Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

SO I bought a new set of wheels and tires for the ride and I was goign to install them last night when I discovered I may need to address the hubs....

Yes, I know what your going to think reading this, but I have NEVER greased a hub before. Had boats, utility trailers, and such most of my life. Knock on wood, I've never had one sieze up or lost a wheel.

Sooooo, I had my buddy come by to show me the ropes. My hubs/spindles, etc are kinda wierd he said. The spindle comes straight out of the axel and has a grease fitting right in the end. Except its not a screw-in type, or at least there are no flat sides to UN-screw it. More on that later.

The reason I was concerned was one wheel started slinging grease out of the cap onto the wheel. The "cap" that fits onto the hub also has a center cap made of plastic, which is what you remove to access the grease fitting. After looking at this design I realized how poor of a job it does, and that only one of the four wheels still had the protective plastic cap in place. Basically, I was dunking my bearings into the lake each time I go fishing. UGH.

Of couse this make the bearings and the races pitted as well. We determined the best course of action was to replace all bearings, races, and use a better grease application method. (ie Bearing Buddy or similar)

He shows me how to remove all the parts, and realizes that my spindle is a straight 1-1/16 diameter, tells me its not the most common. (that figures)
While explaing that we will just take the fitting out of the end of the spindle, he says, "there are not flat places on them". Hence you cant simply un-screw them, so for now we just left them to deal with later. I am assuming we just break them out, or vice-grips etc.

Next he shows me how to remove the races, good thing he was there as he's done hundreds of them over the years. We tried every tool, screwdriver, socket, tire-iron we could find to no avail. These hubs like their races better than a beaver likes its pelt! He was frustrated and gave up. I said screw-it, I'll just buy new hubs.

I went to Northern tool this morning with the old hub in hand to make sure I get it right. The guys takes a measurement and tells me the 1-1/16x1-1/16th hub is not too common and only has ONE in stock! I call my buddy and he tells me I am sort-of in luck as he found two new hubs he had in his shed he will give me, just buy the right bearings to go in them. I am still short one, but with my luck it will take me a day to replace each one and by that time they might have some more in stock. LOL


I bought something called, "Red-eye" bearing buddies. I hope this all comes together...

Here are some pics of my disaster.

You can get to the races from the inside of the hub with a big punch?
There are usually recesses in the casting that give you a shot.

I think I would buy some galvanized wheels while I was there.

Do you have a trailer manufacturer near you? That seems to be the best place to get parts around here. They beat Northern by about 25-30% (cash)

So you took out the best way of greasing your hubs and went to one of less value, I have had mine for a while I love them, all I have to do is remove the front seal and pump in new grease while catching the old on a rag and I'm done.

Yes you do have to replace the seals now and then, but I'm still using the bearing that came with the trailer.

My hubs are almost identical (in type) to the onese you've pictures, and Herb describes. I grease mine once a month during boating season (wich equates to about every 3-4 times I use the boat) and knock on wood, I have no grease leaks, and my hubs roll perfectly fine & cool.

While you're at it, I would sand those rims down, and give them a fresh coat of paint. Don't want to develop a leaky rim by it rusing through the steel.

Good luck to you, and I hope you can find everything you need to get her going again soon.

You went from good to crap. Bearing buddies are bad about blowing rear seals. The ones you have push old grease from rear to front bearing. It doesn't take a lot of grease, just enough to keep full. You should have had a rubber plug that fits in the housing. If this is intact no grease should get out unless to much was put in.

I hope you didn't already "break off" the grease fitting on the spindle. You have the best system already. It forces grease through the bearings from the back to the front. The little rubber covers you're talking about are only a couple bucks apiece. You'll sling a little grease now and then, but it's a good system. It sound like you should just replace the bearings and seals, or if you choose, the whole hub. I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the greased spindle and putting in bearing buddy type system. Just my 2 cents.

In order to avoid slinging any grease, just scoop out about half a golf ball sized dollop from the front near the fitting when done - this allows for expansion when hot. Use synthetic grease. Buy new rubber caps and forget about re-greasing for years...

HandymanHerb wrote:So you took out the best way of greasing your hubs and went to one of less value, I have had mine for a while I love them, all I have to do is remove the front seal and pump in new grease while catching the old on a rag and I'm done.

Yes you do have to replace the seals now and then, but I'm still using the bearing that came with the trailer.

+1!

Just to ad a few tidbits, I had to replace bearings and seals on a Hoosier Trailer recently. It has the Sure Lube system on it and the previous owner must have been afraid to pump a lot of grease through it. Probably was afraid that he would blow the seals out.

At any rate, I did some research on bearings, seals and grease. We all know that damn near everything comes from China, but I was able to buy American made Timken bearings at AutoZone for a fair price.

A local bearing shop had seals made by Chicago Rawhide, another American company that I used.

And now for the big controversy, Grease. I used the green synthetic stuff available at Autozone. It's waterproof and very tacky so it stays put. I realize that there are many opinions on grease, but so far so good.

One thing I did not do that I should have done is remove the factory packing grease that the bearings had on them. This did not mix with the synthetic grease at all.

But, so far, so good.


http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... ier=945652

To add on more thing...... if you do find yourself with a stubborn race that won't budge, use a race punch. You can see in the pic because of it's shape more of the surface of the punch makes contact on the radius of the race and it makes removal much easier. Like most jobs, the right tool makes a huge difference

Wow...you guys are rough. I guess I will keep things I do dumb all to myself in the future.

A couple clarifications.

1) Troy is a mechanic, has removed hundreds of race's. For some reason the design of this particular hub does not allow access to get anything to bite onto the lip to punch it out.

2) I purchased new wheels with new tires already mounted on them. I will remove the two worst tires from the old wheels, clean and repaint those and have new tires mounted for spares. I trailer up to 4 hours away on occasion and would want at leasst two spares, four cant possibly hurt.


3) As stated, "only one of the four wheels still had the protective plastic cap in place" I find it hard to believe this is a great method since the plastic inserted caps dont stay on the metal caps.

4) Since the family wanted to go out Sunday afternoon, I went ahead and installed the new hub I bought. I left the grease fitting installed in the end of the spindle for now. I used the cap that came with the hub and its not going to work at all. The nipple sticks out so far It wont allow the caps to fit all the way onto the hub. I beat the hell out of that cap getting it on as far as I could and basicaly destroyed the cap as the nipple makes a noticable protrusion in the center. I did not try and re-use the old caps yet, I might try looking for the pastic inserts or another method of sealing the cap.

Your "mechanic" doesn't know what he's doing - he's an idiot. They need to be PRESSED out, and any decent shop will do all four wheels for $20.00 - and it takes 10 minutes max. They should ALWAYS be pressed out.

The caps are not plastic - they are rubber. Over time they will desiccate and shrink, but if you keep your tires (and wheels) covered when parked they will last many, many years without any leaking at all. They cost about $2.50 each.

Judging by the amount of external corrosion those wheels should be retired. What you can't see is the corrosion inside the metal which of course will cause the wheel to collapse at exactly the wrong time.

Do whatever you want, but if you're unwilling to take the sage advice of the members of this board don't come back whining when you spin a bearing in the middle of nowhere.

Damn RonKmiller.....nice way to go suttle, you call his friend an idiot? I am all about helping the guy out the right way, but dont piss him off so he doesnt come back. I don't care how easy one can be offended, you need to chill on calling friends or family idiots. No I'm not crying cause you called someone an idiot, I just hate fucking rude people. You definitly crossed the line.

Yes be nice, all we are saying ask first, we can help!