Wheels off for Winter? Bearings vs. Tires as Rationale

johnfconway

We're lucky to have a top notch RV repair shop 75 minutes away in Deming, NM. They are old school when it comes to customer communication. Had them look at brakes and repack bearings for first time on 2020 T@B 400 Boondock. They understand how easy it is in our abundant local wilderness areas to get hopelessly stranded from a preventable problem. Cost of bearing replacements was $28.00. No additional labor charge. Outer race of bearings had a score line. Inner race on one bearing was imprinted where the balls had rested for a period of time (late November through mid-April winter storage). They don't want to send anyone down the road with even a modicum of risk when bearings show any amount of wear. We're cool with that! They suggested that getting the weight off of the wheels during storage may help longevity of bearings.

Just curious as to how many T@B 400 owners are putting rigs up on blocks during storage?

Side note. Winter number 2 resulted in rodent damage after no problems following winter number 1. Chewed sensor wires and massively chewed up 10 gauge brake wires. They repaired everything just fine. They blocked off oval-shaped openings in frame where pack rats gained access with hardware cloth. While that's a good deterrent, we will be snap trapping these guys -- much to the delight of our local ravens who frequent the mound where dispatched pack rats go.

Denny16

I do not leave the trailer in one spot for more than two to three months at a time, and have not had any bearing damage issues.  When we first got the TaB, we had the bearings inspected and repacked, all was well.  Last year we had the Boondock axle and wheels installed, and got new bearings with the new axle.

It is  always a good idea to inspect and repack bearings every year or max at two year intervals, depending on how much you tow the trailer.  We have a good RV/Trailer repair facility close by also, who deism the work for me, at a very reasonable price.
 Cheers