changing from oil bath to grease hubs

bustout · Post by **bustout** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:23 am

I have a 2006 Ranger trailer with oil hubs. Ranger said they don't carry any oil hub replacement parts and are recommending me to change over to grease when my maintenance interval is up. They also said I have to change out the hub and spindle with a grease version.
Some trailer places say you can just replace the oil cap with a threaded bearing buddy. No hub or spindle replacement

Has anyone done this? Any recommendation?

thanks in advance

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:36 am

Yeah I did it. Boatmasters in Livermore has the right size hub that you tap right in. You need to take the hub apart and remove all of the oil off the barring's to. It doesn't mix with the grease

bustout · Post by **bustout** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:37 pm

Mike,
Did you have a 1 piece or 2 piece disc brake assy. ?
Did you have to replace the spindle too? Ranger said I had to as the spindle/grease seal wont work on the oil version

thanks

TritonBrent · Post by **TritonBrent** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 2:13 pm

I have made the switch over from Oil to grease as well. As Mike said, Boatmasters recommended it to me and they had the buddy bearings in stock to do it. All I did was clean everything real good and tap in the new hub. Piece of cake.

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:33 pm

Not sure what your budget is but Boatmasters just did mine as part of a trailer servicing as well as replacing my break pads for a little over $300. Not a bad deal in my opinion.

Robb R · Post by **Robb R** » Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:48 pm

this topic always brings up questions .
I have gone to bearing buddies , the trailer place that installed then ( Orlandi Trailer ) .
advised the only way to properly use bearing buddies is as follows .
Once you arrived at the lake , take out a grease gun and " top off " the bearing buddy to ensure that any airspaces in the actual bearing area will be pushed out with grease to make sure cold water doesn't rush into the air void during launch , He said once the air gap area pulls in any water , that's how bearing rust/wear happens .
I have doing this little procedure , just not sure I am putting in to much or to little . I am concerned about blowing out the back seals .
As a side note , I also now use an I/R heat gun( $20 on Amazon) so I can check the temps on both hubs and tires ( thinking if I spot a hub increase in temp will indicate early bearing failure , same with the tires .
Robb

jaime7819 · Post by **jaime7819** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:36 am

I have an 09 trailer, switched over after a seal busted on the freeway. Went to C and C in Modesto and bought the sealed grease replacement hub assemblys with spindle. I think they were around $120 each. Paid a trailer shop to swap them out, they charged me around $310 to replace both including pads. I have a feeling C and C is probably cheaper. But then they forgot to bleed the brake system which is a must. If you replace with the Vortex hubs that Ranger recommends, C and C said they were maintenance free for 100k miles?

semipro · Post by **semipro** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:36 am

I had an 07 trailer and blew out four hubs in three years. I was told the hub/bearing assemblies were junk. Only $100 for the assembly and not too hard to replace, but a bitch to do on the side of the road! I replaced the independent suspension arms for a solid axle and hubs with bearings guaranteed for five years. Don't touch the hubs, no maintenance. Still check on them of course and no problems so far.
Check your lug nuts too! Lost a tire/wheel on the ramp from 99 to 120. Not pretty! Got the tire/hub back. Tire was OK but the hub was wasted. That's when I swapped out the axle.

scott h · Post by **scott h** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 11:18 am

I have the oil bath hubs on my '05 Triton trailer, it is 12 years old now and I cant even begin to know just exactly how many miles are on it but I have preventive maintenance done every year and check the oil level every couple of months and have never had a problem knock on wood, I have thought about changing back to a grease hub but really the preventive care is just the same. Trailers are probably the #1 most neglected piece of equipment and usually it doesn't come up until a problem arises, If you are questionable on it take it to a professional. Jeremy at C&C Marine is top notch and will get it done right, Cheap insurance vs being stranded on the side of the road or worse leaving your rig to chase down parts and trying to fix it on the side of the road with limited resources.

Mountain Bass Association · Sat Feb 04, 2017 9:34 pm

I have a 2007 Ranger Trail tandem with the Cool Hub oil hubs. I have a ton of miles on the trailer and had one hub that has seeped oil for quite a while. I was going to attempt to rebuild the oil hubs but that is quite a task. I lost a seal on another hub, luckily, at home. Called Ranger in Arkansas and ordered the new Vortex sealed hubs for about 90.00 each plus about 30.00 to ship all four. The Rep said lube is a grease which turns to more of an oil when warm then back to a grease upon cooling. She also said they are suppose to last 100k miles. They are kind of a bitch to change but not impossible with some decent mechanical abilities. One trick to remove the old hub is to put some heat with a torch (propane is sufficient) before attempting to pound it out.

bustout · Post by **bustout** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:37 pm

Received new vortex hub from ranger and it has a diiferent diameter cap. The hub seems to be smaller too. Part #'s are different. Called around and it seems that there are 3 generations of vortex hubs and i may have 2 on my single axle trailer. What sucks is that i will probably need different bearings for each side when it comes time ti replace. Also since i have older generation, am i more likely to have issues? Didnt know ranger had all of these trailer issues prior to buying. May have swayed me to another mfg had i known prior