Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hey guys. Question is in the title.

One of my seals failed within a year. When I shot some grease in the hub to trailer the thing to the dealer (getting new tires, wheels and seals), water came out. I also noticed that the steel end cap (similar to bearing buddies) had come out a little bit possibly allowing that water in. Could this have caused the seal to fail? What are some other reasons they would go bad so soon? TIA

Perhaps at one point you added too much grease that blew the seal out and let contamination in. Road dust is a harder material that any contamination that would come from bearing wear. The contamination can interfere with the fit of the seal that comes in contact with the spindle, wearing on the rubber of the seal.

Yeah, the last time they had grease added was fall of last year when I put it up for the year. If it was over filled, i would think I would have had issues earlier.

When I added grease to tow down to the dealer, I noticed it was coming out a little bit right where the seal contacts the spindle. Like I said, I think the cap on the outside of the wheel was separated from the hub just a little bit for quite some time.

I'm also an RV'er, and many, many brand new travel trailers and fifth wheel trailers are experiencing failures in the double lip grease seals on the back side of the hubs. When they fail, grease comes out and gets inside of the brake assemblies.

The reason for all the failures is that manufacturers are using cheap, Chinese made axle seals. A decent American made seal might only cost $2 more. It's a sellout for the almighty bottom line--profit.

Another issue is that axle manufacturers are using thin bearing grease that they can quickly inject with a grease gun. Most of those replacing the grease will use a thick axle grease manually packed on the bearings.

The best fix is to replace the seals and use marine grease made for the tough conditions boat trailers go in.