Iv'e noticed that my Nitro Trailer (trailstar) has begun leaking grease out of the hubs and down the front of my rims after a pull to the river. The hubs are the flow thru grease type with the rubber cap over the opening and the zerk. It seems that it started doing this when I began using red-n-tacky grease in my hubs? I do have surge brakes and they do get pretty warm after pulling the boat for awhile. Anybody dealt with this or have a solution?
thanks
2005 Nitro NX 882
2002 Mercury 175 EFI
How often do you change the grease?
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
I am very diligent with greasing the axles, this one is pretty simple since the grease is pumped in through the zerk and old grease is expelled out the front. The more I think about it...I think my stupid Tie-Down engineering brakes are boiling the grease due to brake caliper friction, I've heard they are prone to caliper piston lockup. When I jack the tire up and spin it by hand it won't make a full revolution due to brake pad friction. Since I have never had surge brakes before, I am not sure how "free" tires should spin with surge brakes.
2005 Nitro NX 882
2002 Mercury 175 EFI
There will always be some drag like that with disc brakes. I'd kind of think you are on the tight track and maybe your calipers are sticking and overheating the grease.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
I'm going to revisit this whole system and possibly replace the surge brakes, I would like to keep my actuator since it was just rebuilt, can I replace the rotors and calipers to a different brand with a tie-down actuator? If so what is a good cost efficient brand I should look at?
Start more simple.
What is your procedure for adding grease through the zerk?
If you add grease too fast you can actually blow out the rear seal, because the grease can't flow out through the front fast enough.
Its best to lift the wheel of the ground and spin the tire while slowly pumping new grease in.
We constantly had grease leakage problems and not burn-hot but quite warm hubs until we learned to do this.
They are now much cooler and there is no leakage now, almost two years and 10 000 miles now.
I had the same problem on my 8 year old trailer. Simple fix - replaced the rubber caps and problem solved. Cheap enough, it might be worth a try.
2009 G3 Eagle 180 / 2009 Yamaha F115 / Minn Kota Maxxum 80 / Helix 7 Chirp SI GPS G2N on Bow & Console
Replacing the rubber caps is on my list to do. Seems a bit of an overkill to lift the trailer each time I grease the wheels, but if it helps to keep my hubs cool, then, by golly that is what i'll do. Appreciate the tip
2005 Nitro NX 882
2002 Mercury 175 EFI
Stop using the zerk fitting. They're only good for blowing out the seals when you apply too much pressure with a grease gun. IF you have good seals, and handpacked the bearings properly during installation there's no need to add grease.
BassCat Sabre FTD
Mercury 150 Optimax
"It's just fishing"
That's not true on many Trailstar products as this discussion is about. The hubs are not sealed and you regularly pump grease in until all of the old grease comes out the front.Originally Posted by RazorCat
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
^^^Correct, these hubs have an open end allowing old grease the path of least resistance out the front, no blown rear seal...very ingenious design.
2005 Nitro NX 882
2002 Mercury 175 EFI
The hubs are not sealed but the flow through the bearings themselves provide quite a bit of back pressure.
If you pump too fast or hard pressure can build up on the backside, and blow out the seal.
Spinning the tire and slowly pumping grease in, no pressure builds up.
Also you want to clean the excess grease out the front.
This leaves some air space for the grease to expand into when it heats up.
Last edited by LittlePech; 10-23-2017 at 09:59 AM.
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