
 
OK, this video has emboldened me to take a crack at repacking my bearings. It has been two years, a trip to Powell and back, and five or six salt water launches. Not to mention I probably blew out the rear seals while trying to cope with the bearing buddies. I am pretty sure I can get the bearing buddies off once I have a jack stand. At least I now know what the parts inside a hub are. So I am going to give this a whirl.

I will go buy a jack stand, a punch, a bearing packer and a race tool. Some grease too, I know you can pack by hand, but the bearing packer seems better for me.

Now, the really dumb question. I have no idea when I go to NAPA to buy bearings, races, and inner seal what to ask for.
They will ask "what size?" and I will say "I don't know." This is a King Saltwater trailer for a CD25. Are the bearing parts standard for this trailer or do they vary?

Thanks!
 
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