Wheel bearing grease

ravinerat

Once you have bearing failure you will learn to do this stuff yourself. Nothing wrong taking it to a garage to have it done.

I had done my bearings on a snowmobile trailer in the spring. The trailer sat in the driveway all summer with the sun shining on the hub. This melted the grease out of the outside bearing causing there to be none. Late in the fall I used the trailer to move some stuff a couple of hundred miles. I had bearing failure and the race actually welded/fused to the Axle. It was a mess but fixable. So now I always keep my Wheels/hubs sheltered from the sun with covers or a piece of wood. I inspect the bearings on all my trailers at the start of a season to ensure they are problem free all season.

RR

wizard1880

The Dutchmen T@b uses a sealed automotive style bearing, which required no maintenance.  They must be pressed in as one piece if they needed replacement, but the majority of them are still going strong today.

The PV trailer uses axles that come with standard trailer bearings, not the sealed unit type.  My guess why is cost savings as I believe the older ones used axles imported from Europe.

ScottG

I've had this thread bookmarked for a while, and decided to do a little wheel maintenance today. Usually I just ignore these things and hope for the best, but after two seasons I thought at least topping up the bearing grease using the integrated "Ultralube" zerk would be a good idea.

I had the same experience that Dalehelman reported in his original post. While the bearings looked pretty greasy, I was surprised at how many pumps it took before I could see grease finally emerging around the edges.

I know there is some debate about whether this approach over-greases the hub, but I followed Al-KO's simple directions to the letter so I'll assume I did it right. Like Dale, I can only conclude that the hubs were a bit thirsty.

It's been a while since we've discussed this, so I'm curious to hear what other's experiences have been using the Ultralube zerk.

dsatwork

After my first year with the with the little guy 5 wide I had my mechanic pull the bearings inspect and grease them with grease I provided and could purchase again. I wanted to make sure I would be using the same type of grease when I did them myself. The second and third year, I did them myself and was shocked how much grease they took to push the dark red grease out until the fresh red grease was flowing. Close to an entire tube for each wheel. Had to go back to the auto store for more grease the first time I was doing it myself.

gophergrad

Newbie question:  How do you know when you've hit 5,000 miles?  Just keep track in a notebook?

elgolfo

I have a 2007 dm t@b,when I changed my tires for new ones I asked to have the bearings lubed,they stated they were "sealed" and looked perfect.Is this ok?

Cyclonic

elgolfo said:

I have a 2007 dm t@b,when I changed my tires for new ones I asked to have the bearings lubed,they stated they were "sealed" and looked perfect.Is this ok?

Yes.

The DM T@Bs have sealed bearings that do not require regreasing.  

On the down side, over time they will fail and must be replaced.  nüCamp carries replacements.

Cyclonic

gophergrad said:

Newbie question:  How do you know when you've hit 5,000 miles?  Just keep track in a notebook?

Notebook.

ScottG

dsatwork said:

After my first year with the with the little guy 5 wide I had my mechanic pull the bearings inspect and grease them with grease I provided and could purchase again. I wanted to make sure I would be using the same type of grease when I did them myself. The second and third year, I did them myself and was shocked how much grease they took to push the dark red grease out until the fresh red grease was flowing. Close to an entire tube for each wheel. Had to go back to the auto store for more grease the first time I was doing it myself.

Good to know--thanks.

I didn't even try to force all the old grease out, I just filled until I saw movement around the edges--maybe 20+ pumps per wheel. I used grease with the exact same specs indicated in the AL-KO manual, which I assume (and we know how that works) is what was used originally.

Anyway, with a longish trip coming up shortly, I figured adding a little grease was a whole lot better than the only other practical alternative--which was to do nothing.  ;-)

Mwamba

Why is there black on the T@B tire?   And why on only one tire and not the other?    We are on our first trip and just bought our 2015 from a RV place.    The service guy told us to adjust our brake control if we saw or smelled smoke (what??!!).   We didn't experience that but the last 50 miles or so, the brakes seemed to be locking up so we adjusted the brake controller down and it seemed to work.    Obviously, we are thinking the black on the tire e has something to do with the braking issue.  Any help is much appreciated as we have  600 miles away from home!   Thanks in advance!

Dalehelman

It looks like brake dust on the wheel not the tire. It would seem that the brake shoes on that side are a little tighter on that side. Any tire shop could adjust your them for you. Could easily wait till you get home.

Mwamba

Thank you @ dalehelman!   Good to know and yes, meant wheel not tire :-) 

spkbeam

After all the talk about grease I decided to do  mine. We have owned T@B  for 8 months and have little over 2000 miles. I too was suprised how much grease was needed.

Vikings

I pumped in grease prior to our 6700 mile Alaska adventure.  I too was surprised by how many pumps it took.  Never did get fresh looking grease, but I was pretty sure I had plenty of grease in bearing and housing area. 
Prior to Alaska I figure trailer had about 5000 miles on it.  After almost 12000. 
We had no problems.