Greasing Trailer Wheels

Puddles wrote:

laknox wrote:

BillandCarole wrote:

Puddles wrote:

BillandCarole wrote:
I have been told that you need to jack up and turn wheels with the center grease fittings as you pump in the grease. Is this true? I've been doing it and its a pain to jack up all 4 wheels.
Thanks
Bill

curious... are you pumping until you see grease come out of the front bearting or just putting a few pumps in there?

I am not quite sure how much to pump in. The instructions are vague. Too much will get on the brakes and too little won't reach all the bearings. Suggestions on how to tell?
Bill

In my experience, farming for about half my life, as I spin the wheel, I listen for a "crackling" sound as I pump in the grease, which is air being forced past the seal. At that point, I'll give 1 or 2 more pumps with my manual gun, and stop. With larger bearings and an air-gun, we'd use the same method, with very few problem. Yes, we occasionally blew seals, but it was very rare.

Lyle

So, how did you know when you blew the seal? On a fifth wheel trailer if the seal blows you grease the brake shoes & magnet... hard to tell that the brake on one wheel isn't working. ( I should say it's hard for me to tell.)

Most of what we were greasing had easy access to the back side of the spindle, so you could visibly see a seal starting to back out. We also had some implements with hubs that simply wouldn't hold a seal in place very well, so we'd just use a hand gun instead of the air gun and we all knew which they were. In all my years, the popping of air past the seal is a dead giveaway that you're full of grease and you need to stop. Easy to hear with a hand gun. Touch wood, this method has got me by for 10 years with my FW.

Lyle