Replacing seals on oil bath trailer hubs

[IndyMobius]

Hi guys, took the boat out of the barn today to begin 'summerizing' and noticed oil leaking down from the hub on one of the trailer wheels. So, a few questions:
1. It's only about ~15 miles from storage to the lift where I keep the boat all summer, any issue with simply filling the leaky hub up with 50-wt oil so I can get the boat in? I figure everything else following will be a lot easier to do without the boat on the trailer. The oil isn't exactly pouring out of the seal right now, so should be ok over that short distance right?
2. It's a Boatmate double-axle, circa 2004 with the plastic caps and the oil reservoir. How do I go about changing the seals? I searched through this site and found a great walk-through but that's for a different type hub assembly that uses packed grease. Any advice from someone that has done this before would be fantastic!

Thanks in advance guys.

[Mikey]

Actually very easy if you can find parts, I could not and ended up switching to greace nipple type..

To get caps off, use a rubber mallet at tap around the cap, trying to hit the cap away from centre and or kinda grab and pull the cap off.. Likely o rings inside are dried, cracked or torn, maybe even just try retapping the cap on, use a board in front, to avoid cracking if you go this route. It worked for a season for me but then I got tired of cleaning the wheel and topping up oil.

Eventually I found new grease nipple bearing set up from a dealer and I use high temp water resistant marine grease. So far so good.. Was actually quite a simple job as my actual bearings were in good shape so Drained, wiped clean, installed grease nipples , filled. Drove trailer a little topped up and put dust covers on.. Initial fill you need to overfill bearings to get grease in the whole cavity, then after that just top up do not overfill.


I had a service guy basically explain procedure surely your local dealer can do the same, hope this helps.. Btw the vault system that replaced oil bath is being phased out so I did not go that route.. Talked to someone at a trailer shop afterwards, and they said they would have gone the same route.

[IndyMobius]

To get caps off, use a rubber mallet at tap around the cap, trying to hit the cap away from centre and or kinda grab and pull the cap off.. Likely o rings inside are dried, cracked or torn, maybe even just try retapping the cap on, use a board in front, to avoid cracking if you go this route. It worked for a season for me but then I got tired of cleaning the wheel and topping up oil.


So all you need to do is pull that little plastic cap off to get to the seals? Seems pretty simple...now to see if I can find those replacement seals!

[bsharer]

Does the cap look like some kind of weird socket fits on it? Is it clear and you can see the oil inside?

If so.... it twists on & off. If they are the originals they are very brittle. There is an o-ring around the cap. If there is fluid on the outside of the hub and wheel then the cap is either not tight enough or the oring is leaking. Wipe it down and try to tighten it by hand. If you have oil filter pliers you can also try to gently tighten it with that. If its tight then do a little more looking at the cap. Its probably cracked/cracking.

If its leaking bad enough where you see some starting to run out and you need to trailer it then you will have to improvise. I couldn't find replacements anywhere local and while I was waiting on them to be shipped to me I tried several things. Remove, clean and epoxy from the inside. Leave installed, clean and RTV the outside.

You can find aluminum replacements online.

[bsharer]

Also, if it is leaking enough that you can see fluid leaking out you can over fill a tad and tow it. Just keep checking it and top off if needed. I wouldn't try and put the trailer in the water though. It will get water inside the hub!!

https://www.championtrailers.com/1-98-reliable-oil-bath-cap-with-aluminum-casing-250-031620/

https://www.easternmarine.com/aluminum-oil-bath-cap-with-o-ring-for-10-drums-250-031620

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[IndyMobius]

Well I topped the oil off and everything went great to get the boat in. Will be a lot easier to replace seals without the boat on it now!

Appreciate the help all!


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