trailer bearing

[Weez556]

Great post by SB. FWIW I would buy one of those hub center caps to cover up what you have exposed. That will catch the extra grease.

These hubs are pretty good and what you are showing looks normal to me.

If you every pump grease in there make sure that the hub or ambient temperature is warm. Do not want to pump thick grease in as it could blow the rear seal.

The only questions I would have about center caps is. Would they fill with water loading and unloading the boat and hold water for several miles ? Or you would be able to quickly remove them to add a shot of grease ?
Thanks

[TritonTRXV8]

The only questions I would have about center caps is. Would they fill with water loading and unloading the boat and hold water for several miles ? Or you would be able to quickly remove them to add a shot of grease ?
Thanks

They are not water tight. The rubber plug just keeps dirt and majority of grease from slinging out all over. That is the reason you need to use a marine grade water proff grease. You dont need to grease that often once or twice a year is all thats necessary.

[SoonerFan]

They are not water tight. The rubber plug just keeps dirt and majority of grease from slinging out all over. That is the reason you need to use a marine grade water proff grease. You dont need to grease that often once or twice a year is all thats necessary.

I concur.

Those Tie Down/Dexter hubs have spaces between the inner and outer bearings and between the outer and the spindle cap. Those spaces need to have a good marine grade grease in them to keep the water out. This is in addition to hand packing the bearings (I use a bearing packing tool). This is done by gently adding grease through the zerk on the end of the spindle while slowly spinning the hub. I say gently because if you get in a hurry and push too much grease into the space between the inner and the seal, you'll blow the seal right off the hub, or at best push grease through the seal, creating a mess.

It it is not necessary or even advisable to add grease every trip or two. Every couple of months, I'll pop the rubber cap off just to see what's happening in there. If I see watery off colored grease, I'll jack it up and squirt some grease until I see fresh grease ozzing out. I break them down and repack the bearings and install new seals about once a year or so. Otherwise, unless I see signs of a grease seal failure, I leave them alone.

[Skeeterbait]

Start reading at page 48, Dexter E-Z Lube

http://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defau...ice_manual.pdf

[SoonerFan]

Start reading at page 48, Dexter E-Z Lube

http://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defau...ice_manual.pdf

Great info there. I wish I had this the first time I did this job.