Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

"The Vault" bearing protectors on our Boatmate trailers aren't meant to be inspected or maintained for 5 years or more, unless something like this happens. The UFP rep that I spoke with stated that this happens once in a while.

I discovered this at the end of a 500 km trip and I probably did around 30 km in this condition. I haven't inspected the bearings yet and won't be doing that until the season is over. But the temporary fix that I put in place was good enough to get us home again.

I called UFP support and dealt with this guy. He was very helpful. But it would have taken 4 - 5 days to get the parts shipped so I had to put in a temporary fix.

Conrad Ritchey
UFP Warranty Service
931-967-5101 ext. 22
931-967-1828 FAX

For a temporary fix you'll need 4 things:
1) grease gun
2) marine grease (or any bearing grease in a pinch)
3) 1/8 NPT grease nipple - all I had to start was a 3/8 nipple but I couldn't get a sufficient seal to get the grease into the hub
4) Generic 1.98" bearing dust cap - optionally a plumbing PVC collar - 2" - 1-1/2" slip collar - which can be used to force the cap on. I didn't have one and deformed the cap putting it on, but the caps are fairly cheap to get.


This image shows the 3/8 nipple that I initially tried. I could only get a bit of grease in with it and it took a lot of pressure to get the grease moving. But it was sufficient to push some water out and get us to an autoparts store where we could get another nipple. At the parts store I asked for a 1/8 NPT nipple, but what the couter guy said was 1/8 was way to big so I ended up using a 6 mm nipple.


I didn't get a picture of the bearings filled with new grease. However, I used a small plastic bag to capture any excess and I pumped until I had new grease pushing out it in a complete circle. Initially I had to really push on the grease gun to get the grease moving. They use a fairly generic spindle so the grease is pushed through the middle to the inner bearing and then flows back out through the outer bearing. Ideally I would have jacked up the trailer and spun the wheel to ensure that the new grease was evenly distributed.



Bad picture, but the cap is deformed as I just used a piece of 2x4 and a hammer to fit it on.

As I mentioned earlier, dealing with UFP support was great.

This is a link to replacing the cap - http://vm-help.com/Boat/Vault_Service_Info.pdf
and the form to fill out for warranty parts - http://vm-help.com/Boat/NEW_WARR_FORM.doc.

They require both the trailer VIN and the axle serial number to process the warranty replacement. The axle serial number can be found on a plate fixed to the bottom of the axle.

This is very timely... had a similar issue with a wheel this weekend. I'm just posting to add that you can get bearing covers, grease, and a grease gun at walmart. They also have replacement bearing kits, if you need to replace everything.

I got the attwood version of the bearing buddies at walmart (like $17 IIRC):