Bearing buddies, How effective?

Hey Dave, The big important thing is you made it to GL!! Great meeting you.

So now, you'll keep the grease gun handy!!

Dave,
They aren't "Bearing Buddies" so what is on the trailer? Do you have the OEM "Sure Lube"? I'm not too sure of the year they came to play?

just DO NOT use a pnumatic grease gun as it can blow out the rear seal making all your efforts worthless.

OverMyHead wrote: One less thing on my list.I will monitor with infrared thermometer during the trip. A spare set is a good idea though. Anyone know the axel size for a stock 1987 correctcraft trailer?

Dave, jack the wheel off the ground and give it a spin, wiggle the tire and take a listen. If it spins smooth and you don't hear any noises you're probably fine. If there's noise replace them if there's wiggle you may need to simply tighten the nut to the next position but if thats the case I would open them up and inspect.

A complete spare set is a must for road trips and make sure they come with seals. Put a tool box together that has all the tools you need to R/R the bearings incase the worst happens.

Hammer, drift/punch, short 2x4 block, pliers, flat screwdriver, plenty of rags, tub of grease as well as a tube in the grease gun, bottle jack, roadside flares and hand cleaner for when your done.

You could also prepack the new bearings and put them in a zip lock so your not on the side of the road. Inevitably they alsways fail in the worst time, either in the rain, in the dark, in a bad part of town where everyones pants are hanging down and their boxers are showing or on a country road and Billy Bub comes by in a rusted out pickup with a pig in the front seat and says"ya'll want some haelp, thats a fine looking boy you got there." In any case be prepared to do a quick job of it and get on your way.

Take a few phone numbers from the GL thread along with you incase you need some roadside advice, chances are you'll be fine but you never know

yes, plus they keep a positive pressure of grease when working correctly to keep the water out and yes they do hit the back bearings

Jack it up and RE Pack.

and as stated before, take at least one extra set of bearings and the races with you and a brass punch to get the old race out and tap the new race in.    If you haven't tapped out races and replaced them before grab a old hub from somewhere and practice with the one's in there.    You can do the whole job on the side of the road in about the time it takes to change a flat if your familiar with what your doing and not standing there scratch'n your head.   Go ahead and Pack the new set of bearings also. Stick'em in a zip bag with a little extra grease. that way you don't need to carry a grease gun with you.
If you use the little packing tool from the auto parts place, pack a little extra by hand just for good measure.
Take a extra pack of tail light bulbs to.

I am prioritising what I need to do to get to green lake. I have bearing buddies on my trailer that I pump full of marine greese about twice a summer. I have friends that swear this is all the maintanece bearings need. I have never opened up the bearings and repacked since I purchased the boat three years ago but they run cool.I typically tow about 500 miles a summer, but plan on towing about a thousand miles this month. Do I need to re-pack and inspect or just keep pumping in greese?