Wheel bearing repacking
How often do you repack the RV wheel bearings? I'm getting many different opinions on this question.
Forum Discussion
Annually
I repack my bearings every fall before I park the TT. I also carry my IR thermometer and check my hub temps every morning after about 50 miles of travel. If I have a warm bearing, I can repack it right away. It would not take me very long to strip t down and repo it. I do carry a pretty good tool kit, jack, and stand. I have never had to do it on the road.
We put 3000 to 10000 miles on annually.
Somewhere between 3 days and 30 years. 😉
Assuming it's done properly, it should be good for 20-30k miles but unlike a semi, most people only tow a couple thousand miles per year (if that), so they often revert to a time basis (annual, biannual, etc...) as it's easier to track but which is likely overkill as the grease doesn't go bad or pick up contaminants.
Result, you get recommendations that are all over the place. If you want something more definitive, look up the axle brand and they should have a recommendation online.
you would be surprized how dark and oxidized the grease is when I take the old stuff out at the biging on the season. I never used to repack them very often at all, but after having an incident with my brand new 5th wheel, never packed properly or enough at the factory, I just put new grease in every year now, takes me a hour or two and 30 bucks. I also now use a IR thermomitor intermittiantly to check running temps to hopefully catch a issue before it happens, so far no issues since I started doing that. I would recomend anyone buying a brand new trailer either service the berrings or get the dealership to do it as a condition of sale before it comes off the lot. as I found out the issue I had is actualy quite comon..
Big difference between bad/contaminated/worn out grease and never having been properly greased in the first place.
I agree with at least pulling and checking when you get a new trailer as you have no idea if the last guy did it right and I've heard stories of new trailers coming with no grease. And pulling the tires is most of the work, so once you have the tires off, may as well repack them.
I also have a habit of feeling the hubs for excess heat when we stop but even freshly repacked, I'm doing it.
No harm in doing it more often but really not needed.
I don't have a set time for mine. Probably every few years or so. My trailer probably gets pulled under a thousand miles a year. So in reality, I'm probably repacking every 2-3000 miles. This is way less than the 30,000 miles that my old cars wanted.
every year I add new grease and force the old grease out. but I don't have to take them apart to do that.
I'm with Stircrazy on it being smart to have it done at least once initially so you know it's good.
Every 6,000 miles which works out to about every 2 years.
Thanks all. Appreciate the wisdom.
I recently bought a used 2010 travel trailer, they, private party, told me it was in great condition and serviced annually. Owned by a senior widow. I checked it before buying it the best I could. They delivered it to me. Next weekend I gave it a more through check out. Found I needed 4 tires, Brakes, 12 volt house power repairs, Gas leaks repaired, Water leaks repaired. 30 amp house power repaired. My son and I have been fixing it since March and have most items repaired so it is usable. I plan an annual brakes and bearing inspections and grease bearings.
Not sure, but I think about every 2000 mi. or so. If you have Never Lube Axles or axles that have a zirk fitting be careful how much grease you use, as too much can get on your breaks. Be sure to take the pressure off the wheel by jacking the wheels up so you can spin the wheel and get the weight off.
its not a case of how much you use in a ezlube axel, its how you put it in, if you squirt it in to fast it can get out of the seals onto the breaks, and if your not spining the tire as you put it in it cound go throuhg the seals. you do want to put lots, the ide is to force the old grease out into the center cup area around the grease nozel and clean that out. that way you know you have fresh greese through out the berring.
I believe that maintenance should be based on miles traveled as well as time. If you are putting 10,000 miles on a year it's likely you need to repack. That being said, if you roll with about the maximum weight your axles will carry, more often may be necessary. Sadly, while I was researching the purchase of my current TT, I found many trailers being sold that barely had enough axle under them carry them empty.
