Conference vicki::boats

    
       It has been my experience that trailer tires and hubs *do* get
    fairly warm even on cool days. It has always happened on every trailer
    I have seen (new or old) so I think a moderate rise in temp is normal.
    
    
    					Kenny

    
    
    	Also, I forget the reason, but one is supposed to let the
    bearings cool *before* backing it into the lake....
    
    	Ah the mind is the first to go.... what's the reason?
    
    Rick

If you can hold your hand on the bearing covers they are fine....it is normal
for them to warm-up. Take note if one is much hotter than the other or if it
is difficult to hold on. Smelling the bearing will tip you off to BURNT grease.

As for letting the bearings cold down before launching....it is mainly to 
prevent damage from the thermal shock of cold water on the warm or hot bearing.
You could crack a bearing/cover/or even the hub if the shock is too great.

Some boaters have also experienced increased water in the bearing....possible 
because of "suction" caused by the temperature different. I haven't bothered
to think that one through, but seems plausible.

Regards,
Jerry
 

    I had an interesting experience trailering my boat about a month ago.
    We are talking 2000 lb boat on a single axle trailer. Bearing buddies
    on the axle. Each spring I pull out the bearings, clean everything
    replace the seals and reload with fresh grease.
    
    I was trailering up Rt 106 in NH (35 miles from home to the lake),
    doing 55-60 mph when one of the bearing buddies flew off. No previous
    problem like this since I put them on the trailer new in 1985.
    My wife, who was following in the car retrieved the bearing buddy and
    I reinstalled it with a large rock as a hammer. About 10 miles further,
    by Lilly Pond in Gilford (at low spped, coming up to a stop light,
    it came off again. At the time, I wasn't thinking heat, so I didn't
    check the hub temp right away. At the marina, someone suggested
    temperature rise. When things are cool, there is plenty of friction
    when (re)installing it. This spring, when I cleaned them, one
    of the bearings seemed to have a barely perceptable bit of roughness
    when I spun it. Maybe I got the axle nut one notch too tight.
    Has anyone had a problem like this before? I plan to replace
    the bearings on that side and be sure the axle nut isn't too tight
    before I haul her up to Orr's Island Me. in July.
    
    Bill
    

    I forgot to mention, in the previous reply - trailering the empty
    trailer back home, I had no problem with either heat buildup on the hub
    or having the bearing buddy fly off again.
    
    Bill
    

    Re. letting bearings cool and "suction". 
    
    The idea is that dunking the hot bearings in the water will cool them
    any air surrounding them causing a contraction and a low pressure area
    within the axle, the low pressire area will allow water to be sucked
    in. Bearing buddies were invented to prevent this by keeping the
    bearings under high pressure.
    
    john

    Thanks for all the replies.  Yesterday I found myself (didn't know
    I was lost) at Nipmuc Marine in Mendon Mass.  This is near Milford
    and Franklin and those other South of route 9 towns west of Boston.
    Whilst there I asked the proprietor the same question about heat rise
    on wheel hubs.  He assured me that the heat rise I was experiencing
    was normal and not to be concerned about it.  He pointed out that
    the heat rise was due to rolling friction of the tires on the roadway
    and was conducted through the wheels to the hubs.  Very little if
    any of the heat is due to the bearings if they are properly lubed.
    BTW I happen to like the folks at NIPMUC.  It is a smallish place
    and the service is personal and good for the limited use I have made
    of it.  Suggest you give them a try if you are sick of high priced
    glitzy and otherwise uncivil or antisocial behavior that I have
    observed in some boat places.  They are on Rt 16.
    
    Bill

RE: letting bearings cool before launching

Does *anybody* really do this?  It's a good idea in theory, but on a hot 
day after a long trip it can take an hour or more for the bearings to cool 
significantly.  I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend an hour sitting in the 
parking lot after spending 2 or 3 hours getting up to Lake Winnipesaukee 
or down to Cape Cod.  

Figured another way, based on 30 launches per season, with 3 people in the 
boat, that's 90 lost boating hours *per season*.  The season's too short 
for me to waste that much time on every trip.  With regular maintenance and 
adding grease to the bearing buddies frequently I've never had a problem.  
If I have to replace the bearings every few years (and I've never needed to)
that's a small price to pay for not wasting time on every trip.

Do the regular maintenance and forget it.  With positive pressure in the 
bearing buddies no water should ever get in.

Rick W.

    
      As long as you have Bearing Buddies, and they aren't bottomed
    out (not enough grease in them) or topped out (too much grease in
    them), there will *always* be positive pressure inside the wheel 
    hub because of the spring-loaded piston in the Bearing Buddy. 
      Expansion or contraction will be taken up by movement of
    the Bearing Buddy piston *instead* of grease being pushed out or
    water being sucked in.
    
    					Kenny

    Some do let:
    
    1. Bearings cool while preparing boat and trailer for launching in 
       the parking lot before moving to the ramp and launch.
    
    2. Bearings cool while prepared people wait for those hogging the 
       ramp who didn't do 1. above.
    
    
    Re. "With positive pressure in the bearing buddies no water should ever
     get in" , like I said, why they were invented.

re .8

   In the event you have wheel bearing problems, you probably won't find out
about it during routine maintenance (if preventive maintenance finds it it's
not much of a problem), but rather some hot Sunday afternoon on Rt 495 about 10
miles from anywhere with the wheelbearing races in place (more or less) but all
the rollers spread across the last 5 miles and your trailer wheel sort of 
tilted at a funny angle.  Oh by the way you were probably coming home early 
that Sunday because you had an important appointment to keep (ah-la Murphy's
law). 

   I've had the problem only once, but I assure you fate did not teach me any
lesson about failed wheel bearings in my driveway, but rather on the highway
where it costs $$$$$.

Al