08-05-2007, 05:50 PM
After talking to a few experts about boat trailers - here are a few things to ponder:
1) after the long driver to the lake your boat trailer hubs are at least warm and when you back it into the water the natural thing that happens it water is attracted to the warmth -- in other words it is sucked into the hubs.
2) when greasing your bearing buddies you should only need a most a couple of squeezes once a year - think about your car and how often you repack your wheel bearing - every five years at most. In other words once you repack your boat trailer bearings you should be good for a least 5 years with the use of bearing buddies and a eye out watching the heat of the hub on all trips. Just reach down and touch the hub - it should be warm but not hot!!
3) By keeping a eye of the brake fluid in the reservoir - you should be able to see if your brake fluid is becoming comtaminated. Remeber that the rust/sludge will settle to the bottom so you might have to stick a finger in the bottom to see how bad it really is...
4) I asked over 20 people how to bleed/purge my brake lines once I had evacuated the old brake fluid. No one seem to know!! I believe I found the correct way and it did not involve a one-man brake bleed device. I don't believe that device will work with surge brakes - I might be wrong but for $25 to $40 for the self-bleeding device I think I did OK.
5) ALWAYS carry a set of three tube wrentches with you - your standand end wrentches might work but they weren't made for brake tubing.
Have a great day on the water...
[signature]
1) after the long driver to the lake your boat trailer hubs are at least warm and when you back it into the water the natural thing that happens it water is attracted to the warmth -- in other words it is sucked into the hubs.
2) when greasing your bearing buddies you should only need a most a couple of squeezes once a year - think about your car and how often you repack your wheel bearing - every five years at most. In other words once you repack your boat trailer bearings you should be good for a least 5 years with the use of bearing buddies and a eye out watching the heat of the hub on all trips. Just reach down and touch the hub - it should be warm but not hot!!
3) By keeping a eye of the brake fluid in the reservoir - you should be able to see if your brake fluid is becoming comtaminated. Remeber that the rust/sludge will settle to the bottom so you might have to stick a finger in the bottom to see how bad it really is...
4) I asked over 20 people how to bleed/purge my brake lines once I had evacuated the old brake fluid. No one seem to know!! I believe I found the correct way and it did not involve a one-man brake bleed device. I don't believe that device will work with surge brakes - I might be wrong but for $25 to $40 for the self-bleeding device I think I did OK.
5) ALWAYS carry a set of three tube wrentches with you - your standand end wrentches might work but they weren't made for brake tubing.
Have a great day on the water...
[signature]