The old ive got bearing buddies she'll be right.

We got bearing buddies on our trailer, however, was told by trailer expert to be careful using them or remove them altogether. Essentially if you pump them up to much you end up pushing out the back seal with obvious consequences. A couple of pumps of grease occasionally is all you need. Other than that you will still need to check and re-grease the bearings the old fashioned way from time to time.

 and he told me to shut my mouth

 Bearing buddies are great but you still have to maintain your bearings !!

Pre load is the adjustment you need to keep on top of !!

Keep your bearings full of grease, adjusted properly and you will have no troubles.

 "she'll be right, don't need to spend all that money"--well, on the motor side, if it craps out in the river, no big deal just inconvenience and work for the people who have to come to your aid..I bought a 6m boat in Perth once, owner assured me " the bearings had just been done" Wouldn't have trusted him anyway, would've checked them if I were towing it 600kms home,  but the boat had to go home on the freight as I only had the Liberty with me. 

Unloaded at home, checked the bearings--Yup, full of emulsified grease and F**ckd.  Honest to God, I have seen someone giving what he considered to be wise and experienced advice, on another forum, complete with pics, when a newbie asked when to replace bearings. He had a picture of rusted bearings and dark brown grease --that was when you need to replace them, not before. I tore strips off the dickhead and said i hoped none of mine or me ever had to share a road with him and his trailer. This shit kills people, and usually someone innocent who is in the wrong place and time.

And BTW, I will argue , yet again, with people who say you are wrecking MARINE bearing seals by "overgreasing " the bearings. marine seals NEED that grease out in the labyrinth to keep water from the inners, which will always be the ones to go first. Outers never will, buddies won't let any water in there. If you are talking about conventional seals, yes, but marine, no. And conventionals will see your inner bearings fu*8ed in 12 months anyway if you use your boat regularly, regardless of how you grease them.

 I won't use bearing buddies because they give in my opinion a false sense of security. I just replace the lot once a year and gives me peace of mind. I keep the year before bearings etc for spares. They are relatively inexpensive considering what their purpose is and not a hard job at all. 

spot on sea-kem, just replace them for peace of mind...especially if you are doing long runs its one less thing to worry about

how can you tell if you have them if you have never had a trailer that big before, my last trailer was for a jetski. When I get home I will have a look I guess.

I use genuine bearing buddies but also swap out my bearings and regrease every 12 months and just did this and the existing grease in the hub was still perfect. I just give the bearing buddies enough grease so that the spring just starts popping out. 

When I head down south I carry a little infrared thermometre with me and check the hub temps whenever I stop.

 The ones that come with them, meant as a dust cap. So many people seeem to discard them, but I find that I never have water in the inners.edit outers  I did have issues with some inners last year--I bought some bearing kits from Covs, and the seal were just absolutely useless, total mismatch of size to the SS cup they run in. I posted on here about it with a picture of the kit warning people to keep away. I found water in the bearings after putting it in the water about 3 times. I normally remove, check and repack every 12 months. I have gone as long as 3 years on a set  , and only replaced them, after visual and audible inspection showed them as good, because, well, they had done 3 hard years. 

We will have to agree to disagree on the marine vs road seals--Road seals will have water in them in a year, IMHE unless you only use the boat a few times a year. I had to replace a set some years ago, could only get three marine seal and one ordinary--checked 12 months later, inner on the ordinary was water damaged, other three were fine. Nuff said. And yes, at every stop put your hand on them as soon as you stop, and have a soft hammer handy to tap them all back in if they need it. Even with proper dimpling on the caps, they's still work a little with road vibration over a long distance at speed.

 Ranmar l never said anything regarding standard oil seals or road seals as you called them. My point was about marine seals and your comments regarding them. 

I 100% agree with you on the oil seals on boat trailer. 

For anyone interested the City of Stirling will be offering free trailer checks as well as vehicle safety checks in the Bunnings Balcatta carpark on the 8th April just before easter. I'll create a post about it once the details are all firmed up

What ever ones you use upon arrival at the ramp it pays to let them sit and cool before backing into the water - otherwise the hot grease cools/shrinks and sucks in water regardless - once water gets in its only a matter of time.