MacGregorSailors.com

I checked the bearings on my 2001 trailer today. The grease was a redish color. I am used to bearing grease being light brown in color.

Does anyone know what kind of grease that Macgregor puts in the bearings?

Don't know what they use, but they probably use whatever's handy. Actually, any high-temp automotive wheel bearing grease should do fine. Just be sure you thoroughly clean out all the old grease - and the bearings - before you add new grease... mixing is never a good idea, and besides, when you clean the bearings you'll be able to see their condition. (No pitting or 'galling' of the bearing surfaces should be present.) Also, when you re-grease, be sure you completely pack the bearings with fresh grease prior to installation... if you don't have a proper packer you'll need to do it by hand, massaging the grease well into the bearings. Never install them dry and expect the grease to make its way into the bearings - by the time it does the bearing will be toast.

I've always been told to use marine grade grease.

baldbaby2000 wrote:I've always been told to use marine grade grease.

Indeed, yes.. sorry. I use Bearing Buddies, so I don't get any water in mine.

Grease comes in many flavors. When I swapped to disc brakes, I learned (by study, not the hard way) that disc brakes require higher temperature grease because there is less mass and surface area in the disc than a drum to dissipate the heat of braking.
..
Also since the trailer and axle on the Mac26 trailer are running at max or above rated load most of the time, the best grease is important. An extra couple dollars and a little bit of homework to get the right grease may be what prevents your wheel from falling off on the highway.
..
I use this grease
http://www.lucasoil.com/products/displa ... 2&loc=show
..
Good Grease is a very inexpensive yet very important investment.

Hello:
I had an opportunity to do a 2 year test. I used hi-temp Valvoline grease on one side and the blue marine grease on the other.
Results:
The blue grease did not keep the seal properly lubed. You could see where the lip had burnt off and failed. Water got in and the blue grease did not turn to mayonaise. The water did keep it from sticking to the metal parts so everything got rusty.
The Valvoline side stayed perfect.
Since I have bearing buddies to help keep the water out, I believe that std grease is the better way to go. I do use marine grease on the hitch, shackles and boat steering pivot points.

Don T wrote:The Valvoline side stayed perfect.
Since I have bearing buddies to help keep the water out, I believe that std grease is the better way to go.

Yep, me too. Use a good quaily high-temp grease, new seals and Bearing Buddies and you're in good shape. Just make sure you top up the Bearing Buddies annually (or as needed, to keep a bit of pressure in them- this will totally prevent water invasion).

Don T,
..
I was raised in a "Valvoline only" family. My dad was the guy who trained the guys that trained the Mr. Goodwrenches, he literally wrote the book many times on automotive maintenance. Today I use Valvoline engine oil. I went with a friend's recomendation backed up with a little on-line research for the Lucas grease. I would like to use Valvoline grease also.
..
Which Valvoline grease?. Below are a couple Valvoline web pages with greases described.
Thank You
Robert
..
http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products ... .asp?cid=8
http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products ... asp?cid=16

Robert, I appreciate your experience with Valvoline, and a great many racing teams also agree on their quality, so you're certainly in good company.

IMHO, though, I've never trusted paraffin-based lubricants derived from Pennsylvania-grade crude oils (Valvoline, Quaker State, etc) - I've found that they tend to break down faster and the wax in them tends to sludge up more often than Texas, north sea or middle-eastern crude based oils. In my race cars, for example, they never really held pressure for the full race. I use Castrol and Mobil most often, I suppose. Castrol "GTX" in particular was very good at holding pressure in extremely hot racing conditions.

Of course, if you're talking synthetics it won't make any difference whatsoever, but for organic lubricants I tend to shy away from PA crude lubes.

However, as they say, your mileage may vary!

If your trailer bearings are packed with red grease, this may be the product.
http://shop.easternmarine.com/index.cfm ... goryID=191

It's what I was advised to use for my motorboat trailer when I replaced the bearings in preparation for a 1200 mile tow down I-95 to Florida last fall.

I never knew where Valvoline oil came from. I have stayed away from Penzoil in particular all my life, but can't remember why. I used only valvoline dino oil and had no troubles even over 200K miles. When I started towing, I switched to synthetics. I use Valvoline Synthetic, the version for older engines, I forget the name. Walmart has it in 5qt. jugs.
..
Grease: I used RedLine wheel bearing grease, the red stuff. It slipped out of the bearings quickly since it did not have that stringy texture. (Redline has a very impressive web page and excellent synthetic oils that are too expensive for engine oil but good for differential and transmissions that don't get hanged all the time). So when I shopped for grease the next time I asked people that actually use it a lot, rather than depend on web page or other advertisements, that's how I came up with the Lucas grease.

I installed new bearings and seals last year during the prep of the trailer for vacation, and packed the bearings with LubriMatic Marine Corrosion Central and Trailer Wheel Bearing Grease.

I recently pulled the hubs and found that in my rush to get everything done, I didn't notice the seals were single lip seals. No water got into the bearings but the seals did seep into the brake drums from the bearing buddy pressure. The outer races are slightly greyed, maybe cheap bearings (made in Romania). As a precaution I am replacing all bearings, using double lip seals ( purchased kits from BoatUS, made in good o1e' China- are bearings made in US anymore?) and am going to try Mobil 1 Synthetic grease this time. A guy I work with has had a boat for years and has had good luck with synthetic grease in his trailer hubs.

Lesson learned, Make sure to use double lip seals.

Greg