lost or stolen bearing buddies?

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WhiteMoose

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Put my boat in the river for the first time this year last week. Everything went fine until I went to take my boat out and when I was strapping everything down to leave, I noticed that BOTH of my bearing buddies were missing and all the grease was pouring out. I know they were there when I left the house because I gave them a shot of grease that morning. I've had these in for over a year with no problems, so I find it really suspicious that both of them would fall out on the same trip. The ramp I was at is off the beaten track and there are some questionable people there sometimes. I'm thinking that someone ripped them off while I was out catching catfish. :evil:

Well I limped home and re-packed the bearings using new grease caps from Bass Pro because I couldn't find anywhere that carried bearing buddies in my area and I had an outing planned the next day so I couldn't wait for a mail order. I hope the Bass Pro caps perform as well.
 
I would have to agree that some sleaze bag stole your BB, what's the chance of both of them falling out on the same trip when you haven't had any problems with them.

I could say more but will refrain as this is a family forum
 
I just think it would be a weird thing for someone to steal. I mean they aren't worth THAT much. They could have broke the window in my car and gotten some better loot, and they would have had to have a mallet to get them out. I guess I wouldn't put it past people these days though.
 
I only had about a 15 mile drive, so I just took it slow. I stopped to check them halfway and they wern't hot yet.
Looking back, I should have just put some duct tape over them. #-o
 
Again, this is another good reason for tack welding the BB to the hub. Not only can impact with potholes jar bearing buddies loose, but also because people will steal ANYTHING. A set of bearing buddies is only 20 bucks, but that's a hit of rock for a crackhead thief.

Just the other day, I had to tack weld the nuts onto the bolts for the trailer jack on a man's trailer. Seems the last time he was at the public boat ramp, some smelly ball of anal lint (and that's putting it nicely) stole the jack from his trailer. I've heard of people parking at that same ramp, coming back to find their catalytic converter cut off and stolen. I hate a thief. Only good one is one with a 44 magnum slug through his dome.
 
Some years back I lost both the bb off a trailer. 60 miles from nowhere in the Superior National Forest. 20 miles of gravel road and 15 miles of forest logging road was the cause. I cut some mt. dew cans in half and duct taped them over the hubs. Made it home (300 miles) no problem after a week in the wilderness.
 
I had my trailer tag stole acouple weeks ago. To bad for them it went dead 3 days later. Theifs will steal just for the hell of it.
 
i had an aluminum tool box that was bolted to the box of my work truck stolen in broad daylight right on the side of a busy road ,i was only gone 20 min. crackheds stole it for scrap.good thing it was the company truck not mine.
 
It's too bad that US laws don;t provide for harsh punishment of thieves, like they do in the Middle East.

But instead of taking off the hand cleanly, my suggestion would be to lay the thief's hand out on a steel table, then take a 2 pound cross-peen hammer, and smash each finger into hamburger, one at a time.

If they do it again, do the same thing to the other hand. And if that doesn't work..... well, they've got 10 toes, we can start on that. Can't do much stealing without hands or feet can they?

(If you think that's evil, you should hear my suggested punishment for rapists and child molesters) :twisted:
 
That does seem like such an odd item to steal.

I have never lost one on my single axle trailer. I have an older dual axle trailer (ez-loader) that has 4 bearing buddies. I trailer the boat 150 miles, twice a year. On each trip, one or two of the bearing buddies come off. I don't loose them, since this trailer is so old it has hub caps. :)

PS: Having them tack welded, sounds like a great idea.
 
I solved mine by taking a cold chisel and putting a couple of burrs on the tapered part of the bb.

Seems like spare tires are the hottest items stole around here. Last year I launched in New Orleans and someone took all of my hangers/brackets off my trailer. at least they left my bunk boards :roll: . I still havent figured that one out. If you leave your truck in the wrong spot in New Orleans, feel lucky if its just sitting on blocks with no wheels when you return.
 
Here's one for you. Last Friday I took the two youngest Grandsons to a small lake about 75 miles south of me. This place is so out of the way that only the locals and a few of us outsiders know about it. Gravel road to a gravel ramp. I launched the boat, parked the truck and trailer out of the way,in the weeds. Fished all day,and loaded up the boat. When I got home and unhooked the trailer,I noticed the plastic cap off of the tongue jack was gone. There was only 3 other groups there besides us. One of the jerks snatched it,because they just don't fall off. Worst part of it was that I went to Wallyworld and bought a pair of BB covers for $2.49,that covered the tube perfectly. I just hope the jerk broke the cap getting it off,rendering it useless. I guess I should be lucky they didn't steal my "Ultimate Bunkboards". Then I would have been out over $100 instead of just $2.50.
 
Wow that really sucks. I would be more concerned about damaging the bearings and races on the way home rather than the $20 for new BB. I really don't see them so easy to be stolen. Some times those suckers take a lot of banding with a hammer to get out, plus they had to be filthy with grease. I don't understand why he didn't steal something that is easier to take and cleaner. I have been lucky with the thieves, never have had a problem. Although in the winter I take off the jack, and both tires to prevent anyone from taking that stuff while I am not near the boat for a few months.
 
WhiteMoose said:
... I know they were there when I left the house because I gave them a shot of grease that morning. ....

I had a set on a personal watercraft trailer that would push themselves off if they were overfilled with grease. I would think that they would be way down the list of things for a thief to steel, but it really wouldn't surprise me.

sf
 
Hard to believe grease pressure would blow the BB off the hub before it would blow out the inside seals.

Most of the better designs have a small vent hole for the grease, so the pressure will let off from this point, before it damages a seal.
 
PSG-1 said:
Hard to believe grease pressure would blow the BB off the hub before it would blow out the inside seals.

Most of the better designs have a small vent hole for the grease, so the pressure will let off from this point, before it damages a seal.

Yep, didn't take me long to replace them with a better set.
 
PSG-1 said:
Again, this is another good reason for tack welding the BB to the hub. Not only can impact with potholes jar bearing buddies loose, but also because people will steal ANYTHING. A set of bearing buddies is only 20 bucks, but that's a hit of rock for a crackhead thief.

Just the other day, I had to tack weld the nuts onto the bolts for the trailer jack on a man's trailer. Seems the last time he was at the public boat ramp, some smelly ball of anal lint (and that's putting it nicely) stole the jack from his trailer. I've heard of people parking at that same ramp, coming back to find their catalytic converter cut off and stolen. I hate a thief. Only good one is one with a 44 magnum slug through his dome.


x2
 
WhiteMoose said:
I just think it would be a weird thing for someone to steal. I mean they aren't worth THAT much. They could have broke the window in my car and gotten some better loot, and they would have had to have a mallet to get them out. I guess I wouldn't put it past people these days though.

yep, a mallet and large screwdriver or something to start prying them. perhaps they were overfilled and grease expanded when hot and pushed against them?
bumpy
 

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