Rv , how often do you repack the bearing on your travel trailer ?

B

Baveux

Joined
May 25, 2003
Messages
734
Location
Quebec Canada
Dexter, Lipper are often recommending to lube the axle bearing at least once a year. Some are doing that through the easy lub zerks I personally think its ridiculous. Too much grease is not better that not enough ... to much grease can cause overheating

I do it every 3 to 4 years , I put 10000 km per years and I believe its more that sufficient.

I was using Lucas Xtra polyurea before but its not available anymore so Ill go with a synthetic grade 2 GC-LB

I am curious to know what is you repacking schedule and how you do it ... personnaly , I remove everything, wash everything, start with new grease , new seal pack the bearing, put a bit in the hub and the caps and thats it ... so far its working for me
 
Being as mine is just now a year old, with probably less than 5k on the bearings I am using the EZ Lube this year and probably next and will judge from there. I will plan eventually on tearing them down and inspecting/cleaning them, but no time soon.
 
@Baveux I’ve had my camper since 2016. I just pulled the bearings apart this spring to clean and repack them. I’ve used the ez lube system every year before this one. Things looked good for the most part. Of the 4 wheels, 2 had leaked some grease but not enough to damage brakes. I cleaned everything up, repacked the bearings and put it all back together. For good measure I pumped some grease through the ez lube system prior to lowering the axle back down. I want to know the system is primed and ready for grease next time.

I would estimate I put 30k miles on my 36’ TT before repacking. I’ve put about 2k on it this year and all is good. I’ll keep using the ez lube system. I think I created my issue by taking a short cut before a trip. I didn’t raise the wheel and spin them when greasing. I just pumped a few shots of grease in each zerk. I think sometimes you get lucky, obviously I was 50%.

Just my $0.02
 
I've had 3 travel trailers. The first had an alko axle. I repacked every 2 years.
My next travel trailer was a tandem axle hybrid with Dexter EZ lube axles. It was a 2005 model I bought new. I greased the axles each year using the ez-lube zerks. I never repacked the axles. I had it until 2018 when a snow storm collapsed the carport over it totalling it.
My current trailer has ez lube axles. I will keep the same regimen.
Yearly I pump grease slowly with a manual grease gun , while spinning the wheel, till fresh grease comes out the exit hub.
 
Yep, it's pretty trivial to just lift the axle one wheel at a time. I lift at the spring mount, pump and spin, and move on.
 
looks like Im the only not who doesn't like to fill the bearing location full of grease :-)
It takes a uge amount of useless grease to fill the gap in between the bearing location ,and I am afraid that will contribute to overheatthe bearing since there is no air gap to cool them down but hey to each is own , if that works for you why not, thanks for your input guys you make me think now ...
 
Baveux said:
looks like Im the only not who doesn't like to fill the bearing location full of grease :)
It takes a uge amount of useless grease to fill the gap in between the bearing location ,and I am afraid that will contribute to overheatthe bearing since there is no air gap to cool them down but hey to each is own , if that works for you why not, thanks for your input guys you make me think now ...
Click to expand...
That is true, it does take a pile of useless grease, can't argue that.

But.

There's no airflow in there in the first place, so the cooling thing really doesn't make a ton of sense. You'd lose more heat from the metal-to-metal contact parts, than dissipating it through that little bit of air in the middle of the hub. Grease would be a better medium to transport the heat through to the surrounding hub parts as well.

Not saying it is ideal, but I'd bet the heat difference between the two is negligible.
 
see , :-) you made me think too much and I had to made some research ...here is a few recommendations from manufacturer



( SKF )
Can you put too much grease in wheel bearing?

By putting too much grease in a bearing, you can create heat from fluid friction. Because the heat has nowhere to go, it can begin to degrade the grease by causing too much churning.


( Timken ) Grease Fill Procedures: Pack grease lubrication into the bearing between the rollers and cage (Fig. 1). Force grease from the large end to the small end to ensure proper distribution. You can use a mechanical grease packer (Fig. 2). Excess grease should be smeared on the outside of the rollers. Ample space is essential in the housing to allow room for excess grease to be thrown from the bearing. It is equally important to retain the grease around the bearing. For traditional greases (NLGI Nos. 1 and 2), pump a ring of grease into the entire circumference of the wheel hub and coat the hub cap inner wall. The housing should only be half full of grease. Too much grease causes churning and higher temperatures.


So .... there is more than one way to do that job ... so if you have succès with yours ,,, keep it :-) and thanks for your input guys
 
I just put a new axle under our one trailer last year. The new axle has the ez lube spindles with the grease zerks. I took the zerks off because I have no intentions of ever using them. Its not hard to pull the hubs and repack the bearings. Plus I don't want a hub chock full of grease.
 
I got lazy made an axle with EZlube spindles for my trailer. About once a year I pump in enough grease to make the grease plug move. I'll redo them when the spindle seal wears out.
 
I have to get to mine before my fall trip to the mountains. I am fairly certain my Dexter axels have the EZ Lube system, however the wheels on my rig have a center cap so I believe I am going to have to remove my wheels to get to the zerk. Is this correct?

(These are my old Westlake tires. I've since upgraded to Goodyear Endurance)

westlakest2357515.webp
 
sohccammer427 said:
I have to get to mine before my fall trip to the mountains. I am fairly certain my Dexter axels have the EZ Lube system, however the wheels on my rig have a center cap so I believe I am going to have to remove my wheels to get to the zerk. Is this correct?

(These are my old Westlake tires. I've since upgraded to Goodyear Endurance)

View attachment 169120
Click to expand...
You can probably pop the center cap off. At least, that the way mine are made.

1690500756623.webp


Only close up picture I have of mine, the center cap pops right off.
 
ctechbob said:
You can probably pop the center cap off. At least, that the way mine are made.

View attachment 169154

Only close up picture I have of mine, the center cap pops right off.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that. I've not really examined those caps yet and that would make sense. And I did just zoom in on the center caps on mine and it does appear there is a removable center cap! Great no removing wheels, just raising enough to spin them!
 
This debate rages on many RV forums and on YT. According to Dexter the bearings should be cleaned and repacked every year or 12k miles. I tend to go by what the manufacturers state since they designed, built and warranty the product I think they have the most skin in the game.
Some things I have learned over the years:
overzealous use of the EZ lube will blow seals, my last 3 trailers had the seals blown and grease all over the brakes when I took delivery.
EZ lube was created for the boat trailer market to enable pushing out contaminated grease between repacks.
EZ lube was not created for the RV or general purpose trailers although it has been adopted by both. this is straight from Bill Snyder, Dexters national training coordinator, He went on to say that he thought RV makers used it as a false marketing tool since it saves time.
He also stated that the first repack was very important in order to check components, make brake adjustments and set the bearing load. The bearing reset was important to take up any slack after the bearings were mated.

My contention is that a properly serviced bearing assembly should not require additional grease between services.
These are the same type of bearings used on most light trucks and cars from the 60's up until unit hubs became popular. Those never required added grease between servicing.

As you can tell I am not an EZ lube fanboy.

 
Baveux said:
see , :) you made me think too much and I had to made some research ...here is a few recommendations from manufacturer



( SKF )
Can you put too much grease in wheel bearing?

By putting too much grease in a bearing, you can create heat from fluid friction. Because the heat has nowhere to go, it can begin to degrade the grease by causing too much churning.


( Timken ) Grease Fill Procedures: Pack grease lubrication into the bearing between the rollers and cage (Fig. 1). Force grease from the large end to the small end to ensure proper distribution. You can use a mechanical grease packer (Fig. 2). Excess grease should be smeared on the outside of the rollers. Ample space is essential in the housing to allow room for excess grease to be thrown from the bearing. It is equally important to retain the grease around the bearing. For traditional greases (NLGI Nos. 1 and 2), pump a ring of grease into the entire circumference of the wheel hub and coat the hub cap inner wall. The housing should only be half full of grease. Too much grease causes churning and higher temperatures.


So .... there is more than one way to do that job ... so if you have succès with yours ,,, keep it :) and thanks for your input guys
Click to expand...

Millions of miles of boat trailers up and down the NJ highways, would disagree. Heck, they make caps with springs on them to keep grease under pressure, up against the bearings. I made my own "EZ lube" system and we pack the grease completely, from inside to out, jammed packed full of grease on purpose, to keep water out.

I also used to the same thing on my street driven mud trucks back in the day. The entire front 4WD hub and locking mechnism was jammed full of grease.
 
Has anyone ever packed wheel bearings, drove the vehicle for a short test drive, and then disassembled the bearing pack again? You won’t find any grease inside the bearing. It gets pushed/slung out and into the hub.
In my opinion the grease has to heat up to almost a liquid and flow before it begins to lube the bearing and races. Is it worth it to clean, inspect, and reapply grease in bearings? Absolutely. If you add so much that it is leaking that isn’t good. Remember most vehicles these days have sealed hub bearings. If your board, cut one open. There’s very little grease in and around the bearing. Just use really high quality grease and you can go years with just a gentle pump on those trailer bearing buddies and/or axle zerks.
 
OX1 said:
Millions of miles of boat trailers up and down the NJ highways, would disagree. Heck, they make caps with springs on them to keep grease under pressure, up against the bearings. I made my own "EZ lube" system and we pack the grease completely, from inside to out, jammed packed full of grease on purpose, to keep water out.

I also used to the same thing on my street driven mud trucks back in the day. The entire front 4WD hub and locking mechnism was jammed full of grease.
Click to expand...
Please pass the information to SKF and Timken, i Think they have it all wrong :-)
 
Do we lube a utility trailer by time or mileage?

Does the grease harden over time or if the utility trailer is not used much?
 
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