Trailer Hub Busted

[OliverM5]

On the way home from the lake 2 weekends ago, I noticed that the plastic/rubber hub cover had popped off one of the hubs and grease had leaked out and was all over the wheel. Does this mean something is broken? What do I do to fix this? Thanks guys...

[ToMorrow44]

The easiest thing to do to check if anything is broken is to jack up the trailer and grab the tire at 12 & 6 and see if it rocks back and forth. If it doesnt, then it should be ok and it just means that your bearing buddy is leaking so just keep it greased. If it does move, then that means your bearings are shot and/or broken. Then you're getting into a whole new mess depending on how much damage was done. But for now try that and see what happens.

[Singleton]

If grease got out, you got a problem.
I just had my trailer serviced by Patrick @ Orange Trailer & Maintenance.
Located back by the OC sports arenas. Can't remember number, but one of the spring issues of ***boats had a writeup on him.
If you need number PM me and I will send to you tomorrow.
Replaced all 4 drum brakes, new bearings and bearing buddies and it was less then $700. Hell, I drove from San Deigo to have the work done because he was highly recommended.

[Tequila-John]

Damn bro that sucks are you ok?

[HocusPocus]

installing new bearings is pretty easy and cheap to do yourself. no sense pulling that trailer again if you have any doubts about its reliability.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

It definitely deserves an inspection. The wiggle check is a good start, but I'd want to see the bearings and races myself, by the Mark-1 eyeball. Any pitting, bluing, scrub-marks, anything but smoothly polished and they are not going to live long. Wheel bearing grease thins out under heat and flows among the bearing to lube and cool it. The cap keeps it inside. If it happened close to the end of the drive, probably OK, if it happened quite a ways before it was found, oh-oh. :cry:

[YeLLowBoaT]

If it was me I would replace the barring even if it looks good. its cheap INS. I mean a few bucks and 20 mins is alot cheaper then having it fail and the wheel come flying off.

[Riverdog1]

that rubber hub cover comes off all the time. It is there to keep the grease in and the dirt out. The wiggle test is in order, but the likelyhood of messing that up is slim to none. I have been trilering boats for 20 years, some of my trailers had no dust covers and I had to clean the rims all the time. The bearing buddies are easy to inspect, but I wouldn't worry too much. Check it out and put a new dust cover on it.

[Tequila-John]

If it was me I would replace the barring even if it looks good. its cheap INS. I mean a few bucks and 20 mins is alot cheaper then having it fail and the wheel come flying off.
I agree bro better to be safe than sorry Right?

[Mandelon]

Definitely worth checking, but the grease can heat up on those desert drives. Wheels and hubs can reach 140* plus. It thins out and can flow out past the spring loaded clip and cap.
Definitely make sure you refill it. When you pump it up the cap ( not the rubber cap) the metal cap behind the c ring ought to move forward.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

If what you lost was a bearing buddy CAP (bra), don't sweat it. My 28 year old boat had bearing buddies the whole time, but never had the bras till 2 years ago.
I was thinking you lost the buddy and exposed the bearing itself and lost all the grease.
Don't overfill them, but keep them pressurized to help keep water out.