| Basic Boat Trailer Maintenance: Repacking Wheel Bearings |
From "Shipshape Boating"
episode DSSB-105 |
|
|
|
advertisement
|
In this segment, host John Greviskis shows you how to repack the wheel bearings. Periodically, the wheel bearings of your boat trailer must be checked. The first thing you need to do is to take a grease gun and place it into the dust cover and into the zirk fitting (figure A) of the wheel and insert additional grease. This is a great start to wheel maintenance, but manufacturer recommends that you also remove the wheel bearings by hand every 3,000 miles and re-pack them. Materials: Four-way lug-nut remover
Floor jack
Screwdriver
Hammer
Needle-nose pliers
Channel-lock pliers
Rag
Marine-grad trailer (axle) grease
New wheel-bearings hub seal
New cotter pin - Start by loosening the lug bolts with a four-way remover.
- Raise the wheel slightly off the ground, using a floor jack.
- Finish removing all of the lug bolts and place aside for the time being.
- Take the tire off the trailer and set aside.
- Using a screwdriver and hammer, gently tap on the dust cap (figure B) to remove it.
- This will expose the cotter pin, which you need to straighten out by using needle-nose pliers.
- Once the cotter pin is straight, remove it. This will expose the nut, which you can remove with a pair of channel-lock pliers.
- Remove the hub by hand and take a look at the seal (figure C) to see if it's in good shape. Also take a color of the grease. If it's milky white this is a good indication that water has gotten into the back of the hub.
- Check the hub for the wheel bearings now. A set will be in the front and a set in the back. You'll need to totally remove the seal first (previous step). Once the seal is pried off, the back wheel bearings will be exposed (figure D).
- Use a rag to clean the water and oil off the bearings ring.
- Take some marine-grade trailer or axle grease and place in the palm of your hand. Scoop the bearings ring into the grease until the grease is coming out of the topside of the gap in the ring (figure E).
- Wipe out all of the old grease in the wheel-bearings hub.
- Put the original bearings ring back into place, and take the new hub seal and gently hammer back into place. Note that the seal goes back on much like the lid of a paint can.
- Flip the hub over and do the same as the previous steps for the other ring of bearings.
Tip: Make sure the gaps -- or points -- between the bearings are saturated with grease. - Set the second ring of bearings into place.
- Clean the spindle of the wheel-bearings hub with some of the leftover grease, then slide the hub into place, make sure the bearings are in nice and tight, attach the washer and hand-tighten the nut back on snug, and then give it a 1/4" turn back because you want to make sure the wheel can turn freely.
- Insert the new cotter pin -- tapping with a hammer -- and then bend the end of the cotter pin with a pair of pliers in order to make sure the pin won't pop out.
- Tap on the original dust cover, fill the hub with some more grease, pack it well, put on the wheel and re-install the lug bolts.
Tips: - If you want to prolong the life expectancy of your trailer lights, the most important thing you can do is before entering the water, always disconnect the trailer lights (figure F).
- If you want to prolong the life expectancy of the bulb inside the trailer lights, simply remove the lens cover (figure G) and remove the light bulb and inspect for corrosion. If you do see some corrosion, you can clean it with an emery cloth. Apply some petroleum jelly around the base of the bulb as well, inside the sockets and put the bulb back in. You will get two to three times the life expectancy if you follow these tips.
| 
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
