It's time for me to have my bearings checked and repacked on my South Florida trailer. I've never done this before so I need to find out how complicated of a job this is. I want to be able to get to both the front and rear bearings. Is this a job better left to a professional or is it somehthing that a mechanically inclined person can attempt? If it's rather simple, is there a manual or some sort of literature or web site that can guide me through the process if I elect to perform the service? Also...is this a good time to convert to oil bath hubs and is this a complicated matter too?? Thanks...Steve

You don't need oil bath hubs. They don't do well with trailers that are dipped in water.

Pulling and replacing the bearings is an easy job; just messy. Its much easier if you can take the boat off the trailer for the day. Then you don't have to monkey around with jacking it up with all that weight. If you don't have the boat on the trailer, you don't have to jack it up at all. Just pull one axle up on a couple bricks or 4x4s, and the other axle will lift right up.

Check with your local NAPA or parts place and get a little press that you load grease into, and with hand exherted pressure, it automatically lubes the bearing from the inside out.

I am sure there is a how-to somewhere on the web, but not sure where.

Make sure you inspect the races as well. Those are a bit more effort/labor to swap out if they are worn/damaged.

You probably have 1-1/16 and 1-3/8 th's bearings a nut with a tab washer or a cotter pin. Jack her up, pull the tire, pull the bearing buddy and see if you have tab washers or cotter pins. pull the castle nut off and slip off the hub. Pry out the seal from the rear of the hub and slip out the front and rear bearings. Get yourself a some long brass or alum. punches and a hammer to tap out the bearing races ,working around the hub until they pop out. clean the axle, inside of the hub and re-pack the new bearings with grease, start to tap in the new races with a rubber mallet then seat them with your brass punches working your way around the hub front and rear, slip the fresh bearings in the races and tap in your grease seal from the rear, slip the hub on the axle and tighten her down good and snug to seat everything, then back off one to two castle nut openings for some free play and bend over the tab or put in the cotter pin,, pretty easy but messy...

what shoudl it cost to have someone replace all the bearings on a triple axle trailer, i guess my question is what are we saving by doing it ourselves other than the satifaction of doing it ourselves

Bearings are about 15.00 per set, plus some grease... Don't know what a trailer place would charge...

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let your local purveyor of the cheapes parts around sell you chinese bearings.. Go to any bearing house and get yourself a set of Timkens.. You might also want to consider switching to a synthetic grease (I use Amsoil) in them, running temps will be much cooler...

Ttt

I just saw a guy pulling a big cruiser down the interstate yesterday- smoke pouring out from his axles.

It's that time of year- and there's nothing worse than finding out that you have to replace all three axkes on your trailer because one bearing didn't get grease and your welded-stub axles are obsolete.

P.S. If you trailer, you should have a chain and a jack and know how to lift one axle so you can limp to the repair facility. Not everyone carries two spares and not everyone is paranoid about bearing maintenance.

As above, oil bath is great for highway but they're not foolproof. We lost a seal on a Freightliner last week and it smoked the wheel bearings.

I use amsoil extreme-pressure synthetic GHD-CR it is there best forwater washout resistance

You shouldn't use that grease on wheel bearings, main reason being, the GHD is a "slow moving grease" more for pivot joints and slide pins, things like that. You should use the GWR, Water Resistant Grease AMSOIL offers, that can't be beat, I don't care what anyone says!