Trailer maintenance

[dave craig]

Hello all, I was wondering if anybody had advice on maintaining the bearings on my boat trailer during the season when it is being launched in salt water most weekends?
The trailer is braked and has grease nipples on the tensioned wires going into the bearing casing. I am not sure how much grease to pump into them as ive had contrasting information. Some people have said pump grease into them until it comes out of the casing and others have said pump just enough to protect the contents of the casing and make sure it does not burst out.

Also is it just a case of giving the trailer a good hose down with fresh water after each launch or is it a case of taking the casing to bits and properly cleaning the bearings etc each time?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[kingcod deano]

i put grease in untill it comes out of the cap and i replace my bearings every 8 month as the salt still gets in and corrodes them making them grind etc the rest of the trailer i just hose down and replace the rollers every 16 month also i grease the winch cogs every 3 month just to keep it moving smoothly

[mark]

are these grease nipples on the brake actuators or grease nipples on the hubs themselves for the bearing casings?

[dave craig]

cheers kingcod,

im not sure to be perfectly honest, i just assumed they were grease nipples due to the size and shape of them

[Kev1n]

I pump grease into the cable sheath until it comes out of the end by the wire. Keeping the wire full of grease like this helps to keep it moving and stops corrosion jamming them or weakening the cable. If you pump in too much you risk contaminating the brakes at the other end of the wire. My trailer had grease nipples at the hitch end too to keep the brake lever moving freely.
I was also advised to rinse out the hubs after every trip, using fresh water.

It’s worth taking the hubs apart routinely as they can collect a lot of sand depending on where you launch from. You can inspect the pads and grease the bearings at the same time.

[dave craig]

cheers kevin