Oil Bath or greased hub?

[onefishtwofish]

I could not get the set screw out of my oil bath hub (one of them anyways - the other did fine). I tried an Easy Out, but could not get enough purchase to tap the metal for a larger set screw. Luckily my boat guy is just a couple of miles down the road.

So I will probably need a new hub if he can't tap the current hub. I know it will be cheaper to just replace the current hub with a oil bath rather than two greased hubs. I like the idea of the low maintenance and the easy checking of the oil bath hubs, but I would love to hear some horror stories or some success stories of the oil bath. This is an 01 trailer and as far as I know they are orignal hubs (Ranger). Jacking up the trailer, taking off the wheel and cleaning out the old oil and putting in fresh was WAY easier than packing a hub FWIW. The first side took maybe 20 minutes and that included getting out the impact wrench.

Any thoughts anyone?

[FUTCHCAIRO]

I HAVE BEEN USING OIL BATH HUBS FOR 30 YRS. AND I HAVE NEVER HAD TO REPLACE A BEARING. WE RAN 200 EIGHTEENWHEELERS BEFORE I RETIRED AND WE USED OIL BATH ON ALL OF THE TRUCKS AND TRAILERS. I DON'T REMEMBER EVER HAVING TO REPLACE THE FIRST WHEEL BEARING.
PA
SEMPER FI

[Dubble Trubble]

Here is an informative read on the subject.


http://www.pacifictrailers.com/index.cf ... &typeID=91


Personally, I use grease and bearing buddies to keep a positive pressure on the hub and keep water out.

To each his own.

Dubble