working on my trailer

[peterdarby]

So your saying I shouldn't use the greas fitting after I have greased the individual bearings?

[macmac]

Forget there is a grease fitting in the dust cap.... Coat the hub everywhere inside with a thin film, no more than 18th" deep bu hand.

Those dust cap fittings are worse than worthless. Not even a salt water boat trailer should have them. Great idea in theory and thats where the great idea ends....

All that does is make a hell of a mess in say 8,000 to 10,000 when you might inspect the bearings, and then clean them and repack. All that grease is wasted, and it holds heat, if any..

If it holds heat and gets to cool off it makes water, you don't need.

I used to be a foreign car tech for 28+ years. + I guess since I still waste air on this side of the grass anyway.

I worked on thousands of cars that were not ft wheel drive that used this same type wheel bearings.. Countless cars. These cheap junk chinese wheel bearings is one of the few things they get right, mostly.

Mine have 15,000 miles and are fine..... Use a high quality grease, and in a marine grade if you like, but don't be packin the hub full of grease. There is no good reason.

[macmac]

Oh... remove the helper leaf spring. It will reduce bouncing... Per gadjet, and per me.

Do NOT tow this trailer untill a level says the trailer tongue is HIGH towards the trailer from the ball. I call this down in the head, or head down. This is a must do..... Another term is 'Caster' with caster set this way the trailer will follow the lead of the bike, rather than the other way around.

The other way around a railer will follow the lead but not well and if the trailer ever hops it will try to steer the bike! You won't like that I promise.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by peterdarby

So your saying I shouldn't use the greas fitting after I have greased the individual bearings?

Yup! Forget it is there...

[Cajunrider]

My trailer hubs have a grease fitting between the inner and outer bearings. The cavity isn't very big so it doesn't take much grease. I agree that hand packing is the way to go as I have always done it that way with other trailers. On this one I didn't remove the inner and outer bearings and the seal. Everything was new and dry, no grease. I removed the dust cap and pumped grease between the bearings throught the provided fitting until the grease started oozing through the outer bearing. It just took a few strokes on the gun. I plan on pulling the bearings and seals, cleaning everything up and hand packing them before the National Rally. So far....so good. I frequently feel the wheels and hubs when stopping for fuel and haven't found them warm after 9,000 miles.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by peterdarby

So your saying I shouldn't use the greas fitting after I have greased the individual bearings?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. It won't do you a bit of good in most cases, and will make servicing the wheel bearings an even bigger mess next time.

[ringadingh]

My snowmobile trailer has a grease fitting in the centre of the hub on each wheel. I still pack them by hand, and use the grease gun on them only after Ive put a few hundred miles on the wheels after hunting season.

[nomadbehappy]

Great advice from everyone and thanks for the youtube link CJ. I picked up an old utility trailer last summer to haul the kids dirtbikes around and was planning to repack the bearing this spring but didn't know where to start. With all I'm learning from this forum, I am going to feel like I am a certified grease monkey in no time :-)

Brian

[peterdarby]

So last night I packed the bearings, reinstalled the axles and put together the trailer body. Depending on when I get home I will finish the lights and put the box together and on the trailer. With any luck I will get the hitch and wiring harness in the mail today and be able to start installing Friday. Thanks again for all the great advice, including the youtube videos. The internet is truly amazing.

[macmac]

Box Opening.. I used a 18 cu ft Sears box. It is side opening to the right as seated... The stays only opened it and held it in my way. That didn't work.

So I made extenders. I used gray plastic electrical conduit at apx 1" ID I think. I cut pipe around 12" long and then slit it right down the middle for 2 sections of 1.2 pipe, and tapered the ends a bit.

This enabled me to fold the stays in 3, and that much made opening the lid much better.

[peterdarby]

I'm behind schedule. The trailer is licensed and ready to go. I didn't get the MC hitch and wiring on yet, hopefully tonight. Then camping this weekend. I talked to a professional photographer friend of mine who will get some pictures of the bike and trailer soon. I found the instructions for the trailer interesting. Basically very detailed for the underside of the trailer then sort of said. "Know put the rest of the trailer together." But I have to admit everything was there and everything fit. to the point that I wondered what two extra nuts bolts and four washers were for. That is I wondered until I got the license. So far I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a trailer at an economical price.

[peterdarby]

Okay, last post on this thread. I finished installing the hitch and wired the motorcycle for the trailer. Without the ball on You probably wouldn't notice the hitch and not hard to install. I will actually try out the trailer this weekend when I go to an archery event and camp out. I wanted to once again thank everyone for their help. I got some good guidance and it probably kept me from making a few mistakes.