TOPIC:

I went to my local bearing house thinking I can get Timken bearings cheaper and for each wheel with the seal was going to run $80. Tried to find Timken's online and saw some on Amazon for cheap. Also read some reports that some company was producing “fake” Timken’s and selling for cheap. Seems suspicious that they were so inexpensive online. Finally I called Dexter Axle and asked if they would sell me bearings. They wouldn’t sell them to me direct but they did confirm they use Chinese made bearings. They said some vendors are better than others but the reality is OEM’s are likely using Dexter in many cases so they have imported bearings.

I own a 1999 Ski Nautique that I picked up 1.5 years ago. After doing the Lund Bearings and seeing some distress I decided to check the ski boat. It had ez hubs and when I popped the dust caps off there was no grease packed into the cap. There was grease on and around the bearing but none in the cap of either wheel. In other words they have never been purged or even greased since new in 1999. The bearings / races looked perfect. I cleaned them, re-packed with new seals and dust covers and will continue to use them. The bearings used in 1999 were made in China.

Always a good idea to check the inside of your wheel rims for grease and sledge. . If it is there, you have a bad seal, and need to get it fixed. If your wheels have any trailer play, tighten up the bearing and repack the wheel. Loosing a wheel at 70MPH is never good. The axles made by Dexter Axle have a grease zerk on the end of them, and they push grease into the inner bearing and back out the front of the hub to the front bearing. Changing grease can be as simple as pumping the old grease out, until you see new grease come out of the front of the hub. Bearing Buddies are another matter.. Be careful with them, not to over grease and push grease out of the seal in the back. If you have a wheel that is smoking, DON'T GRAB IT.. It is smoking for a reason, and I have seen them be RED HOT...

I had a wheel bearing go out on my Shorelander on the way to Lake Erie in June. Luckily it started smoking before I got too far out of town and could get over to my buddy's place to replace the bearings. Not a lot of places open early on Sunday morning but we managed to find a set and get back on the road. About a 3 hour delay, but far less than it could have been. I'm going to be a lot more careful from now on.

An ounce of prevention.....

What does this light mean?

Houston we have a problem!!

You screwed!!

That’s a night light

You need a new axle lol

dexter sells a "FULLY LOADED HUB KIT " COMES IN A SEALED PACKAGE WITH BEARINGS SEALES INSTALLED FULLY GREASES , CONSIDER THIS AS USEFULL AS A SPARE TIRE ANE WHEEL READY TO GO ON
YES WE STOCK A FEW OF THE MOST POPULAR SIZES