wheel bearing and tire temperatures

A simple walk around with a tire touch should tell if one is significantly warmer than the rest.

REWahoo wrote:

You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper wrote:
Check all wheels.. including the tow vehicle and trailer tires/bearings. If you find one higher than the corresponding wheel/bearing or tire that's the one that requires a closer look i.e. tire pressure or bearing. Keep in mind that hard braking will also show up on the wheel close to the bearing(s). Any serious issue will show up with a considerably higher reading.

+1

Far too many variables to say what a good temp should be, the key is to watch for one considerably higher than the others.

+2 and you can do that with your hand.

On a 90 degree day I will see tire temps on my 15K fifth wheel of 130 degrees running at 65mph. A pressure rise of 15 lbs is also common but this is highly dependent on the tire you are running. I have load range G tires with 100 lbs cold. These readings come from my TST Monitoring system with internal sensors. I do have an infrared non contact thermometer and hit the bearings and drums looking for consistency between all as it varies by how hard you brake before stopping.

I've never seen a heat rating on the tires. Where would I find that rating, is it part of the dot numbers? Also is there a set temperature where the tread will devulcanize from the cord or does that differ tire to tire? Thanks for the info so far.

ksbowman wrote:
When you use a digital infrared temperature sensor what are the acceptable temperatures for tires and wheel bearing in the summer? Basically when it is in the 90's outside.

Forget about the wheel bearings and pay attention to the tire temperature. Look at the heat rating for your tire, contact the tire dealer or manufacturer to find out what the max temp for the tire is.

You can't take the Fisherman out of this Camper wrote:
Check all wheels.. including the tow vehicle and trailer tires/bearings. If you find one higher than the corresponding wheel/bearing or tire that's the one that requires a closer look i.e. tire pressure or bearing. Keep in mind that hard braking will also show up on the wheel close to the bearing(s). Any serious issue will show up with a considerably higher reading.

+1

Far too many variables to say what a good temp should be, the key is to watch for one considerably higher than the others.

Funny you should ask....I just checked mine this afternoon after 3 hours in low to mid 90s.....and at 60-63 MPH in highway driving....the rubber was 140-143 all four tires, and the hubs were in the low 120s....one was slightly higher, but that tire carries more weight and usually runs 2-3 PSI higher....

My son and I just experienced an issue with bearings, brakes and heat. I purchased an infrared temperature guage so we could get a more scientific conclusion on his problem. It's on a boat trailer with surge drum brakes but I will comment here on our issues and results. Hopefully this info will shed some light on your issues with your RV.

He had experienced massive bearing failure last season and to make a long story short we replaced spindles, bearings and seals. Of course after being stranded along the road he was terribly nervous about heat issues and it did seem to both of us that his axle with the brakes would have considerably more heat than the axle without brakes. I tried to convince him this was probably normal since brakes work by creating friction and friction is heat! After buying the infrared temp sensor we determined that the brake drum would reach 160 after coming to a stop. The bearing hub of the drum would soon heat up to 145 and I'm sure if we continuously made stops and down hill driving the hubs and drum would have gone higher in temperature. The rim would somewhat follow this rise in temp but probably not get as hot as the drum. We decided that the bearing grease we were using (Lucas Red and Tacky) had a drop temperature of 475 degrees so it should not be an issue with drums getting up to nearly 200. Drop temperature is where the grease turns to a liquid I believe.

My boat trailer has disc surge brakes and as we all know run much cooler with less fading than drum brakes. I checked the temperature on my rotors after pulling my boat home and coming down a small hill. The rotors were 135/140 but the callipers were 160. These numbers seemed very similar to his so we determined that everything should be ok. Just to ease our mind though I measured the rotor temp on my 2500 Dodge Cummins to see what the tow vehicle brakes ran at. I read neary 200 on the front rotors!!!!!

So in summary I believe axles without brakes will run around 115/120 degrees and axles with brakes will, depending on how much stopping you do, can run up to 160+ degrees with no apparent issue with bearings. My truck runs much hotter than this and there are no issues with bearings! Harbor Freight has small infrared temp sensors for $20 right now and it is a great tool and apparently accurate. I have measured everything around the house such as the thermometer on the patio. They compare very close.

We did not measure any tire temperatures since bearing failure has been his problem and constant worry. I will measure tires on the next trip. I have pulled my 5th wheel in the mountains of WV and have at times generated some significant heat I'm sure. With good seals and proper bearing maintenance I have never experienced a bearing failure. I will carry my new infrared temp sensor on the road and monitor what my 5th wheel temperatures are. I'm sure I'm going to seee temps of 180+. I think the main issue you need to concern yourself with is that do you have one wheel running hotter thatn the others. This is a red flag and you need to find out why!!

I hope find this information and our experiences helpful.

There are a few variables involved not to mention how much braking has occurred prior to measurements being taken. I did take lots of hub and tire temps in the past and was more concerned with measurements that were not in line with the rest of wheels more than actual temps themselves. Now that I clean and repack my own bearings and make sure tires are filled to their proper psi and not overloaded, I find myself not checking temps as often (maybe 2-3 times a year) anymore.

Check all wheels.. including the tow vehicle and trailer tires/bearings. If you find one higher than the corresponding wheel/bearing or tire that's the one that requires a closer look i.e. tire pressure or bearing. Keep in mind that hard braking will also show up on the wheel close to the bearing(s). Any serious issue will show up with a considerably higher reading.