I did the same on my trailer. Swapped from oil to grease have have never looked back...
I did the same on my trailer. Swapped from oil to grease have have never looked back...
2005 Triton TR-186
2024 Mercury Pro XS 150
most semis and semi trailers have gone to grease with great success alsoOriginally Posted by jrh_67
2022 z519 cup 225 merc 4s ser # 3B210484. 2--hds12 live units. 2 poles, atlas plate, ghost, hamby's, active target, merc digital gauges
2002 basscat pantera 3 (dad bought new) sold 8-2-22
2000 stratos 20 ss (bought new) 200 hp Rude ficht great boat/motor sold 11-21
pulled by a 2500HD Denali will all the BANKS upgrades
MAGA 45-47
ASE/GM Master tech before tools
Love my UFP Cool Hubs on my 1999 Rangertrail. I change the inner seal every 4-5 years and bottom the piston caps into the bore regularly. Change the oil every once in while. So far so good after 23 years of hard use.
Never had trouble with my cool hubs. Just worried if a seal let go on a long road trip. With grease I’m happy
I did not read the posts above.
The oil bath, is what mine came with. As a lifelong gear head... The oil bath is fine, until it leaks then it ALL leaks.
Grease will not all leave a hub from a minor leak on the inner seal. I am running grease now.
Last edited by Mahomee; 05-14-2025 at 07:44 PM.
I’ve had both. Grease works for me.
Several years ago,I was fishing with a friend using his boat. When we were leaving we noticed the right side wheel was missing the bearing buddy. We managed to get to his house 30 miles with no problem!
I have the Dexter Vault system.
How do most feel about this system as it seems like it is a hybred ? grease system.
This is not the oil system everyone is speaking of. Correct?
One thing I’ll add. I’m a stickler for maintenance, not by a time frame, but by inspection. I found I had more issues while running grease over the years and less with oil. Both in approx 20 year spans. I’m a wheel watcher on every trip. After my first wheel years ago passed me up, I became one. With premature bearing failure on trips, had one come off to pass me and caught two in a wheel wobble. It happens, so as a precautionary measure, I do carry a grease hub in a sealed bag. Haven’t had to use it as of now, but it’s a peace of mind. Granted, I have a dual axle trailer that I can remove a wheel and get to where I need. Done that once with a dual axle and drove 20 miles to a shop to buy a new hub. A friend of mine that owns a marine shop said he was out west and drove almost 200 miles on three wheels. Another reason I’ll never own a single axle trailer. Unless I have a smaller tin boat. In the grand scheme of things, it’s what you have had the best luck with.
2008 BULLET 21XD 2007 Merc 300xs
I converted my oil bath hubs to vault hubs (that don’t say vault ) I used all the same parts that they use in them the only I regret is when I had my hubs off I would have installed a grease zert so I could put a little grease in them from time to time . I have not had any problems and it’s been 3/4 years.
That is what I removed when my second rear seal leaked. It is oil bath, when warm. Any slight compromise of the rear seal and all the fluid/grease leaves...
I lost a Vault cap. Must have been close to home as bearings and spindle were OK. I changed to Lucas Red&Tacky grease and bearing buddies. Reason for change, as loosing a Vault cap and the hybrid grease that is a liquid when hot can and will run out leaving bearings dry. I just got lucky. Pulled my Legend from central Arkansas to Eagle River Wisconsin and back with grease.
Either is fine, until they aren’t. Here’s some depth on the topic.
We went back to grease hubs after numerous failures showing up soon after Vault’s five year warranty span had expired. We just hate our dealers having that conversation with a consumer that your warranty expired 30-60-90-120 days ago, or even 6 months, and the issue is no longer covered.
Grease has proven to give us better service and was working fine when we switched to Vault. The only reason we switched to Vault, thixotropic grease end units, was because of confidence in Bernie. Bernie owned UFP at the time, he is who created Vault. For him it was a good alternative response to Quality’s oil bath hubs, which UFP was competing with. Customers were being told it was a better system 25-30 years ago, and it had gotten market traction. Boat Manufacturers had to sell it as better if that was all they offered, those manufacturers had no choices thus they marketed it.
No doubt, we were under continuous questions because one manufacturer was pushing the oil bath Quality brand hubs as better. That question on hubs ended when they began using a sight “eye” end cap that you could see the oil level through. The management, customer service, and sales teams, began telling their customers it was alright for the oil to look like it was a milk shake, it just got a little moisture in it, as long as they had fluid they were fine.
The conversation became easy with consumers when that would come up. No one wants their crankcase oil or gear case lube looking like a milkshake. We all know the specified lubrication values are gone with contamination. That answer always astounded us.
Going back to grease from Vault was an easy decision. All of our consistent problems with Vault were post UFP, and under later Dexter ownership. Those Vault hubs we suggest changing to Tacky Red Grease when a rebuild time comes along, or if you spring a leak. The same parts work fine with grease, just replace the dual lip seals.
Thus our return to grease hubs today, and even then component failures depend on consistent labor assembly and quality components. Lately it seems they’ve all been working well. (Fingers crossed… tap on wood)
BCB
I went back to grease when it was time(10 years with extended warranty) to rebuild because of Basscats position on the vault hubs which my trailer has. I never had an issue or problem with those hubs but they were making me nervous after 10 years of service. Now my service interval will be every 3-5 years.
2013 BassCat Cougar
Serial # 1B962763
I suppose I'm another one that has stuck with my oil bath hubs. 19 year old tandem trailer that I've owned for six. Replaced all seals and bearings and one cracked cap when I bought it. Have only replaced one rear seal on one wheel since when the fluid turned a little milky. I check the oil levels and color regularly and jack the trailer and check for wheel play once a year and reseat the bearings if needed. Having said that I do have two sets of grease hub and spindle assemblies, 2 spare spindles, brakes, rotors, hoses and several sets of bearings, seals and caps. I'll carry a combination of these parts and one or both of the hub assys with me on out of state trips. As others have said I think the key to the oil bath hubs is just being diligent with checking them regularly. If one of them starts to get milky then it's time to change a seal even if there is no evidence of external leaking. I haven't experienced low or milky oil in any of mine going on 5 years now. When and if I do it's a simple one hour job to change seals. Don't forget to emery cloth the sealing area of the spindle.
I also check hub temps on longer trips and since my latest truck has trailer tire pressure and temperature monitoring capabilities I'm about to add TPMS sensors to my trailer. Just another bit of piece of mind that might provide an early warning to a pending catastrophic failure.
Last edited by RipRapRanger; 05-18-2025 at 07:21 AM.
I have Oil Bath hubs on my 2003 Ranger trailer. I rebuilt them when they start to leak, which seems to be almost always for one or another of the four. Found one leaking this last weekend. Can I go back in with new bearings and rear seal and use grease along with my oil bath hub cap/insert or do I need to trade out to some bearing buddy type cap?
I have owned both types of systems and I can say for sure I prefer the grease, for the same exact reason some others have posted above. The grease when the seal fails stays in place and you can run quite a while before total failure, the oil bath on the other hand when the seal fails as soon as it gets hot all the oil runs out risking rapid failure not to mention a mess to clean up. The oil bath style that I have had fail most recently went from a small seepage that I noticed at the first gas stop to a total oil mess by the time I got home all over the wheel and up the side of the boat. That hub for sure had little to no lubricant left in it by the time I got home.
06 Ranger trailer. Never could get the oil bath to not leak. I like the Vault system
Pretty much every big truck running up and down the highways have oil hubs. Either one can have an issue if you let it go too long.
Phoenix 721 Pro XP, 250 Pro XS, aluminum gravel bar modified prop, paper sack tackle storage, ugly stik pro team, color c-lector pro team, TEMU Fishing Team
I've had both, and I guess I'm an outsider, I definitely prefer the oil bath hubs. Much less problems and much less maintenance needed compared to grease.
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