Vault bearing system questions

[Freespool]

Hello all,
I am shopping for trailer options. One manufacturer is recommending the vault bearing system instead of the traditional bearing buddy system. I plan on putting a good deal of miles on the trailer. I live in California and plan to trailer to Baja.
I am very familiar with the process of repacking bearings on the side of the Baja highway. I have concerns that if I have a bearing problem or issue that arises on the side of the road I will not be able to fix it myself with the vault bearing system. Any thoughts?

Also, any thoughts on Nextrail trailers?

 

[warthog5]

I had to look this up, as It's the first I've heard of this system.

http://www.pacifictrailers.com/The-VAUL ... on-System/

What I would say is if a seal starts to leak your screwed. The oil bath systems have been tried in the past.

First let me give you a little education on trailer hubs and lubing.

Forget BEARING BUDDIES! They are old school and really don't work well. This is because if you keep pumping grease into the hub you will eventually blow the seal out. There is also a good chance that the grease doesn't reach the inner bearing and the inner bearing is the one that will fail.

Posi Lube.....also called Sure Lube. Is what you want.

It can be ID by the Hub cap with the rubber plug in it.

Looking at the drawing. The spindle is Gun drilled it's length and then cross drilled right between the seal and the inner bearing. The Hyd pressure of the grease gun replaces old grease with new grease and also removes any foreign matter. It does not put pressure on the seal to Blow it out. You can literally put the hub together dry and pack the bearings with this system all together. NEVER try that with BEARING BUDDIES.

Lets go a step farther. I've been trying to educate people about this for a LOT of years.

The term BEARING BUDDY is thrown around a lot. It is a product that it's name is now used to ID all trailer hub lube systems. Kinda like the term COKE.

BUT Please don't do that. What you can do with one system you can NOT do with the other. There is a BIG difference. The only thing the same is bearings and grease are involved.

You want the Posi Lube system.

 

[windknotnc]

I agree with SurLube or Posi Lube...I have had multiple hub failures over the years and most have been traced back to rear seal leakage from over lubing or loss of a "Buddy Bearing" and slinging grease out of the hub. I trailered from NC to Marathon and back, 2000 miles, before Christmas with no temp or lube issues on the SurLube system.

 

[big tuna]

Have Vault hubs on my trailer. Over 2,000 miles with no issues.

 

[Freespool]

Thank you ull for taking the time to respond. You have caused me to rethink how I am going to have the trailer built.

 

[warthog5]

FWIW.... I've seen a lot of trailers that had oil filled hubs. Not the type you ask about here. Eventually they leaked. Fortunately the manufacture used axles that had Posi Lube spindles on them. A Zerk fitting was installed and the hub cap changed. Grease was added and went on about their way and just kept greasing them.