trailer brakes

the bearing buddys are just pressed on like the dust caps would be just a little harder to get off.

After I get the buddy bearing off, will the hub just slide off or is there a retaining nut of some sort?

Here are the steps you should take:
1. Remove bearing buddy (see above).
2. Remove cotter pin from spindle/castle nut.
3. Remove castle nut and washer.
4. Pull off drum/hub assembly.
5. Clean roller bearings, washer, nut, spindle, hub. Inspect roller bearings for pitting, discoloration and scaling. Replace if any signs of either are present.
6. If bearings are bad, pull seal and drive out bearing races with drift punch. Work around perimeter of race and go slow.
7. Purchase trailer seal (NOT AUTOMOTIVE SEAL). Trailer seals have double lip to prevent water from entering bearings. Purchase same size bearings and races (auto bearings ok).
8. Install races. Ensure fully seated in hub.
9. Pack inner roller bearing with grease and install in race.
10. Fill back side of seal cavity with grease to prevent spring from falling out. Install seal. Use a block of wood to protect seal while carefully hammering in the seal.
11. Install hub on spindle. Mostly fill cavity with grease. Pack outer bearing with grease and install bearing on spindle.
12. Install washer on spindle.
13. Install castle nut on spindle and hand tighten. Spin hub/drum assembly several times. Hand tighten castle nut. Tighten castle nut just a bit with wrench to ensure bearings are seated fully (while spinning hub/drum). Back off castle nut. Hand tighten castle nut. Use wrench to find next slot for cotter pin. Install cotter pin.
14. Install bearing buddy by tapping around outer edge with hammer.
15. Using grease gun, fill bearing cavity until the bearing buddy piston just begins to float off its seat. DO NOT OVERFILL WITH GREASE, or you risk blowing out seal. Pull the trailer a few miles and ensure bearing buddy piston is still floating just off seat. If not, add a bit more grease.

Done.

<edit> Almost forgot, I use a large socket to hammer in races. Avoid using the drift punch or you risk damaging the race. If you do not have a large socket, use the largest one you have and go around the perimeter.

Installing races, you can also turn the old race around and put the outer edge of the old race on the outer edge of the new race. Then just tap around the perimeter of the old race with a hammer/mallet untill the new race bottoms out in hub. Grab the old race with channel locks or similar and pull the old race out.

Fini! Works great and I've never had any trouble removing the old race with this approach.

Agree. Just giving the full proceedure in case he found something wrong.

This sounds like it's gonna be fun.

Thanks for all the input.

79nautique wrote: just don't worry about the brake issue right now tend to that in the off season. There's really not a lot of weight to these boats and the trailer brakes are nice but not truely needed.

I drive a Dodge RAM 1500 extended cab with a 4" lift and large wheels/tires. It doesn't stop very quickly by itself. When I add the boat, it takes a very long distance to stop, especially at highway speeds. If someone or something were to pull out in front of me, there's no way I could get stopped. I've had the brakes rebuilt on the truck and switched to higher performance pads, but it's no better.

your main issue is the over sized wheels on the truck and not replacing the calibers and rotors with larger ones to compensate for the wheel mass. Same issue the guys that install the 22" and 24" rims and do nothing to the brakes to stop the rolling mass from the larger diameter wheels. I don't have and issue with my colorado pulling or stoping the boat.

79nautique wrote: your main issue is the over sized wheels on the truck and not replacing the calibers and rotors with larger ones to compensate for the wheel mass. Same issue the guys that install the 22" and 24" rims and do nothing to the brakes to stop the rolling mass from the larger diameter wheels. I don't have and issue with my colorado pulling or stoping the boat.

I agree with on that one. The other problem I have is that my wheels are 15", so I can't go to a larger size rotor. I just got back into to the boat business, but my last setup from about 10 yrs ago was a 2001 model SN and I pulled with a Toyota 4x4 extended cab. I had no problems stopping that even after screwing up the surge brakes as noted in the previous post. Maybe this is a good excuse to buy new wheels and tires!!

One more thing. On my 93 the brake lines rusted and leaked. CC put steel lines inside the tube trailer with no paint on them if your in salt water they won't last. You can get stainless but the flaring is hard it will last....

Most likely you are going to have to pull one side get the numbers off one then head to NAPA to get the parts.