Oil bath trailer bearings

Ive seen these ,they have a clear plastic cap on the hub(instead of metal dust cap) and you can see,looks like motor oil,inside about half full, the brgs. rotate in and out of the oil.Ive seen these also on semi trucks.Looks like a great idea ,would seem like you never would have to ever pack a brg. again, and no greasy mess,also I have electric brakes so I cant pump grease into brgs.( would end up in backing plate). Anyone used or heard about these, Frank

Got em on my trailer. They are def. nice. Just keep an eye on your oil level, and fil'er up when needed as manuf. suggests.


Although I did have one fail and it was pretty catastrophic. To be fair the manufacturer thinks something must have flew up and knocked out the hub cause the oil to come out and the bearings to fail.

Frank, there are seals that keep grease from going out the back.

there is nothing wrong with the regular old greased hubs with a bearing buddy(not just a dust cap) to keep them greased, the brakes don't matter.

are you any relation to Cathy C?

If Cathys last name is spelled the same good chance we are related, major league player Dolf was my great uncle.

yep, I know(knew) Cathy and Chris. Knew Cathy really well when she was dating Joe long time ago. we taught her to barefoot, and she is one tough chick. I remember the Dolf story. I went to school with Kenny and Glen Camminiti, I'm from the neighborhood.

If you're in the bay area you can get help from Topside marine on those hubs if you want to get that set up.

Small world, I don't know Cathy but sounds like my daughter, played college soccer ,and competes with the boys, also a fearless wakeboarder

where are you? not the SF Bay Area I guess.

These Camillis were San Jose, CA.

What happens when an oil bath goes bad? I know with grease you can keep on going down the road for miles until you can get it serviced.

There is no way that the oil will adhere as well to the bearings as well as grease does when a seal decides to go out.

If your dust cap/bearing buddy comes out your bearing will throw out all the grease and fail too. And it only takes a few miles. It happened to me on a road trip a few years ago.

that would be a fun test, to see when the hubcap gets knocked off which kind fails first.
I would bet the greased goes longer as long as, and especially if, it was packed correctly in the first place.

I have had a bearing that was not packed correctly (new boat and trailer) catch fire and wheel fell off at the bottom of the Sunol grade. had to sleep under an overpass waiting for parts and help.

(Message edited by bftskir on January 04, 2009)