Grease seals/ Axle issues

How do you determine if the fabled Timken bearings are made in the US? Is it stamped on the cup and race?

Also I would bet a dollar to a doughnut that the zerk is not used initially at the factory. That would be much grease and a big risk of going past the seals.

My 2005 Cardinal would not stop very well so I took off all the wheels and found the brake shoes and drums covered with grease. I replaced everything and never used the Al-ko axle grease zerts again.

A couple of years later, I took off the wheels again to do an inspection and brake adjustment. I found one wheel still had some grease on the brake shoe.

It is my opinion that the advice to not use the grease fitting or fill the center of the hub with grease, is exactly right. I would further add that thin chassis grease tends to flow too much, even if it says ok for wheel bearings. Therefore I intend to use disk brake thick grease that is used for boat trailers.

I also like to check the hubs for heat on long trips. A laser thermometer is perfect for this chore. I took off the decorative center caps on my wheels to better check for temps and more air flow. I think this wheel bearing/brake issue is as important as checking the tires.

All info on greasing wheel bearings says to NOT fill the center of the hub with grease. When done properly a small amount is left in the center and this space sort of acts like a reservoir to allow a place for excess grease to go when it heats up and will go to either of two places, the space that you left in the hub or through the seals and into the brake area.
I realize there are people who seem to love the grease gun method, but hand packing every few years seems a lot better to give a chance to inspect bearings and races.
Doing this every year is a bit of overkill, provided you have quality bearings and do a proper job in the beginning. I personally don't think of Chinese bearings in that context. I could get bearings at a general price of 15 to 20 $ per wheel. I can also get genuine Timken made in the U.S. For 52.35 per wheel. (comes with peace of mind included ;).
As to the frequency of greasing, the heavy duty schedule in the shop manual for my dually Ram lists front wheel bearings to check and repack at 48,000 miles. I would think that there are only a very few RV trailers that would fit that category for yearly maintenance.

Art.

We are currently having this issue with our 2013 Dutchmen denali 311bh...
I just picked the trailer up from the repair shop after having all new brakes installed to the tune of $850.00 ish !!! Due to the seals leaking grease into the drums and impregnating the friction surfaces.

I will be adding to the complaints as soon as I grab my VIN number from the trailer.

We are less than 2 months out of warranty but are in contact with Keystone (now running Dutchmen) about getting some or all of this covered.

Please fix your links in the original message so we can find the documents you have found. I think they may be helpful for my case.

Thanks

ohiopicker wrote:
This is why I never use the zerk fitting to grease my trailer's wheel bearings.

x 2 on all reasons!

This is why I never use the zerk fitting to grease my trailer's wheel bearings. You have very little control over where the grease ends up or how much is needed. It's way too easy to get carried away and overfill the hub cavity, forcing the excess grease out thru the grease seal into the brakes.

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to grease wheel bearings by hand, just like it has been done on cars & trucks for the past one hundred years or so. This method has the added advantage of being able to inspect the condition of the bearings and races.

FWIW I don't think this issue is limited to Lippert. Our brakes were contaminated from the factory by an overzealous worker with a grease gun & we have Al-Ko axles & brakes. Arctic Fox stepped up & took care of the problem immediately (2 thumbs up Northwood!) when I figured out the reason why we had such poor brake performance but this could have happened with any axle/brake brand equipped with a zerk fitting!

goukcats wrote:
I know several have had issues with grease seals leaking onto brakes & damaging brakes.

Found this on the Columbus RV Group FB page today. Seems the NHTSA has given Lippert and FR until May 9th to provide ALL the documentation regarding this VERY SERIOUS ISSUE!
Clickly 1
Clickly 2
Clickly 3http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs...14008-6919.PDF
If you've had any issues & haven't filed a compliant with the NHTSA, it's not too late! Please go to their website and file, even if you have had the repairs done, it is imperative that we get ALL the information out there to hopefully force a recall and prevent someone from getting seriously injured and/or worse, killed. THANKS!

Fixed the links

Oops! Links in previous post are in complete my bad!!