Wheel Bearing Maintenance

DukeHewett

I am curious as to the "recommended" maintenance period  versus a typical car or pick-up truck bearing maintenance.   What is the reason to remove and pack the bearing on a T@B trailer so often?   My friend has a 2003 Ford Pick-up with 270,000 miles on it and he says he has never packed the bearings on his truck.   So what is the big difference between T@B bearings and car or truck bearings?   (I know, I know, "you only have to pack the bearings on the wheels you don't want to come off".)   But really, why so often on the T@B's?

CharlieRN

Be interested to hear the response to this question. I'd also like to know what purpose the grease nipples serve since the recommendation is that you remove and repack every 5,000 miles, not re-grease via the nipples.

Grumpy_G

It's a money maker for RV dealerships, just like every oil change sticker ever tells you to come back after 3000 miles... 

But more seriously, I used to drive and race VW and Opel (GM) front wheel drive cars back in the 80s, and they had rear drum brakes and bearings very similar to trailer brakes (except hydraulic vs electric). Never any second thought about the bearings after initial setup. 

The truck is a bit different, typically the front wheel bearings are sealed unit bearings and the rear ones are lubricated with gear oil from the axle. So that doesn't really count. 

Nothing wrong with the grease nipples *if* you understand how that's supposed to work. Often people just pump grease until it comes out at the axle nut but that blows out the seal in the rear leading to grease on the brakes. Just a little and spin the drum, the cavity doesn't have to be jam packed with grease. 

Denny16

Trailer bearings are typically smaller than a car, and wear faster, many also are spinning at a faster rpm going down the road.  Most vehicles today, have sealed bearings, so they are replaced if they wear out.  Maintaining your trailer wheel bearings by replacing the grease is necessary, and is part of the maintenance you will need to do or have done.  

I had a 1947 coupe, that needed to have its wheel bearings repacked with grease every so often.  Today, we are spoiled by our modern sealed bearings used in today’s vehicles.  Small trailers however, use conventional bearings, which do not use sealed bearing cartridges, and require regular maintenance.  

pthomas745

There are long threads about this.  An owner on the FB page the other day messaged me with an email discussion from NuCamp, who directed him to the Dexter Operation Maintenance Service Manual which says on page 57-58.....if you have the EZ Lube system...use it.

This comes up over there because there are a couple of owners who are adamant that the EZ Lube system should "never, ever ever" be used because of the danger of "blowing the seals."  And, then they post the Dexter Video from 2013 that shows how to do the manual repack.....ignoring the other, more recent Dexter videos that show how to use the EZ Lube.  This is what NuCamp (from Creed) had to say:

"Hi , Page 57&58 of the link below show the Dexter lubrication procedure using the EZ-Lube system. We do not recommend anything other than the manufacturer’s manual. When I talked to Dexter, they recommended switching off year by year. So use the EZ Lube system one year, and then the next year take apart the hub assembly and repack. I'm not sure what they mean on the owner's group, but I don't see anyway how the grease could work its way into the brake drums. Nor, have I ever heard of that occurring. If that was possible, I don't know why Dexter would have used the EZ lube system on our Axles"

https://www.dexteraxle.com/user_area/content_media/raw/600-8k_complete_service_manual.pdf?fbclid=IwAR34gKRoHy2Htv1LGTKiZ0mRf6_7jJL4jyhBpoxRymaXYQF4EBtEajiynXs

So...the way it looks, they will need to be removed and hand inspected occasionally, but the EZ Lube system is fine for adding grease.

The thread in this group has tons of info and a discussion of the "hand greasing" and EZ Lube methods.  The thread started in 2017, and it was still getting questions up to last year.  Note the videos used as examples start out as the 2012/13 versions....and by the last couple of pages the videos are updated to 2019 versions.

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

tabiphile

The comparison to make is not to your friend's modern truck with sealed and lubricated bearings. @denny16's 47 coupe is more comparable. If you ever owned an old VW, you know that the wheel bearings needed to be re-packed every 25,000 miles. That was a comparable "open" bearing. Could you ignore the service recommendation and go longer? Sure, at the risk of losing a wheel on the road.
The EZ Lube back and forth and concerns about blowing a seal aside, the other pieces of that service mileage target are related to the need to inspect and service the brakes. When you pull the hubs to inspect and clean the brakes you are also able to inspect the spindles. @pthomas745 suggests an alternating annual service approach. That makes good sense depending upon the miles you drive and or how much your rig sits.
If your rig was purchased used and is new to you, do not rely on the Dexter EZ Lube for your first service. Pull the wheels, clean out the old grease, check the drums, pads, axles and repack using a grease that you will use from that point forward. That is the only way you can be sure that you are not mixing grease with different carriers and also the only way you can be sure that these components are in good working order. 

JP2558

@pthomas745 - How do I know if I have the EZ Lube system on my 2018 320-CS?

Mickerly

You do. Take the wheel off. There will be rubber disk in the hub cover. When you pop the rubber disk off, you will find the fitting.

If you use the EZ Lub system, make sure you are using "wheel bearing grease" and not general purpose grease. The difference is in pressure and temperature tolerances. There is nothing wrong with using the EZ Lub system provided you use proper grease. 

Horigan

A key aspect of using the EZ lube or similar system is to have someone rotate the wheel while you're pumping the grease in.  Otherwise you run the risk of blowing out the rear seal and contaminating the brakes.

Denny16

The EZ Lube system was developed for boat trailers, to re-grease the wheel bearings, if they got submerged in water (especially salt water) during a boat launch.  The average hand pump grease gun, one would use for this in the filed, is not likely to create enough pressure to blow out the rear seal, unless the wheel bearing assembly had a block in it, preventing the old grease from going through the bearing assembly.  

Boat trailers have been using this system for years, and I have not heard of a blow rear seal from just pumping in new grease (to dislodge any water that may have gotten into the seals), and prevent a burned bearing when trailing back fro a launch, if you are going to be driving down highways.

We got our TaB400 used, and it had around 3,000 miles on it, including a trip through the desert on dirt roads.  The previous owner had not done a repack of the bearings, just used the EZ Lube fitting.  We had our local tailer repsir service, clean and repack the bearings, inspect the brakes, and adjust as required, before we used the trailer.  

This way, I knew all was well down there.  Also, most shops do not hand back the bearings, the have a machine they put the bearing Into after flushing it out, and pump,new grease through the individual bearings, which gets any remaining old grease and dirt out.

As nüCamp pointed out, Dexter recommends using the EZ lube one year, and pulling the wheel, inspect the brakes, and repacking the bearings the following year, so every two years.  This is what I do.
 Cheers 

mgreen2

The only people who I've seen with problems are those who don't follow the EZ Lube procedure. They talk about adding grease to the wheels before every trip by just squirting some in. The procedure is to turn the wheel and if you look at the Dester material it shows how this forces the old grease out while the new grease is coming in. I've used it for 5 years on my T@G and now my T@B. e-z-lube-lit-239-00.pdf (dexteraxle.com)