As a follow up to Poppy's 5th wheel post on greasing wheel bearings, my question is how often do you grease your wheel bearings.My Dexter book says 12 months or 12,000 miles. I think that is overkill. I pull my 5th wheel to Florida & back each year and maybe another 1,000 miles = 3,000 / 3,500 miles per year. I repack my bearings the old fashion way even though I have the bearing buddy's but not every year.If tractor trailer drivers greased their trailer bearings every 12,000 miles they would be doing it every month or 6 weeks and I don't think they do that. I know they are different axles, weight etc, but still trailer bearings...So should I change my thinking and follow Dexter or are they just CYA or CTA (C their A)

Do what you are comfortable with and accept the results. Some do a wheel bearing/brake repack/inspection at the beginning of each camping season.Some don't do anything until 'needed' as in bearing/hub hot or lack of brakingSome don't do anything until they have too as in too late.I prefer preventative maintenance vs break down maintenance....so much easier, less stressful and cheaper.

I pull the wheels, inspect the brakes, magnets, and repack the bearings every other year. 2013 is an odd year. "Right" is five letters, five is an odd number, so I pulled the right side and repacked the bearings.2014 is an even year, so I will pull the left side in 2014 and do the same.

Bull Rider wrote:I pull the wheels, inspect the brakes, magnets, and repack the bearings every other year. 2013 is an odd year. "Right" is five letters, five is an odd number, so I pulled the right side and repacked the bearings.2014 is an even year, so I will pull the left side in 2014 and do the same.I would do front rear not side to side!!Back in the day before front wheel drive and sealed rear bearings, I repacked the front wheel bearings on my cars as needed. Checked during tire rotations for play or bad noise.They had a service life of about 50,000 miles done correctly.

As a follow up to Poppy's 5th wheel post on greasing wheel bearings, my question is how often do you grease your wheel bearings. My Dexter book says 12 months or 12,000 miles. I think that is overkill. I pull my 5th wheel to Florida & back each year and maybe another 1,000 miles = 3,000 / 3,500 miles per year. I repack my bearings the old fashion way even though I have the bearing buddy's but not every year. If tractor trailer drivers greased their trailer bearings every 12,000 miles they would be doing it every month or 6 weeks and I don't think they do that. I know they are different axles, weight etc, but still trailer bearings... So should I change my thinking and follow Dexter or are they just CYA or CTA (C their A) I just did mine for the first time for this coach. Five years and they were in perfect condition. If you travel a lot of miles once a year is probably good preventative maintenance. If not, then maybe every two years. I plan to skip the EZ lube feature in the future as it puts a lot of grease in to clean up at bearing clean and repack time and probably is unnecessary for most RVers. Carry a spare bearing, race, seal, grease and the tools to fix it on the road if you have to.

We have 50K miles on our TT over the last 7 years and every other year works for us. Done properly they will last a couple of years before repacking is required. Last time I did them they really didn't need repacking, but I went ahead a did them since I had purchased the seals and grease already.

Wheel Bearing follow up | Good Sam Community

Vulcaneer
Explorer
Dec 04, 2013
There is a saying..."If it ain't broke...Don't fix it." And it seems to relate to another one of Murphy's laws...."If you fix something often enough, eventually it will break."

I subscribe to both theories/Laws. And I know hat once you take a good operating bearing out of it's normal working environment, and introduce it to an outside environment, no matter how careful one is, there is always a possibility of making a problem occur. PM is good. Within scientific reason. I see no real good scientific reason for yearly bearing maintenance. Especially when no problem is indicated.
Michelle_S
Explorer III
Dec 04, 2013
I will just add this quick note: The one and only time we had a bearing failure was several months after they had been serviced at a reliable shop, wheels pulled, bearing cleaned and repacked by hand. So no matter how careful, it's still possible to create a problem after the fact.
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Dec 04, 2013
Well it is early and I am waiting on the sun to come up so I will chime in.

I think the every year deal is a great big CYA.

How many cargo trailers get serviced like that every year? I have a 16 foot flat bed that has been loaned out for trips like SC, VA, and parts in between. I got all hinky about the wheel bearings after being on this board for some time. So at the 10 plus year mark I bought new seals and serviced the bearings. They all looked good as new when i pulled them. And the brakes were OK also.

Sure once a year will not hurt anything if they get back together right. Is it necessary? Your call.

It is important to do what makes one feel cozy also.
RAS43
Explorer III
Dec 03, 2013
elkhorn98 wrote:
I know someone who drives a truck and trailer for a living and he also agreed that oil filled bearing would be terrible on a RV unless it is used all the time. His trucking company always has issues of no oil in the bearings if they try to use a trailer that hasn't been used in awhile.

Oil filled hubs have been around for 40+ years on commercial vehicles with minimal issues. The fleets I worked for had trailers set for extended periods of time and the hubs remained full. Maybe we had better maintenance. I preferred working on a oil filled hub over having to pack a bearing set with grease. JMO
Endricken
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
My RV Repair Center Mgr suggests every 2 years unless you're fulltiming/using your trailer A LOT.
elkhorn98
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
I know someone who drives a truck and trailer for a living and he also agreed that oil filled bearing would be terrible on a RV unless it is used all the time. His trucking company always has issues of no oil in the bearings if they try to use a trailer that hasn't been used in awhile.
MTPockets1
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
Oil filled hubs are great for trailers always on the move, or that move frequently. If yours sits for months at a time it's best to use a high quality grease to keep the raceways and rollers coated. For those that sit for three months or more it would be ideal if you could rotate the wheels by hand to keep the oil dispersed. If you can't, I would stay with the factory recommendation of every 12 months. If you opt to do longer, your odds are much better if you are moving more often.
R12RTee
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
ronniedean1234 wrote:
Just FYI, Semi trailers have oil filled hubs, wouldn't that be nice on smaller trailer. I pull apart, inspect brakes and hand pack the bearings every year for just peace of mind, have ran into a lot of folks on the road broke down from lack of maintenance, ruined bearings, scorn spindles, ruined hubs, etc.

I think why Dexter is recommending 12 months or 12 thousand miles is that bearings can draw moisture, depending where you live, where you drive, etc. so again preventive maintenance in my book...

Oil filled hubs are available for RV trailers. Kodiak is one that makes them.
Kennedycamper
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
I do it every two to three years depending on miles, and have never had a failure; however, I still carry spare wheel bearings, and the tools to change them. My friend never does it, and he never had a failure either. Go figure.
ronniedean1234
Explorer
Dec 03, 2013
Just FYI, Semi trailers have oil filled hubs, wouldn't that be nice on smaller trailer. I pull apart, inspect brakes and hand pack the bearings every year for just peace of mind, have ran into a lot of folks on the road broke down from lack of maintenance, ruined bearings, scorn spindles, ruined hubs, etc.

I think why Dexter is recommending 12 months or 12 thousand miles is that bearings can draw moisture, depending where you live, where you drive, etc. so again preventive maintenance in my book...

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