Bearing Buddies have revolutionised the marine trailer industry. Properly used, they have almost completely eliminated wheel bearing problems from trailer immersions. They have a reservoir and a positive pressure system, to constantly seal and lubricate the wheel bearings from any contamination or moisture. The bearings can remain almost maintenance free for many years, with only a yearly additional stroke or so from a grease gun.

They are not to be confused with the easy lube axles being sold for trailers. However, like that system, if an unknowledgeable person adds too much lubrication to a Bearing Buddy, the seals and brakes can also be compromised. By not knowing what amount of grease to add and when, many EL brake assemblies are ruined by blown seals from an excess of grease. On the BBs there are simple markings on the reservoir, that indicate when and how much grease should be added. It is easy to know and add only what is needed, as opposed to the axles' easy lube assemblies

If you do not need to have annual brake inspections, the Bearing Buddies create a long lasting, low maintenance, wheel bearing longevity. If you have to frequently disassemble the wheels for the brakes, they will not be as valuable and actually hinder the maintenance inspection. Once in place, the adapters are difficult to first remove when breaking down the wheel bearings. They are meant to be installed and left in place for many years.

I have used these products for over a decade on our boat, snowmobile, utility and horse trailers, without a single wheel bearing problem. My only maintenance is once every Spring to pump in aprox one stroke of a grease gun into each reservoir, a thirty second labour. With the exception of our electric axle trailers, the wheels have never been apart since the BBs installation. Because the seals are always clean and like new, I know the synthetic grease is clean and uncontaminated with water. The synthetic grease keeps the bearings cool in the summer under heavy loads, and during the winter keeps things lubricated under cold, wet, conditions.

At the marina, I have installed these products on every trailer that originally not had them installed, and has suffered subsequent bearing problems. Some trailers had to have several sets of bearings installed in a single year, until the BBs were addled. Not one of those BB equipped trailers has since suffered a bearing problem, and most trailer manufacturers now offer them as standard equipment.

It all boils down to your inspection process, to determine if they are apropos for your circumstances.

You are exactly correct, you will not have to repack the bearings for many years.

 The Bearing Buddies have a pressurised reservoir that maintains a positive pressure on the grease that is supplied to both bearings. In fact a normal hub has an empty cavity that is open between the two bearing assys. When a BB is installed, this cavity is also filled with grease. This means that at no time, are the bearings starved of lubrication. During long term storage no grease will slough off, allowing the top of the bearings to rust. Because there is a pressurised source inside the seals, water and grit cannot enter, which normally destroys the seals and contaminates the grease.

When a bearing and hub are used or parked, the varying inside temperatures will draw air and moisture into the grease and bearings. A warm day turns into a cool night. The escaping daylight air is drawn back by the night air, laden with moisture. The empty cavity breathes just like your lungs. in a marine environment this is much more extreme.

A trailer is pulled at highway speeds, sometimes for hours. The hubs, tires and bearing are very hot, the grease is almost liquid. The trailer is then backed into a launching ramp and driven into the water. Everything hot is now instantly quenched. The surrounding water is a mixture of sand and other contaminates in a colloidal suspension. As the hub shrinks and the internal temps fall, the hub sucks the contaminated water past the bearing seals into the hub's cavity.

When the next time the trailer is used, the petroleum based grease is ruined from the water. The bearings are contaminated with the sand's grit. The trailers are usually found on the side of a road, and hour or so from where they left. The spindle may have burnt or broken, a bearing may have seized, the whole wheel assy may be laying on the shoulder of the road.

Bearing Buddies and synthetic greases have eliminated these problems and most common wheel bearing maintenance. Their protected bearings do not have to be regularly repacked, and unless the braking system needs attention, nothing is removed for tens of thousands of miles. One of my boat trailers now is 13 years old with no manual repacks and works perfectly after many high speed, long distance runs and frequent immersions.

A while back I bought an older used horse trailer. This Spring, if it ever warms up, new brake assys and bearings will be installed. At the same time, BBs will be added, to this last trailer of which I own without them. Then they too, will probably last longer than I'm around.