Hubs on Horse trailer vs Boat trailer - The Hull Truth

jbillfish · 06-17-2009, 09:59 AM

Just wondering?? I pulled the wheels off my Featherlite horse trailer last night hoping to find some easy lube hubs but not the case

. It looks like I will have to remove the bearings in all four wheels and grease by hand--It will only take half a day and not messy Im sure. So my question?--Are fishing people and boat manufacturers just smarter than horse people (like I told my wife) or is there a reason the horse trailer has to have the traditional hubs compared to the easy lube hubs on all boat trailers(large and small). What should be a 15 minute task will end up being a 45 mile trip to the dealer and picking up the next day. What a pain in the rear just to get grease in the hubs.

pglein · 06-17-2009, 10:22 AM

Trailers that are submerged in water are subject to water intrusion. For this reason, the hubs must maintain a positive pressure on the grease, so that, if any miniscule leak occurs, it results in grease leaving the hub, rather than water getting in. A spring loaded chamber outside the hub accomplishes this. When you fill it with grease, which you should do at least once a season, you are actually filling this chamber, not the hub itself.

A trailer that is not subject to water intrusion does not need this positive pressure, and so it is best, and cheapest, to simply seal the hub up permanently. This way, the grease is contained, and can do it's job for a very long time without worry. Most non-submerged trailers will be damaged in an accident or fall apart for other reasons before their hubs need to be lubed, much like those on an automobile.

rwidman · 06-19-2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbillfish

Just wondering?? I pulled the wheels off my Featherlite horse trailer last night hoping to find some easy lube hubs but not the case

. It looks like I will have to remove the bearings in all four wheels and grease by hand--It will only take half a day and not messy Im sure. So my question?--Are fishing people and boat manufacturers just smarter than horse people (like I told my wife) or is there a reason the horse trailer has to have the traditional hubs compared to the easy lube hubs on all boat trailers(large and small). What should be a 15 minute task will end up being a 45 mile trip to the dealer and picking up the next day. What a pain in the rear just to get grease in the hubs.

If you don't run your horse trailer through the water, you shouldn't have to grease the bearings but every 50K miles or so. Possibly 100K mles. Before the advent of front wheel drive cars, the front wheels on cars had (and trucks still have) bearing systems just like on your horse trailer. Grease is not consumed in operation and without the water intrusion possible on boat trailers, the grease lasts indefinately.

jbillfish · 06-19-2009, 07:26 PM

Thanks for the info guys. My wife pulls this trailer several weekends a year and she hears others talk about having their trailer serviced once a year so I was feeling guilty for no servicing it since we bought in 2006. I probably has 10k miles on it. The grease looked nice and clean when I popped the cap off. Just to be safe I may have it serviced every 2-3 years but I was hoping I could just do the grease myself w/o a lot of mess. Even my Hudson 12k lb equipment trailer has ez lube hubs. I