Bearing Buddy

[acspencer]

Does anyone use these or have any experience with Bearing Buddy's?

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[JRTJH]

I have them on my boat trailer. Essentially all they are is a spring loaded bearing pressure device that you fill with grease and the spring keeps pressure on the grease so it won't "quick cool a hot wheel hub and suck in water" during boat launching. They are also a device that could cause grease leakage past the rear seal.

They are "good for a boat trailer without brakes" but I'd not even consider them on a travel trailer. Besides, with the EZ Lube system that's standard equipment on (I believe) every Keystone product, there's not much advantage to adding another "bearing grease system" to the mix.

[eds451]

I have bearing buddy on my trailer, but I repack the old fashioned way. I also check the brakes etc while everything is exposed.

[chuckster57]

I'm with John here. Bearing buddies belong on boat trailers not on RV's.

[notanlines]

AC, avoid Bearing Buddies like a Brussel sprout sandwich. :eek: They only have a use on a boat trailer.

[rhagfo]

:facepalm:

I always wonder about those of you that add grease to your bearings, what do you think happened to the existing grease?? It doesn't evaporate, you have a closed system, so you are adding to what is already there. If you keep adding it will eventually need to exit somewhere, most likely the wheel seal.

[hankpage]

:facepalm:

I always wonder about those of you that add grease to your bearings, what do you think happened to the existing grease?? It doesn't evaporate, you have a closed system, so you are adding to what is already there. If you keep adding it will eventually need to exit somewhere, most likely the wheel seal.

The EZlube axles are designed (if done properly) to allow you to add new grease through the zerk fitting pushing the old grease out of weep holes just below the zerk fitting, allowing it to spray all over your rims, tires and the sides of your trailer. All this while creating a solid mass of grease expanding with heat and eventually pushing out the rear seal when the weep holes get clogged with congealed and hardened grease.

Knowing all this I inspect and hand pack the bearings every year but after a long run I still put a few pumps of grease into warm bearings just because I can.

I agree with others .... spring loaded bearing buddies should only be used on boat trailers to keep water out.

[notanlines]

"allowing it to spray all over your rims, tires and the sides of your trailer" Now that's funny, I don't care who you are! :D:lol:

[JRTJH]

Reading the comments here and going back to the OP's initial post:
"Does anyone use these or have any experience with Bearing Buddy's?"

I would have to believe that he is considering installing them on his trailer. Thinking about how the existing EZ Lube hubs are constructed, it is not possible to install "Bearing Buddys" on them. To do so would prevent access to the zerk fitting that is used to inject grease into the hub and would prevent the Bearing Buddy from applying pressure to the internal components and internal grease volume inside the hub.

So, from what I know of Bearing Buddy function and EZ Lube function, it's impossible to use both on the same hub (other than using the Bearing Buddy as a fancy dust cap).....

In the second picture you can see the EZ Lube dust cap and rubber plug. Attempting to replace this with a Bearing Buddy would not allow access to the zerk fitting on the hub.... Am I missing some "magic formula" to use both or even to use the Bearing Buddy on a EZ Lube hub ????

[Javi]

All this time I been thinking that amid the confusion that we were talking about the EZ-lube.... which is a complete waste of time and money.

Javi

[bobbecky]

According to the Dexter manual, The E-Z Lube axle feature is only intended to keep water out of the bearings while immersed in water, such as when launching a boat. The photo of the grease path does not show a brake drum, which is usually not on small boat trailer axles. When Adding grease to one of these hubs, it takes an incredible amount of grease to fill the hub cavity, and is a huge mess to deal with when the hub/drum has to be removed for brake service or inspection. Add to this, the expense of having to replace the brakes if a seal does fail, and it makes the little bit of time and expense to hand pack the bearings much more appealing, even if it has to be serviced by a mechanic.