wheel bearing leaking

[moombadaze]

this weekend i pulled the boat out of the garage to clean and noticed the inside of one of my wheels looked oily, crawled under the trailer and it was oily, rear wheel bearing seal seaping oil out. has anyone ever replaced the wheel bearing and seals on a oil bath type trailer. the trailer is boatmate 2003. the oil bath bearing cover looks metal with a "plastic" window to "see" the oil level. thing is i have never really seen the oil level.
i rememer the manuall saying something about them having speacial needs to do something like this. i have done normal grease bearings but if it is different i can take it to the dealer a couple blocks away.

thanks

stacy

[Brian Raymond]

Stacy, hope all is well. It must be nice to pull out the boat and and clean it, still to cold in Tenn. The reason you could never tell the oil level is, the cap was full of straight 50 weight oil with no air.... this is good. If you can see air inside, it will heat up when trailering and create a vac., then when you back into cooler water, it will actually suck the water into that void... this is bad. There are really only 2 places the oil can leak, a rear seal, or, if you remove the wheel, there is a phillips screw in the hub. This may have come loose for oil to weep out. This is the same screw in which to drain and fill the resevoir. Since you are so close to your dealer, I would run it over to Jason and have him look at it to be sure. Hope this helps. Brian Raymond

[moombadaze]

hi Brian, thanks for your input. i dont mind doing things to the boat, just replaced the steering cable and impeller and oil change. but im not sure i feel like doing bearings on this trailer. i will call jason later today and see if they can get it in soon. i think its leaking from the rear seal.

thanks again

stacy

[jburnside]

Stacy,
I had the same issue with my '05 Mobius LSV. It turned out that it was just the drain screw was coming loose. We put a little lock-tite on the threads and all is well. Sounds like your situation is a little different because the leak is coming from the back of the wheel (mine was at the front) so a trip to the dealer sounds like a good idea.

[moombadaze]

dropping it off saturday for them to look at. only problem is sales will be open and they have a 2007 lsv that i like so we will see which boat will come back home.

[jburnside]

Sounds like a fun problem to have :D

I say go for the LSV! What a great boat.

[Brian Raymond]

Stacy, DO NO LEAVE US HANGIN'. How did the repair go, or what color is the new ride? Brian Raymond

[moombadaze]

sorry, the repair will be done this week. no new boat. just as well i think for my family the one we have is perfect, really could not ask for a better boat for us. about the only thing i wish was different would be a double axle trailer-i just think they tow so much better and look better.-any ideas on how to get a double axle trailer??

thanks

stacy

[zegm]

Well there was a guy on here that is looking for a trailer, sell him yours and call Boatmate up. Double axles are better for long distance hauling but not so nice if you are trying to put your boat in a tight garage or for gas mileage.

[JC_N_NC]

Coming home from the lake Saturday and the whole thing seized up. I had to limp the last 8 miles (2 hours) to get it home. I've never changed the bearings out on a trailer. Can anyone point me to a link on the web about changing these?

[moombadaze]

jc,
what year is the trailer? grease wheel bearings or oil bath?

[JC_N_NC]

Not sure the type. I've got to get under it later today. What should I look for. It's a 2006

[zegm]

Well if the bearing failed and if the outer race spun on the spindle and damaged it you will not have a simple job of just replacing the bearings. You are going to have to determine how bad the spindle was damaged and most likely replace this also. Now you can be getting into a job over your head. I would suggest that if you have never replaced a tapered wheel bearing you should find someone who has done a few to come help you with this task.

[Digger]

The wheel hub where your bearings are will not create a vacume. That is totally incorrect information. When oil heats up it expands which will create pressure, if it was to contract then it would create a vacume. This is simple physics folks .... most of the time when a wheel seal leaks it is from one of two reasons. The first being that if the vent cap is plugged ( as seen on trucks differentials etc. ) the oil will heat up and expand but has no place to release thus causing the seal to blow ( 10 psi is all it takes ). Being that on boat trailers they are sealed the other cause is overfilling the housing and not leaving room for the expansion. This or a dried out seal are probably your culprit. Something to watch for is you are running a full synthetic oil the seals tend to seep, not to be confused with a leak. As for the actual changing of wheel bearings it is a very simple task. I am sure that many on here have done it and would be happy to assist. Good luck.