Converting to Oil Fill Bearings????

Wandering Sagebrush

Wandering Sagebrush

Free Range Human
I haven't talked to EZ Loader yet, but I am curious if anyone has converted a grease type bearing trailer over to oil filled hubs. It seems that every year when I take it to Les Schwab, there has been enough water intrusion to warrant replacing the bearings. I have never had a problem with oil fill type bearings.

This is for my little aluminum boat, not the CDory.

Thought, opinions, experiences...?
 
I considered this, and got the impression that you have to replace the entire spindle (which might mean also getting a new axle - but maybe not). My spindles were in good shape, so I went back with new bearings, races, seals, and then reinstalled the bearing buddys.

Will be reading with interest as it would be interesting to know for next time.
 
The E-Z Loader under Journey On came with oil filled bearings. Never the less, here are some comments. The insight comes from working on them.

The hub package comes from one mfg. That means the spindle, which is welded to the axle (only if I remember correctly), and the hub which is integral with the disk. the reason I don't remember the mfg is that they only supply the unit and don't sell spare parts directly.

The above said, the only difference between the grease and oil hubs are the seals. The hub is machined to take a special ALUMINUM cap. There is a rubber covered rear seal that only E-Z Loader sells; God knows I tried elsewhere. The rubber keeps it from corroding when it's dunked in salt water. So as a starter you would have to buy new hubs. They sell kits to do that, about $70/kit or you can buy them from E-Z Loader. Only buy the aluminum cap, the lexan one breaks.

The spindles are the same.

The brake rotors are the standard issue and I've bought different brands.

Try to avoid Chinese products. I buy Timken bearings, which replaced the Chinese bearings that came with the trailer.

Boris
 
I've got oil filled and love them. They also run cooler. 90 Degrees is about what I usually register, whereas the old grease filled run at about 125. I forget who EZ loader used for the oil bearing hubs, but it comes with a screw on clear cap. The trailer only came with one axle (tandem axle) with brakes. When I added brakes to the second axle, I had to change hubs and went with Dexter as using the same hubs as EZ Loader did would have been much more pricey. The Dexter were normal lube style. I bought the Kodiak after market Oil Bearing hubs, which consisted of a new cap and plug, that replaced the lube cap. Works just as good as the ones that came on the trailer.
Long story short, I much prefer the oil bath. Runs cooler and you can see the condition of the oil thru the cap. Just make sure you have the proper seals, which are double lipped. I carry spare caps and oil, just in case I knock one off, but in worse case scenerio, you can always fill the bearing with grease in an emergency. Colby
 
Colby has some great points, as always.
I had oil hubs on the Prior Owner trailer and hated them.
I'm more swayed by the fact that if the cover gets cracked or knocked off, he loses all his lube, but I don't lose all my grease.
My new trlr rig runs 10 degrees above ambient (15 degrees on the sun exposed side) per wireless sensors. I don't think hub/tire temps under 125 degrees amounts to a hill of beans in the Florida Summer sun; age under 4 years from mfg date matters more than that if you want to spend your money where it does some real good.
Happy shopping!
John
 
I've heard the same concerns as John has with if the caps get knocked off, then you lose the oil. I've towed 1000's of miles with no problems. While that issue is always on the back of my mind, I think doing routine checks while driving and especially doing a walk around before taking off from home, the ramp, or every morning on a long trip, you're pretty safe. Most over the road trucks use oil bath, although they probably are not running into curbs or rocks under the water at the ramps. I also keep an eye on my hubs while driving, which is easy enuf to see behind my Highlander. But the issue of losing oil if a cap falls off would cause some problems if you didn't catch it right away. For me, the ease of seeing the condition of the oil thru the plastic cap, the cooler running, and the ease of maintenance outweighs those other concerns. Colby
 
We have oil filled hubs on our CDory trailer, in fact... both CDory trailers and loved them. Never an issue, even with the old plastic style caps.

The trailer under the Gregor tin boat is another story. It seems like every year when I visit Les Schwab, the bearings have rust or roughness. I haven't heard back from EZ Loader yet, but I am hoping that it's a simple, relatively inexpensive conversion (if possible).

Thanks for all the feedback!!
 
Have made the switch from grease to oil bath hubs before. Easy enough to do. Had to change the hubs, to be able to take the oil bath hub caps and rear seal. The bearings and races were the same. If your hubs and brake drums or rotors are one piece it may not be worth the cost. But for a small tin boat you may not even have brakes on your trailer.
 
The conversion from grease to oil may be pretty easy. If your hubs are standard size you should be able to get some of those Kodiak oil bath conversion kits I mentioned. Then make sure you get the proper double flanged seal. If yours is the standard EZ Loader trailer, I can look up the seal number I use tomorrow. The Kodiak kit is the smaller one. It does come with new seals, but they will not fit the EZ Loader axle. At least not if yours has the same axle as my 2007. Just to add a little more info. The original hubs on the back axle that did not originally come with brakes where also oil bath. When I added Dexter brakes I had to replace that hub with a drum hub. It had the standard grease cap. I purchased the Kodiak oil bath kit and also got new seals. The outer diameter of the kit seals is the same. However the inner diameter is a little different. You can buy those rubber coated double lipped seals from bearing and seal suppliers. Now that I've written all this and think about it, I still have those old hubs. If you don't have brakes on that axle, and my hubs fit it, I'd be happy to sell them to you for a reasonable price.
 
The inner seal we are talking about for the EZ Loader trailer, at least on my 2007 model, the ones with the rubber coating, is: TCM 168255TC-BX . I believe this other seal will also work, but is not coated in rubber. National 2146 or Timken 470460. The Kodiak Kit is:
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Kodiak/XLPROLUBE1980KIT.html
I'll try to get a photo of my old non drum hubs, and upload shortly. Colby

Here they are:

OilBathHubs.jpg

Not sure why I keep hanging on to them, if anyone would like to buy them from me. I suppose they would be a good emergency item to carry with me in case I ever blew a hub out, but they would do me little good hanging on the garage wall if I was many miles away... :roll:
 
Those Kodiak conversion kits appear to screw onto the spindle. Is that correct? They need positive retention and that would be one way. The caps are plastic and e-z Loader has had those fail.

I feel that both grease and oil bearing lubrication are good and one should stick with what came with the trailer. I've had both with no problems on either.

Boris
 
Boris, the Kodiak kit involves a hollow cylinder that presses on to your hub, and then a cap that screws in to the other end of that cylinder. I have not had any problems with those kits that I installed on my trailer's back axle. Nor with the original Reliable caps that came with the front axle. (For some reason the trailer originally only came with brakes on one axle... I went with another brand hub when I added brakes to the other axle.) Colby
 
colbysmith":glexvihk said:
Boris, the Kodiak kit involves a hollow cylinder that presses on to your hub, and then a cap that screws in to the other end of that cylinder.
Click to expand...

So this goes on basically the same way a bearing buddy does, and then once you have it you don't pack your bearings with grease, but just put oil in and that's how things are lubed?

I did have a bearing buddy fall off once, however it was one put on by "the" trailer shop that led to my learning all about how to rebuild trailers, so who knows if it was put on correctly. It fell off within twenty miles of said shop, so my guess is no (I've since trailered around another 30,000 miles without any bearing buddys falling off...)

Is the advantage that you don't have to re-pack bearings? Does excess grease have a way out? Or you fill it "just right" and that's the way it stays? Is the new oiler part just secured by friction, like a bearing buddy is?

I was interested in the dealies that allow you to pump in new grease as the old grease just comes back out (until all is new) but was under the impression those required special spindles (I just have the typical tapered spindles).

I just did all new bearings/races/hubs/brakes with grease, but always interested in a possible better/different way. If nothing else, just to know what's out there.
 
Sunbeam, yes it goes on pretty much like the bearing buddy. Very tight fit if it's done right and it takes some prying to get it back off. My problem with grease has always been getting too much in there, and then it squeezing out behind the seal and getting on to the brake shoes. (Electric brakes.) Also, no way of knowing the grease condition without pulling the grease cap. The Oil bath is always viewable with the clear plastic caps. I've only had oil leak out once behind the inner seal, and that was my own fault for bending it a bit when installing it. As long as the seal is set and all else installed correctly, you should never have to add oil. I do pull the hubs and change the oil every few years, mostly so I can check on the brake shoes. As I mentioned earlier, the only concern I have is if one of the caps or cylinders got knocked off. IN that situation, if you didn't catch it right away, you're probably going to fry a bearing and that could create some problems with the spindle too. However, I've also seen smoking grease hubs that were not maintained... For now I'm very happy with the oil bath, and will continue to run them. Colby
 
Thanks for the info, Colby. Until this thread I didn't realize that one could "convert" regular grease-type hubs to oil bath. Given that I just re-did them all with new parts and grease, I wouldn't do it right away, but maybe next time.
 
None of the bearings or races had to be changed out. Just clean the old grease out, install new double lipped seals (which you may already have with grease hubs) and install the conversion caps. I also keep a spare cap in my emergency kit, along with an extra set of bearings. (That's two caps for me. One for the Reliable hubs and another for the Kodiak Conversion...)
 
colbysmith":2mmu91f4 said:
None of the bearings or races had to be changed out. Just clean the old grease out, install new double lipped seals (which you may already have with grease hubs) and install the conversion caps.
Click to expand...

Understood. It's only that I *just* did all new hubs/bearings/races/seals with new grease (I did put on have double-lipped seals). So I'm not too inclined (nor do I need) to take them all apart and clean/change them right now. And so far, I've had no issues with grease. But maybe next time, as they do look interesting.
 
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