Switching oil bath hubs to grease

Even on a goose neck that seems way low. Try a new bearing and race yet? matched set not just a race or bearing, old and new don't mesh well

 

Check the specs with a mic on axle/hub assembly?try to figure out root cause 1st

 

i suppose you could use wheel bearing grease, use hi temp synthetic. you may want to clean and repack them from time to time, depending on how many miles you put on that trailer.

also too, by using grease, i think you lessen the chances of oil soaked brakes from catching fire. that happened to me once at an LTL carrier i was with, seal let go, and "poof"...

 

The grease trick works very well as a temporary fix.

I just packed one of my steer hubs with grease this week so I could get back home to change the seal. Worked perfect.

I would not do it on a permanent basis with an oil bath hub. If the manufacturer wanted it greased instead of oiled, they would specify that.

Try contacting the manufacturer of the trailer or whatever type seal you’re using. See what their typical life expectancy is before you burn up your bearings by using the wrong lubricant.

Trick # 2.. use at your own risk..
If and when the seal leaks on the brake lining, back off the slack adjusters on that axle so that brake lining doesn’t create friction/heat against the drum. If that axle isn’t able to be adjusted, you’re SOL and you can ignore that advice.

 

You might want to try a better quality seal, Dexter 10k oil bath seal National part # 370150A. There are only 2 choices at trailer part stores, the red seal (metal back) or black seal (rubber back). The rubber-back seal is made in Taiwan and it will spin on its back once the rubber deteriorates causing a complete loss of oil pretty quickly. The red seal is made in China it won't spin on its back and it leaks slowly once it's gone bad. Nowadays it's hard to get good quality parts everyone tries to make the cheapest crap it's a race to the bottom, no one is stocking good quality parts anymore you might have to go online to get good quality parts. I use eBay or rockauto.com exclusively if I can wait for the parts.
When installing the seal use a shop press so that the seal is perfectly flat against the hub, you might also want to use anaerobic sealant on the seal's back to prevent leak (out the back of the seal) and definitely use anaerobic sealant if the seal has rubber back. Also fill the oil til the line 'oil level' and no more, change the rubber plug at center of the oil cap if the rubber has harden there is a cut center of the plug to allow the hub to 'breathe'.
The National-Mogul seal part # 370150A is made in Mexico.