lost an entire wheel and drum
I made a turn into a shopping center parking lot, looked back and saw one of my trailer wheels lying in the middle of the road. We have a 2011 Cougar half-ton 5th wheel. The brakes, including backing ...
Forum Discussion
Now on the 3rd page, I've seen some good advice and some that.... well let's leave it at that.
OK, with that said, no one has stated the obvious. Dexter and on their now non-intuitive website, has a bearing handbook. In that information is the recommendation that you pull the drum and inspect and lube the bearings every 12,000 miles or every 12 months, whichever comes first and that includes E-Z Lube bearings. Yes, it is conservative as far as the time frame but the mileage frame is what we 'old timers' used on our automobiles before the days of the front wheel drive cars with sealed capsule bearings. Unfortunately, RV manufacturers don't bother adding this info to their owner's package. Then there is the fact that no-name Chinese made bearings used by Dexter and other bearing users have a poor reputation for longevity as I too found when I pulled the bearings on our Montana after a year and about 5000 miles. Now, 15,000+ miles later, the replacement US made Timken bearings, using a Dexter grease recommendation, show no distress.
If you do continue to use the E-Z Lube system, each empty hub will take about 200 strokes of that grease gun lever along with the best part of a full tube of grease. You also need to lift and rotate each wheel to spread the grease as there is only a single hub entry hole for the grease. You also need to be aware that the seal is the weak point on the system and you can 'blow' by it if you over pressurize that hub by using anything but a hand operated grease gun.
I've posted this elsewhere, but that little hole is the only entry point to grease those bearings while the seal rides the land directly above it (and no, that rough spot is not a defect or failure):
OK, with that said, no one has stated the obvious. Dexter and on their now non-intuitive website, has a bearing handbook. In that information is the recommendation that you pull the drum and inspect and lube the bearings every 12,000 miles or every 12 months, whichever comes first and that includes E-Z Lube bearings. Yes, it is conservative as far as the time frame but the mileage frame is what we 'old timers' used on our automobiles before the days of the front wheel drive cars with sealed capsule bearings. Unfortunately, RV manufacturers don't bother adding this info to their owner's package. Then there is the fact that no-name Chinese made bearings used by Dexter and other bearing users have a poor reputation for longevity as I too found when I pulled the bearings on our Montana after a year and about 5000 miles. Now, 15,000+ miles later, the replacement US made Timken bearings, using a Dexter grease recommendation, show no distress.
If you do continue to use the E-Z Lube system, each empty hub will take about 200 strokes of that grease gun lever along with the best part of a full tube of grease. You also need to lift and rotate each wheel to spread the grease as there is only a single hub entry hole for the grease. You also need to be aware that the seal is the weak point on the system and you can 'blow' by it if you over pressurize that hub by using anything but a hand operated grease gun.
I've posted this elsewhere, but that little hole is the only entry point to grease those bearings while the seal rides the land directly above it (and no, that rough spot is not a defect or failure):
