Photos of wheel bearing lubrication with grease gun and zerk on Dexter axle using scissor jack

jimcenname

Below are photos of my T@B 400 lifted with the scissor jack from my Nissan Frontier when I greased the wheel bearings. Notice when I started the grease was a dark color, dirty. nuCamp repacked these bearing 20 months ago while replacing my brakes. In another photo the fresh red Mobile One synthetic grease pushes out of the bearing indicating I've pumped enough fresh grease through the bearing. I spin the wheel while pumping the grease into the fitting.

Citruscountytab400

I would never trust grease fittings for my yearly greasing.  By removing the wheel and replacing the rear main seal, you can clean all the old grease out and inspect the bearings.  The biggest issue people have on the road is a rear main seal leaking grease or letting go ($7.22 part) and destroying the bearings.  I do like using the red grease, but for the 45 min per side it takes to lift and remove the wheel/remove the drum and bearings - it's worth not being stranded for days with a $1000 bill.

On another note: you can also inspect and clean the drum brakes when you grease the bearings, so it really is a win win to do it correctly.

qhumberd

This is similar to my experience @jimcenname and thanks for the photos. The EZ Lube does what it is designed to do, which is flush the grease in the inner and outer bearings. In my 2019, I have done a full service with inspection and repacking every other year, and EZ lube as you show on alternate years. I do adjust the breaks each year to make sure they are equal.

This works for me as we do not get anywhere near the 12K miles yearly on the axles. And my last inspect a few months back of the bearings and axle basically look identical to the new replacements that I have in case of problems.

Please note that this is not EXACTLY what the Dexter service manual recommends, so each needs to do what they feel most comfortable doing.

jimcenname

Just to be sure I did it correctly:

jimcenname

qhumberd said:

This is similar to my experience @jimcenname and thanks for the photos. The EZ Lube does what it is designed to do, which is flush the grease in the inner and outer bearings. In my 2019, I have done a full service with inspection and repacking every other year, and EZ lube as you show on alternate years. I do adjust the breaks each year to make sure they are equal.

This works for me as we do not get anywhere near the 12K miles yearly on the axles. And my last inspect a few months back of the bearings and axle basically look identical to the new replacements that I have in case of problems.

Please note that this is not EXACTLY what the Dexter service manual recommends, so each needs to do what they feel most comfortable doing.

@qhumberd. What change do you think I should make to improve the process? Thanks for your feedback.

qhumberd

@jimcenname Your pics look spot on. I am sure some could question the stability and safety of the single lift point, and I use a small jack stand as a second point of stability. Having said that you don’t have a lot of space on the lift point for each axle. 

My other thought while you have the wheel up and able to rotate is to adjust the brakes. For that you have to get behind the hub and identify the opening for the star wheel adjuster. There are quite a few threads on this already but I use a brake spoon tool, rotate UP on the star wheel till the hub won’t turn, then rotate DOWN until you feel a slight drag on the hub. That has always worked for me but as I have to reach behind the wheel I make sure the lift point is safe. Hence my first point.

Then on alternate years I pull the hub and inspect and clean and repack the bearings, and finish with brake adjustment.
As I mentioned, I feel comfortable doing this since I never exceed a few thousand miles per year on the trailer.

Best wishes

Cherokee

I attempted to do this once, but ran out of grease before the grease coming out was clean. I got more lube, but I pulled the drum, cleaned and hand packed the bearings using far less grease then before . I replaced the seals and inspected & adjusted the brakes after placing the drums back on - sometimes, it's better to get your hands dirty

pthomas745

For those of us without the tools and skills to take a wheel hub apart and put it back together properly, using the EZ-Lube process is much easier.  It does take skills and some simple tools, of course.  If you do have the skills and tools to completely "hand pack" the bearings, great. 

The worst possible option is not doing your bearings at all, hesitating because you can't sort out which is the "right" way.

Jim is also a full timer...using the EzLube may be the most convenient way for him to get this work done himself and stay out on the road.

Jay_and_Kat

Last spring we did the EZ-Lube for our bearings and it was a pretty smooth process.  We used a jack we'd bought for use with our Jeep, suitable for "soft" surfaces which was JUST barely short enough to fit under the lift point.  This year, we're going to EZ-Lube in the spring and then this fall schedule a visit to a local small trailer shop for a full bearing check and lube.

As for getting our jack under the camper, we're going to roll both sides up on some leveling blocks first to get a bit more clearance.  The jack we use is a combination bottle jack / ratcheting jack stand, so it's kind of the best of both worlds  (Powerbuilt Unijack, 6000lb version)

Cherokee

Jay_and_Kat said:

Last spring we did the EZ-Lube for our bearings and it was a pretty smooth process.  We used a jack we'd bought for use with our Jeep, suitable for "soft" surfaces which was JUST barely short enough to fit under the lift point.  This year, we're going to EZ-Lube in the spring and then this fall schedule a visit to a local small trailer shop for a full bearing check and lube.

As for getting our jack under the camper, we're going to roll both sides up on some leveling blocks first to get a bit more clearance.  The jack we use is a combination bottle jack / ratcheting jack stand, so it's kind of the best of both worlds  (Powerbuilt Unijack, 6000lb version)

Indeed, if you don't mind using a lot of grease EZ-Lube in spring and Full bearing service in the Fall sounds like a good comprise. We have a bottle jack we carry with our Jeep and Jack-stands in the garage but your UniJack is a great idea!

subkron

I wonder if the 4000lb version would work wrt to lift height?  The max lift height is reduced from 21"max on the 6k weight to 18-3/8", but It is lighter by ~7.5lbs plus you can save a few bucks.  4000lbs is more than adequate for any T@B.