TAB 320 periodic brake inspection and wheel bearing repack

Lauinger

Can the annual brake inspection, chassis lube and wheel bearing repack be performed by a general auto service shop or is there more technical expertise required by an RV repair shop or dealer?  

4ncar

If you have a good and trusted mechanic, then yes, they can easily perform these tasks.  Drum brakes, though not as common as they once were should be well within a good mechanics ability.  Wheel bearings are wheel bearings.

Marceline

I bring mine to a good wheel & tire shop. 

tabiphile

@Lauinger....any trained mechanic and most shade tree mechanics can do the brake and bearing service on your 320...but most service shops will not have an interest in it. RV and trailer service is a different gig. RV's take up a lot of room and won't fit in their bays, need to be moved around, require parts that their normal automotive suppliers won't have etc. Your best bet for service is to locate a local trailer and or RV service business.
Trailer service is a specialized business. 
Having said that, if you have any mechanical aptitude and if you are willing to buy a few basic tools you can easily perform these services yourself.
If you can remove a wheel, you can remove the hubs. If you can remove the hubs you can repack and re-seal the bearings.
Brakes on these are quite straight forward...if you were able to get through the first couple chapters of John Muir you can deal with the brakes.....
The tools..a couple sockets, a torque wrench, breaker bar, a ball peen hammer, a screwdriver and a scrap piece of two x four, floor jack and jack stands, brake spring hook, brake star wheel adjuster and a pair of needle nose pliers are all you need for tools. It's actually a pleasant (albeit messy) way to get in tune with your small home.

Bayliss

@Lauinger, considering the long delays in obtaining RV repairs at RV centers or repair shops, I recommend that you go to a local dealer that sells and services small trailers, such as flatbed trailers.  You are likely to be scheduled for service much sooner.  That is what I have done and they did a good job.  There is nothing unique about servicing a T@B than any other single-axle trailer.  I just confirmed that they used a Lithium Complex grease (e.g., Valvoline Multi-Purpose GM Blend grease) like nuCamp uses.  Generally, brake adjustment is part of the service.

Denny16

We had our TaB400 serviced by a regular trailer service shop to have the bearings repacked and brakes adjusted. 

Cheers

Sharon_is_SAM

Just make sure they know where to not place a jack.

Lauinger

Thanks for all the comments!!

trimtab

So the Zerk fittings on my 2020 320 are next to useless?  Why did they put them on?  We only did 6 trips instate last year, don't think I am ready for a hand packing.

4ncar

trimtab said:

So the Zerk fittings on my 2020 320 are next to useless?  Why did they put them on?  We only did 6 trips instate last year, don't think I am ready for a hand packing.

Why do you say they are useless? They are fantastic, as far as I am concerned.🤷🏻‍♂️

gulfarea

I owned a garage for 31 years, they are not useless! I never had a bad bearing job come in that had good grease still in it. If you pump in grease into them you will be very surprised how much new grease goes in before they are really filled. ART 

NovaTab

FIY a trick I learned years ago was to put the bearing in a sandwich bag add a glob of grease then with hands work the grease in all the mess stay in the bag keeping your hands clean.
Too many so called mechanics just coat the outside of bearing without working the grease in.

Tampakayaker

NovaTab said:

FIY a trick I learned years ago was to put the bearing in a sandwich bag add a glob of grease then with hands work the grease in all the mess stay in the bag keeping your hands clean.
Too many so called mechanics just coat the outside of bearing without working the grease in.

The way I was taught in auto shop decades ago is clean the bearing, inspect it for wear, feel/hear if there are any odd noises, and if it's in good shape repack it.

Put a good sized glob of grease in your palm, then kind of push down/scoop the wide opening of the bearing into the grease glob.  Keep doing that in one spot until the grease comes out the opposite side of the bearing.  Then turn the bearing to another dry/clean spot and repeat until you go all the way around and have grease oozing out all over.  Spin it a couple of times to distribute the grease and look for any dry spots.

You can scoop out all of the old grease from the hub and add some clean if you want.

And of course you've checked the inner seal for wear/leakage.

jimcenname

I saw a Dexter Axle video of the packing bearings using the zerk fittings. I bought two tubes of red Valvoline lithium complex and filled hubs until clean grease came out. Spin wheels while pumping grease in.

4ncar

@jimcenname: yup! no fuss...no muss!

Travelin3D

@tabiphile nice reference to John Muir. His book guided me through a complete VW engine rebuild as well as a lot of regular maintenance. You could tell which jobs I had tackled by the pages with greasy fingerprints!

gulfarea

Something else you will notice if you grease threw the zerk fitting! Before you grease it with the wheel off the ground, with your hand at the 3 and 9 o-clock   position try shaking the wheel and take note of the amount of slack in the bearing. Then grease it and again do the same check. Unless you have something wrong with your bearings all the play should be just about gone. This shows how much volume the new grease replaced in the spindle and bearing  area that was void of grease just before you greased it. Art

tabiphile

So.....a couple things and they have been covered but on the chance that someone stumbles onto this thread and gets sucked in by the zerk discussion, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Someone who does not have a deft feel for how much grease to push into the axle will undoubtedly blow out the rear seals and eventually ruin both the brakes and the bearings. Since pushing grease in through the zerk fittings is a "blind" method (you have no idea how much you are really getting into the bearings, if you blew the seals, got grease in the hubs) you will never know if you properly accomplished the job. The recommendation to "pump it until grease comes out" is how the uninitiated end up with blown seals.
The other failing of this method is that it does not address one of the most important annual maintenance tasks, checking and properly adjusting the brakes.
The Zerk fittings do serve a purpose. If you have done your annual PM and properly packed the bearings, cleaned and adjusted the brakes, then a couple pumps from a grease gun are a "do no harm" pre-trip activity that you might consider. 
@gulfarea, if pushing grease into the bearings tightens up the wheel then the castle nut has not been properly tightened and the bearing races are not properly pre-loaded. There are a lot of mechanics who take the easy way out when they install the hub. They tighten the castle nut until it "feels" tight enough and then back it off a bit and say it's adjusted. Often these same "mechanics will use whatever tool they have to turn the nut (vice grips) because they do not have the proper socket in their tool set. The reality is that the hand "feel" method lacks precision and is almost always less tight than it should be. Done properly the nut is torqued to 50 foot pounds and then backed off just enough to allow the hub to turn. 

Marceline

tabiphile said:

So.....a couple things and they have been covered but on the chance that someone stumbles onto this thread and gets sucked in by the zerk discussion, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Someone who does not have a deft feel for how much grease to push into the axle will undoubtedly blow out the rear seals and eventually ruin both the brakes and the bearings. 

Yep. I did this once on a boat trailer. Fortunately it made enough of a mess that I recognized it right away. 

tabiphile

One other less obvious detail that is worth mentioning again is bearing grease. If you have purchased a new to you rig and do not know the specific grease type that was previously used do not pump grease in through the grease fittings! Plan on a proper re-packing and keep track (and extra tubes) of the grease you use. Some grease types cannot be mixed. If you mix different types of greases together they will fail. The carriers in the grease can melt out. The grease will lose it's load bearing and lubrication capability. Wrecked bearings and possibly the hubs will result if you don't catch it in time. If it's used and new to you do a complete and careful repack. If you have it done at a shop, find out exactly what brand and type of grease they used and use the exact same one when you "top off" with the grease fittings.

gulfarea

tabiphile The reason greasing the zirk works so well and does not push grease threw the rear seal is like trying to blow up a balloon that has a hole in it.  Sure you could use an air powered grease gun and try to push grease into it so the grease would try to come out the seals like some boat trailer truly sealed bearings have but when you remove that rubber cover on the tab to get to the grease fitting you no longer have a sealed area to build up pressure enough to force grease by the rear seal in any large amount. Another myth is that by putting 100 psi to blow out the water lines will hurt the lines, (NOT IF YOU HAVE THE WATER FAUCHETS OPEN) because again you are blowing air into a balloon with a big hole in it. There are a lot of different ideas out there but after retiring from military as a helo mech then owning a diesel garage for 31 years I have learned a lot about bearings. Not that I am that smart but being around that stuff I would have had to learn something. Art

WayneW

I just packed bearings and adjusted brakes on our new to us 2021 320s and discovered a few interesting things. The trailer was purchased in Bemidji MN in July 2020 and pulled to Colorado by the original owner. I bought the trailer a month ago and pulled it to northern Idaho, so the trailer has perhaps 2,500 miles on it. I didn’t know if the bearings needed to be repacked, but I’m bored and decided to do it. I’m glad I did. 

The driver’s side had some grease coming out of the back seal, perhaps caused by an overzealous pneumatic grease gun wielding technician. Luckily there was only grease on some of the brake mechanism but not on the brake shoes or drum (yet).

On the passenger side the dust cover had worked off and was trapped in the T@g hubcap. The bearing was exposed and the grease was discolored. Fortunately there appeared to be no damage to seals or bearings. I cleaned things up, packed the bearings and put it back together. I assume someone didn’t do a good job of firmly seating the dust cap at the dealership. 

Bottom line, I’m very glad I took the time to inspect this, even on a new trailer with few miles. If I’d only done the shake test or just squirted some grease in the zerks, one or both of these situations would have likely caused me problems, and probably not in a very convenient place.  I think it’s worthwhile to take the time to tear things apart and visually inspect them. Or take it to a competent mechanic and get it done right. 

stepheng

I just purchased a 2018 T@B 320S Outback with about 4,000 miles.  I towed it from Boulder to Phoenix w/o any issues.  Previous owner never had bearings repacked so I'm going to do this before we take it out (and check brakes).  Couple of questions:

1. How do I identify which Dexter axle I have?
2. Are the bearings and seals available from NAPA?
3. Use red lithium grease?
   

I just want to have all the parts before I remove the hubs so I can complete job in a day.

pthomas745

Welcome to the Forums

Tons of threads on bearings.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/6984/axle-maintenance-greasing-or-repacking/p1

Here is another with pictures and descriptions.  The trailer years get sort of scrambled, so try to match your trailer year closely.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/4923/bearing-maintenance/p1

And one more with a Dexter video.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/9415/2018-nucamp-axle-hubs

stepheng

Thanks for the links.  Lots of good info.  Still need to know what axle I have.  Where can I find that info?  Do i need to get under the trailer to find it?  Is it stamped on the axle?

pthomas745

It is stamped on the axle itself...I can't seem to find the picture. 

But....many owners have swapped the standard axle for the Boondock axle, and there is plenty of discussion.

This thread has the rundown on the swap....https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/10728/320s-boondock-outback-torsion-axle/p1

stepheng

The axle is a Dexter 08-247, 3500 lb capacity.  Here is a link to a parts diagram and a place to order the parts:

http://www.dexterpartsonline.com/page/399183592

The parts are also available at NAPA and probably other auto parts stores.

stepheng

Oops - the hubs are 08-247.  That determines the bearings, races and seals.  10"  hub, 5 x 4.5" bolt pattern

stepheng

One more question:  I need to remove both tires and set the trailer on jack stands to remove hubs.  Want to take both to friend's shop with bearing press.  Where are the jack points on the 320S and where do I put the jack stands?

pthomas745

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ALeKk014lU-K01PY-PG-f-dd7XZPWn8Tvw:1615688724952&ei=FHRNYN7EOZDP0PEP5OW44AE&q=jacking+points+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&oq=jacking+points+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsANQjBJY0Thg9D9oAXACeACAAY0BiAGLEZIBBDI3LjKYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEEwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwjenpLE3a7vAhWQJzQIHeQyDhwQ4dUDCAw&uact=5