Heating hub on my fifth wheel

I been there and done what the ford truck guy referenced.

Remove caliper and clean then lubricate the rubber slide bolt areas and every mating surface with the proper silicone grease. The bearing is a sealed unit that is held in the rotor with a "C" clip. They will start to leak grease that is visible from the back side when they start to go bad.

Thanks again all. ( I would have gladly replaced the bearings before summer travel were they available. Lippert,Kodiak say they are no longer available. I have "Lippert" 8000# axles which may or may not be the same as Dexter 8000#s).

Jbird wrote:
Thanks again all. ( I would have gladly replaced the bearings before summer travel were they available. Lippert,Kodiak say they are no longer available. I have "Lippert" 8000# axles which may or may not be the same as Dexter 8000#s).

You don't have to buy the bearings from Lippert or Kodiak. Get the number off the side of the bearing and buy them at about any automotive supply house.

allen8106 wrote:

Jbird wrote:
Thanks again all. ( I would have gladly replaced the bearings before summer travel were they available. Lippert,Kodiak say they are no longer available. I have "Lippert" 8000# axles which may or may not be the same as Dexter 8000#s).

You don't have to buy the bearings from Lippert or Kodiak. Get the number off the side of the bearing and buy them at about any automotive supply house.

Any decent Timkin bearing is going to be better than the cheap Chinese junk that's likely put in at the factory. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Nevrlube hubs and, if I ever have an issue, all 4 will get changed PDQ to EZLubes. Never had an issue with them on my old, and heavier, Komfort, though I did have them changed after 10 years. They still looked OK, according to the shop, but I had better ones installed. Even without regular repacking, only annual greasing, there were no issues, but then I'm a "short hauler", and never put a lot of miles on my rig.

Lyle

laknox wrote:

allen8106 wrote:

Jbird wrote:
Thanks again all. ( I would have gladly replaced the bearings before summer travel were they available. Lippert,Kodiak say they are no longer available. I have "Lippert" 8000# axles which may or may not be the same as Dexter 8000#s).

You don't have to buy the bearings from Lippert or Kodiak. Get the number off the side of the bearing and buy them at about any automotive supply house.

Any decent Timkin bearing is going to be better than the cheap Chinese junk that's likely put in at the factory. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Nevrlube hubs and, if I ever have an issue, all 4 will get changed PDQ to EZLubes. Never had an issue with them on my old, and heavier, Komfort, though I did have them changed after 10 years. They still looked OK, according to the shop, but I had better ones installed. Even without regular repacking, only annual greasing, there were no issues, but then I'm a "short hauler", and never put a lot of miles on my rig.

Lyle

From what I understand, this cannot be done with the Nevrlubes. You can replace the bearing cartridges but they must be Nevrlubes again. They are available; I just bought a complete hub assembly with the bearing cartridge pressed in to it to keep with me in case I have trouble on the road. While I was searching for it I saw just the bearing cartridges on line (I believe eTrailer had them).

If you had Dexter NevRlubes it would say so very plainly on the bearing cap. If you want to go to standard bearings you will need to change out the entire axles with the appropriate spindles which would mean different hubs. I remember reading on another forum (so nothing official) that Lippert and Dexter used the same bearing so a 50mm NevRlube cartridge, which is still available, could be pressed into your hub. This may be something you might want to give Dexter a call about. Also from that same post (not from me), Lippert used a nylock retaining nut and inferior washer which had a tendency loosen on one side of the trailer. NevRlubes require the high torque of the retaining nut to hold the inner and outer bearings of the cartridge at the correct spacing. You may also want to re-torque your retention nuts as part of normal maintenance.

I hope your heat rise problem is with your brakes and you can leave the bearings alone.

I like my NevRlube bearings, 10 years and running cool with no maintenance. I carry a spare drum with the bearing pressed in and can change it out roadside in less than twenty minutes. That being said, I have the same size bearings as you and am only towing 10k#.

I also really like my Dexter NeverLube bearings. They are over 13 years old and have many thousands of miles on them. I checked them at every stop and they were still running quiet and cool. Not towing anymore so I will never find the limits of those bearings! :W
Barney

blofgren wrote:

laknox wrote:

allen8106 wrote:

Jbird wrote:
Thanks again all. ( I would have gladly replaced the bearings before summer travel were they available. Lippert,Kodiak say they are no longer available. I have "Lippert" 8000# axles which may or may not be the same as Dexter 8000#s).

You don't have to buy the bearings from Lippert or Kodiak. Get the number off the side of the bearing and buy them at about any automotive supply house.

Any decent Timkin bearing is going to be better than the cheap Chinese junk that's likely put in at the factory. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Nevrlube hubs and, if I ever have an issue, all 4 will get changed PDQ to EZLubes. Never had an issue with them on my old, and heavier, Komfort, though I did have them changed after 10 years. They still looked OK, according to the shop, but I had better ones installed. Even without regular repacking, only annual greasing, there were no issues, but then I'm a "short hauler", and never put a lot of miles on my rig.

Lyle

From what I understand, this cannot be done with the Nevrlubes. You can replace the bearing cartridges but they must be Nevrlubes again. They are available; I just bought a complete hub assembly with the bearing cartridge pressed in to it to keep with me in case I have trouble on the road. While I was searching for it I saw just the bearing cartridges on line (I believe eTrailer had them).

I wasn't clear. I do understand that I'd need to replace the entire hub, which I'd do if one of the Nevrlubes cr@ps out.

Lyle

Lyle,
You would have to replace the entire axle complete with brakes and hubs. Can be done but I haven't considered it as I like the cartridge style bearing. Like others, I have had good luck with them.