Techsun trailer bearings

[manuel9622]

I have an 2005 techsun tandem axle trailer and I lost one of the rubber caps so grease was splattering all over the rim and tire. I was just gonna replace it with a regular buddy bearing but noticed that the nipple is directly on the hub itself. This is new to me and seems to be a great idea. I had a spare buddy bearing from my last boat and I put it on and it fit. Can I run it this way? Would I have to take off the buddy bearing and grease the inside grease fitting everytime i wanted to add grease? I have noticed the other three rubber covers are puffed up and look like they are about to pop off. I let the pressure out but they puff up again. I trailer from San Antonio to Port Mansfield and I don't want to have bearing failure while on the road. The nut on the back that holds it on to the torsion bar looks like they are starting to bloom so i was thinking about replacing the whole hub. I don't think the people that owned the boat before me washed off the saltwater on every trip like I do and spray corrosion x on them. Are these type of hubs superior to other conventional hubs with regular buddy bearings?

[redexpress]

Sounds like a Sure Lube hub, or Easy Lube. The spindle is drilled horizontally and then cross drilled so that the grease is supposed to come out between the lip seal and the inboard bearing, then return out through the outboard bearing. Suppose to. Mine doesn't. I'm running bearing buddies on mine, no problem. It's a great design in theory. The authorized factory repair center for my trailer couldn't get it to work..they suggested bearing buddies.

[Transport22]

Techsun,
I have a similar set up. I have a Loadmaster Trailer out of Florida. It is as Red explained also. I don't use the buddy bearing since it has to be taken off to apply grease to the inner zirc fitting. Once grease is applied, the old grease is pushed out from the back of hub to the front. I simply put a dust cover that has a rubber seal on instead of the buddy bearing. All that has to be removed is the rubber seal on the dust cover. I also put grease all over the nut holding the spindle to keep corrision away. The only problem I have had is that my inner seal on the hub will allow grease to get out and therefore, allows some water in. I constantly "push" the water out by adding a little grease to the zirc fitting every few trips. The water comes out with the old grease. If you put grease directly in the buddy bearing in this type of set up, you are not getting grease through out the hub and you will experience a failure down the road, literally.

I have tried to replace the hub seals, but they always seem to leak grease. Maybe I need a new hub?

My opinion from personal experience....