Hoping someone can shed some light on what I should do here.
So the trailer for our 12 foot boat is ancient. It should probably be in a museum. We mainly use it up at our cabin so I don't care that is looks a bit ghetto. I do try and keep it in good shape though, especially the wheel bearings.
Since we bought the boat + trailer 5 or so years ago I have serviced the bearings 3 times. The first time I replaced all bearings, races, and seals. the 2nd time cleaned everything and repacked with fresh grease, the 3rd time a week or so ago I replaced all bearings, races and seals again as were showing some signs of breakdown, and I figure the parts are cheap so why not just replace it all and keep everything smooth and tip top.
To back up a bit, I noticed when doing the job in prior years that the dust cap that the kit comes with will NOT tap into the "female end." If you hold it up to the old dented cap that is probably original to the trailer it LOOKS identical, but it the old one must be a hair smaller as they tap in fine, whereas the new ones will not fit.
I figured, meh, who cares I'll just keep reusing the old dust caps, no biggie.
So when I'm doing the job the other day the ones cap taps on no problem. Seems nice and tight. The other one will not tap in!!! I think there might have been a bit of excess grease in there or something. I gave it a wipe inside and it seemed to tap in fine after that.
HOWEVER, I took the boat out to the lake today for a spin. Lost a dust cap somewhere on the trip!! I noticed leaving for the day when I was strapping the boat down. I'm guessing the cap came off on my way to the lake, which means the wheel would have been submerged not once but TWICE with no dust cap on
I didn't panic as I always use waterproof grease and figured since I just did the job there would still be lots of grease left in there for the drive home. No issues driving home 75 or so km.
But, I need to fix this. Any ideas? I saved a few of the dust caps but as I said they seem a hair too big. You can tap them all you want they will not seat in there. I was thinking maybe try to file off a bit of metal around the whole circumference of the "male end" of the cap and keep at this until it taps in.
Anyone have a better idea? And any words of wisdom for not having your dust caps pop off in the 1st place?