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h20 addict

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Hey Guys, I am having a little issue with a hub on my 2006 oil lube trailer hub, got water in it few weeks ago and replaced races, berrings, and seals. Rear seal was the rubber kind. Went to lake,
and looks like water in again. Anybody have any ideas for a fix. THANKS
 
All of the later model trailers that I know about have the Vortex hubs with the grease packed into the bearings. None the less, that rear seal or the front seal/housing has to be letting water get in there somewhere??
 
I have a 2012 Trailstar Trailer for my 2013 Z9 Nitro. Do I have to run the Vortex hubs for this trailer?
 
I had to replace one of my Vortex hub assembly's on my tandem trailer. the Vortex screw on cover cap had a hairline crack on it and was letter water seep into the hub causing the rear seal to go bad throwing off grease. I bought a whole new vortex asssembly and just installed it myself. There are two types of the vortex hubs- one is a straigt spindle setup the other fits a tapered spindle (wheel spendle is larger on the back and smaller on the front side. As far as I could see, there are only two units for the vortex hubs set up as described here. I went ahead a bought a seal kit, cleaned up the bad unit and regreased it, put back in the new package that the new hub came in to keep in my truck for a spare in case of an emergency.. The whole unit with everything it including the cover cap and seal- already greased was less than $80 new. To do this yourself- screw off the cover cap pull the nut keeper pin screw off the nut and pull the old unit off then just push the new set back onto the spindle and reverse the removal steps. Pretty much a no brainer- just don't overtighten the spindle nut that holds the unit in place- you can bind the bearings with too much pressure from the nut.

The Vortex hubs are grease filled- not oil filled. These are the only ones that I know about for Nitro/Tracker. When I bought my 2017, Z18, I got the Tandem trailer. Nitro might be using oil bath hubs on some trailers??

I've been happy with the Vortex system- I might have cracked the hub cover when rotating tires- I really don't know, but this is the only issue I've had and I"m at the end of 3 years running.
 
As Larry has stated, replacement is pretty easy. Note: always use marine grease. They specify a Lucas product (calcium sulfonate based).
BTW Larry, had the same issue with the plastic cap. It cracked about half-across in the threads. Lucky we noticed it before any damage. n
Vic
 
Trailer hubs are one thing I never neglect. If anything, I over-service them. The last thing I want is to be stuck on the side of the interstate with one of my trailers because of a bad bearing.
 
I had to replace one of my Vortex hub assembly's on my tandem trailer. the Vortex screw on cover cap had a hairline crack on it and was letter water seep into the hub causing the rear seal to go bad throwing off grease. I bought a whole new vortex asssembly and just installed it myself. There are two types of the vortex hubs- one is a straigt spindle setup the other fits a tapered spindle (wheel spendle is larger on the back and smaller on the front side. As far as I could see, there are only two units for the vortex hubs set up as described here. I went ahead a bought a seal kit, cleaned up the bad unit and regreased it, put back in the new package that the new hub came in to keep in my truck for a spare in case of an emergency.. The whole unit with everything it including the cover cap and seal- already greased was less than $80 new. To do this yourself- screw off the cover cap pull the nut keeper pin screw off the nut and pull the old unit off then just push the new set back onto the spindle and reverse the removal steps. Pretty much a no brainer- just don't overtighten the spindle nut that holds the unit in place- you can bind the bearings with too much pressure from the nut.

The Vortex hubs are grease filled- not oil filled. These are the only ones that I know about for Nitro/Tracker. When I bought my 2017, Z18, I got the Tandem trailer. Nitro might be using oil bath hubs on some trailers??

I've been happy with the Vortex system- I might have cracked the hub cover when rotating tires- I really don't know, but this is the only issue I've had and I"m at the end of 3 years running.
 

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