Wheel Bearings

jfkmk wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Every time you have the ones on your cars and trucks repacked. :)

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Always wondered about that. I've had a number of vehicles hit 200k miles and never once repacked the bearings.

Most vehicles these days use sealed hub assemblies, which are run to failure, as you CAN'T repack the bearings. The axle manufacturer for my TT (Dexter) recommends 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Everybody has their own preference and reasoning for how they maintain their trailer. I do all my own maintenance, including the bearing maintenance. The way I look at it, for the time and money I spend doing the bearing maintenance and brake check each year, it is extremely cheap insurance for a problem-free camping season.

As others have stated, the bearings come from the factory with the minimum amount of grease in them, so no matter how long you go between packing them, start out by doing so right away.

You'll get all kinds of advice here, some very good, some very questionable. In one thread, someone argued you never have to repack them, simply pop the grease cap, put a dab of grease in the cap itself (no, these were not ez-lube!) and you'll be good to go. Whatever you decide, remember not everyone is offering sound advice.

I wasn't suggesting not to do the scheduled maintenance.

I was asking why they don't use the same sealed bearings.
- Are they drastically more expensive?
- Can't handle the weight?
- Is it that RV's sit for weeks/months at a time (not buying this as I've seen lots of cars that sit for long periods without failing)?

I suspect long haul semi's don't go in every 2-4 weeks to have the bearings repacked (they can easily do 12k miles in a few weeks).

So what's different that RV bearings are so much worse?