Waterproofing swivel hubs?!

Hi guys and girls...

Thanks to advice received from this forum I know have my front axle rebuilt. HD shafts and CVs (trail gear) new kingpin bearings, wheel bearings and the trailmaster uprated swivel seals from jimnybits (the seal stretches and dont need to cut when fitting...look a lot better design) so I am pretty happy with the guts of my axle. The swivel balls were flatted and painted while apart. I was just wondering, as it was water ingress that had done most of the damage...next time I know I am going for a splash about, is there any advantage to greasing the swivel ball area or any other preventative measures? I dont want to pansy around sticking to the dry bits all winter! I have heard of the blue grease sold on here and found it on ebay too...but is that more for assembly? Tia, Mike.

bigjimny.com/store/waterproof-grease.html

the site shop sells that stuff and its good.

Dont over grease if your still on the vac hubs (I go mad on the CVs now as on manual hubs). 100g is all thas needed on the CVs normally. Kingpins will last about a year with gentle greenlaning and water, half that for the stuff I do usually

Won't do any harm to clean and grease around the swivel seals every now and again, but once you turn the wheel the seal will be broken anyway.

Thats what I thought...except for maybe filling some pitting as it smooths over. Like you say though, cant do any harm!

Cheers yeah the shop said it was out of stock so found the same on ebay. I think I went a bit mad water wise it was bonnet depth! I should have waded in first! Cant wait until it is just a toy and I dont need to rely on it as a daily! Was just worried now about water after spending so much on parts, but also why buy uprated parts then be scared to get dirty

It only takes a very small amount of water sat in the lower kingpin bearing to do the damage, and you won't ever stop that. It's easier just to count it as routine maintenance than to waste time and effort trying to stop the inevitable. Waterproof grease on assembly is a good idea, but trying to seal the swivel completely, or even replacing the swivel seals each time the bearings go, is a waste of time in my experience.

I put a little thought into this a while back
it went like this adapting the metal bolt on ring to take a large jubilee clip
and a gear stick gator from mk5/6 fiesta

them trail gear ones are very expensive