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Old 05-11-2013, 05:31 AM   #1
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1994 30' Excella
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Bearing Buddies

Anyone use Bearing Buddies on their Airstream? I use them on my boat trailers and they are great. Just curious ;-)
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Old 05-11-2013, 05:48 AM   #2
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Decide for yourself....

I have them on a boat trailer also, they work well when the hubs are submerged on a regular basis.

On the AS I feel it's better to inspect once every Spring and be SURE everything is ok.

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Old 05-11-2013, 06:43 AM   #3
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Not just no, but hell no.

If anybody from our shop recommends them, they will be dragged outside and summarily shot.
They work well for their intended purpose, which is to force water back out of the hubs when the hub gets submerged. If you are towing your Airstream through water deep enough to submerge the hubs, you have bigger issues than needing bearing buddies.
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Old 05-11-2013, 06:53 AM   #4
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Overlander is right not a good thing. Understand that putting grease forcefully in without being uncapped, air or grease has to go somewhere, soooo pushing it past the inner seal into the drum brakes is not a good thing. Some easy lube axles actually have a hole drilled in the axle hub center opening at the rear to force grease inside out to where you are pumping, see grease it's full. Airstreams do not have this feature.
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Old 05-11-2013, 06:55 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by overlander63 View Post
If anybody from our shop recommends them, they will be dragged outside and summarily shot.
They work well for their intended purpose, which is to force water back out of the hubs when the hub gets submerged. If you are towing your Airstream through water deep enough to submerge the hubs, you have bigger issues than needing bearing buddies.
Well, that is a clear!
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Old 05-11-2013, 07:23 AM   #6
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I have always thought that Bearing Buddies were a bad idea. once the hub and bearings are full of grease, the amount of pressure required to force the heavy grease out the tiny hole into the axle tube is more than is required to pop the seals. If you get water in the bearing grease you now have a huge sloppy mud pie that has to be removed from inside the hub and cleaned before re-assembly of the bearings. I have removed them from my boat trailer axle completely. I have built a system where I can apply a tiny bit of air pressure inside the axle tube when I launch and retrieve my boat. I pack the bearings the normal way. The little bit of air pressure inside the axle tube also forces the seals to grip the spindle a little tighter. When I launch I look for air bubbles trying to escape. There shouldn't be any. If there is, I have the pressure too high. I figure if there's a place for water to get in then there's air pressure right there to push it out. I have been testing this system for three years now and have not found a drop of water in the grease when I inspect and re-pack the bearings every year. The Airstream axle is not designed to relieve any internal pressure that I am aware of and I wouldn't even consider installing Bearing Buddies on an Airstream.
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