Pop up camper hubs. Could not get one side off.

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I worked on my popup camper’s hubs this weekend. It’s a small popup camper with simple hubs (no built in brakes). It’s under 2000 pounds. I popped off the left side with no problem. The grease looked green/gray, old and smelled terrible. I did not remove the inner wheel bearing but I did clean everything with brake cleaner. I repacked everything with Lucas X-TRA Heavy Duty Grease and put it back together with no issues.
On the right side I removed the grease cap and it looked quite a bit different. The grease looked new, kind of reddish purple and the cotter pin was different. I tried to pull off the hub but I could not. I wiped as much grease off and out of the bearing and really repacked the hub with Lucas X-TRA Heavy Duty Grease. I put it back together and spun the hub around a bunch of times. There seems to be a just little grease squeezing out from the grease cap every time I spin it??
Will that grease spin out too much? Do I need to get new grease caps?
I thought about getting barring bearing buddies for it but that is major overkill. I want this to be bullet proof so I don’t have to mess with it on the side of the road.
 
Remove nut, hit the back side of the hub with a hammer. If it's really not coming off there must be rust or something in there that needs to be addressed.

You should buy new seals so you can take the inside bearings out to clean and inspect.
 
Well I did not want to take all day and the last time I worked on trailer hubs was twenty years ago. I was a little afraid that I would mess up the inner bearings and it would take a few more hours to go and get new ones. I figured the new grease would work it way into the inner bearings.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Why didnt you do the inner bearings? They need to be repacked too.


I don't think anyone repacks the inner bearings. I did on my popup because those little 4.80-8 tires spin some serious RPMs on the highway and I don't want to wad a bearing.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Why didnt you do the inner bearings? They need to be repacked too.


I don't think anyone repacks the inner bearings. I did on my popup because those little 4.80-8 tires spin some serious RPMs on the highway and I don't want to wad a bearing.
I have never not packed them. Very easy to get apart and only takes 10 minutes longer to do it right.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: handyman
I figured the new grease would work it way into the inner bearings.
It wont


+1
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Why didnt you do the inner bearings? They need to be repacked too.


I don't think anyone repacks the inner bearings. I did on my popup because those little 4.80-8 tires spin some serious RPMs on the highway and I don't want to wad a bearing.
I have never not packed them. Very easy to get apart and only takes 10 minutes longer to do it right.


When I bought my camper the previous owners had the bearings "serviced". Which, apparently, mean that someone charged them to just take the dust cover off and put a bunch of grease in. I don't think it works quite like that ...
 
My first popup the owner had put on those Bearing Buddies. I decided I didn't need them so I pulled them. Found that while it was pumped full of grease it had not filled the area between bearings, much less made it to the inner bearings.

IMO reusing the inner seal but at least packing the bearing makes sense. A boat trailer really needs that seal replaced, to keep water out, but I suspect a "shot" seal will work well enough. Of course putting in new seals is best, but if it's a matter of forgetting or not finding, I'd err towards reusing after repacking the bearing just the same.
 
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