as far as im aware the covers are not airtight so the springs will still expand and grease the system ... ive been useing the oil filled bearing system and that working a treat too.

yeah you have to use the dust covers they seal up nicely when put on correctly & stop all the excess grease getting salt water all over them as well as protecting the grease nipples, just remember to wipe excess grease from the outside where the covers will sit & press gently on the centre once on all the way to the rim of the dust cover to get a good vacuum seal. p.s good luck in exmouth we just got back and had a blast !!

I put bearing buddies on my boat trailer and went up to steep point, somewhere along the way one of the buddies fell off so make sure you centre punch or something like that around the edges to keep them on.

Matt , the covers are for extra dust seal only, as the others said just put some grease around the inside edge before putting them on , then check they are still there every time you stop on a long run

I use the dust covers on my trailer and find it just helps to keep your wheel rims clean. I still grease and check my bearing buddies regularly.

got covers that screwinto the hub so they dont fall off and keep a water tight seal

I had a bearing buddy came apart and bearing died in two months. No longer a fan..  

mako

i used to build trailers for 15years and bearing buddies are good for short distances only...to explain

for them to work properly, the idea is to fill the hub with grease and therefor no water can get in...sounds good.

the hub/bearings are designed with a hollow area for heat dispertion, no hollow area more heat retained in the bearings.(heat is the major problem)

you do not fill the hub full of grease on a car and they are doing the same distance as your trailer.

but as i said, for local work i would/do use them, just stop a couple of time on your trip and check the wheels, especially the hubs, compair them to you car hubs and you will get the idea.

you have done the right thing by checking them before you head off, 90% of problems covered.

but when it comes down to it,,,,if you come home with the catch of your life, you wont give a shit about the trailer, even if the wheel did come off? it will just add to your story.

have fun, dont let frank out fish you?

cheers

Thats not nice Ronnie.

I use them on both my trailers, Both have been to karratha and back many times,

The only problem I have had is using cheap chinese knock off's, {cost me a set of discs and a axel, } The genuine BB are great,{from trailer parts} sure they cost more, they don't fall off or come apart. Both my boat/trailer are over 2t and I tow them at 100 the whole way.

One other item that may be of interest for long trips is  check your Wheel nuts.......

Did a trip up the coast two weeks running now, first without the boat second with the boat.

First trip noted LH rear tyre on cruiser was down a bit on air so pumped up and forgot.

Couple days later without rechecking drove north and thought the car was a bit slugish in the handling dept. Stopped and checked and same tyres down again. This time due to recent rain heard bubbling.... mmm so to the local servo for a fix only to discover that when I had the new tyres fitted some slack slack slack %^&%$%# in the tyre shop (Midvale in Perth) had fitted an odd sized recessed nut to this rim, I had two each four point wheel braces and socket sets etc and with a four foot bar - 1) couldn't get it on properly and 2) broke a socket trying.........

Back 50km to Geraldton and into Bridgestone where they fixed it and had the right long fitting socket to fit..... so I checked all the others under the caps I have on the rims, and this was the only one!!!!! Source of the leak was a fairly substantial nail that had disappeared into one of the fine lines on my Cooper ST

Point of the matters is; what if this had been in the middle of no-where or worse out on some isolated track 40 d C heat etc etc with a wheel nut I couldn't remove...

So if your getting anything done for long trips even from reputable dealers workshops etc ask them to show you what they have done, how they did it and check it yourself...