Vault bearing protectors just fell off

[WABOBO]

Has anyone had their vault bearing protectors/caps, unexpectedly fall off? Sorry if this is a known issue, but I did a search and nothing came up.

My neighbor at the lake has a 2011 air nautique with a tandem extreme trailer. I gave him a hand the other week bleeding the breaks for a caliper he replaced (caliper failed because a bolt fell out), and we noticed that 3/4 of the vault bearing protector caps had popped off. Two were completely gone, and the other had fallen off, but was behind the decorative rim cover...

He ended up replacing all 4 with bearing buddy's. The only explanation we can come up with is that air got trapped inside and pushed the covers off. Any other ideas of how this might have happened?

[Andrew63]

If they are removed from new, most people just tap them back on.

they are held in place with locktitewhich is noted in the Vault hybrid oil manual

during a trailer rebuild & considered sand blasting the axles & the blaster tried to remove the discs. Removed one cap & though it was too hard.Guess which cap I lost the next road trip as he just knocked it back on.

yes, I did mask the discs before blasting.

[kx250frider617]

Yes. I think they require a thin bead of silicone when knocking them back on. They can also pop off from too much hybrid grease, a rotor that's sticking causing excessive heat, or just installation error. I've never had any caps fall off. I used to only knock them on when I had the old bearing buddies. 

 

You should ask how fast he tows also. I bet excessive speed causing heat can cause that. I try and stay between 60-65 mph when towing. Those guys flying down the highway at 80+ are just asking for trouble.