Here we go, another EZ lube debate!

+1, good job. I'd have likely just Dremel'd the race and put a steel punch to it, making a note to get new brake hubs the next time.

Although, China.

I’m a newly registered member here but have been a reader for quite a while. Most recently I was searching all over the web for a way to get the inner bearing races out of my hubs. Strangely, one of the Axle Teknology hubs on each of my 5,200 lb. Lippert axles has plenty of edge to drive the race on but the other hub on both axles has zero edge protruding. It looks like to me somebody at the foundry grabbed the wrong core for two of my hub castings or somebody at Lippert grabbed the wrong hubs.

I took the hubs to our old standby local auto machine shop thinking they would have the right tools to press the races out and they just shook their heads. They suggested the weld bead approach, but I didn’t really want to heat the casting too much in one area and I wanted a fix that would allow me to service the bearings anywhere between here and Alaska if necessary.

I decided to see if I could grind some undercuts behind the races with my trusty Dremel Tool. I was a little concerned about removing any material until I realized the other two hubs had 1/8” less material already, and they had the same outside diameter. Creating a stress riser was another minor concern, but a generous radius with all the edges rounded off would not be an issue. Since it worked out so well and took much less time than all my fretting over it (confession: I’m a retired engineer…) I thought I should share.



While it looks like there might be an edge there, that corner of the race is nicely radiused and nothing would stay on it, no matter what kind of edge I ground on the punch.

Just to make sure material removal didn’t cause an issue, I ground the undercuts adjacent to two opposite lug studs where there is a huge boss of cast material outside the bearing race area.



I used a 5/8” diameter by 3/8” long grinding wheel at 20,000 RPM. I “dressed” the wheel a few times by grinding on a junk bearing race. Each undercut took less than 5 minutes.



Now, after deburring the shoulder the race stops against, cleaning up the grind swarf and reassembly, my bearings can be changed with the tools I carry in the truck all the time.

My $.02 worth on the EZ Lube debate… I bought my trailer used with very few miles on it. I can’t even measure the brake shoe wear. The dealer said they “checked the wheel bearings.” One bearing sounded rough and when I got inside them, two brake assemblies were full of grease. The other bearings (Chinese) had scratches in the races I could pick up with my fingernail so I replaced all the bearings with Timkens. (My fingernail is still calibrated from many years in the hydraulics industry.) I want a fresh start. I will not use the EZ Lube feature due to the brakes. I will check the bearings for endplay and noise and repack them by hand next winter. If the bearings look good I’ll probably go to a repack schedule of 3 years or 12k miles, or before any very long trip.

Thanks

myredracer wrote:
If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.

Lynnmor wrote:

Dave H M wrote:
I just did four and did not have any problem. maybe your drift is too soft or more patience was in order.

Years ago, when common sense was still used, the hubs had notches for a punch. Now, many are built with little or no amount of the bearing cup exposed, therefore no place for a punch to engage it.

No, not at all an issue with the drift being too soft or lack of patience, it was as Lynnmor has pointed out, very little of the edge of the bearing cup being exposed. I ended up using a length of 1-1/2" pipe (or might have been 1") to get more contact with the almost non-existent lip on the cup. Cleaning & repacking bearings is easy peasy in comparison to replacing them and those who are mechanically inclined shouldn't shy away from doing it themselves.

When Alko was independently owned, their drums were marked "Axletek" and made in China for Alko but now that Dexter and Alko are combined, am not sure what drums you'll get. Our Alko axles (from early 2014) came with Dexter seals. Like many RV parts & components, there is little regard for making things easier to repair or maintain or to last longer.

Dave H M wrote:
If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.


I just did four and did not have any problem. maybe your drift is too soft or more patience was in order.

Years ago, when common sense was still used, the hubs had notches for a punch. Now, many are built with little or no amount of the bearing cup exposed, therefore no place for a punch to engage it.

Some weld a bead on the cup so that it shrinks as it cools. Another method it to grind some notches in the hub that should have been there in the first place.

If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.


I just did four and did not have any problem. maybe your drift is too soft or more patience was in order.

Hi just to let you know that on my 3axle I did all the wheel bearing and replaced all seals. All the bearing looked great.one seal was seeping a little , but it did not get on brakes. I did use 6 cans on break clean, one for each wheel.Took my time cleaned and repack the hubs.Packed the bearing by hand.Start to finish may be 6 hrs total.
Now just to clean up

Our bearing story: Our dealer pumped in grease during the PDI (head tech said they do that on all PDIs) which caused grease to get onto the brakes. After one season while in for some misc. warranty work, I asked them to take the drums off and inspect the bearings and brakes and they said the seals had blown and had leaked grease. They wanted to charge us $1K to fix it (!!). I called Alko and said they would make sure they would cover the cost and would work it out with the dealer. Got our TT back and assumed they replaced the seals and put it all back together properly.

The following season, on the way back home I discovered one drum was running hotter than the rest. Took drums off to inspect bearings and brakes and found 2 colors of grease in there and grease on the brakes - clearly the dealer had not done anything and just slapped it back together (wouldn't be surprised if they submitted a claim for installing new seals & repack). I also found that the dealer had over-tightened the axle nuts - I needed a wrench to undo them. I replaced the cheap Ch*nese bearings with US made Timkens which a local supplier luckily had in stock. Went on a long road trip last summer through 7 states and zero issues with the new bearings and repack job I did myself.

Morale of story is, it's possible you could even have problems with your seals & bearings from day one due to what the dealer did. Just can't trust a dealer. From many threads I've read on EZ-lube axles, you just shouldn't use them and should remove, inspect and hand repack. You could always get a shop to do it for $200-300 or so.

If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.

Hannibal wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
I think some of you fellers aren't familiar with the EZ-Lube axles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0RKDGgDm8

Good video! Notice he said "MANUAL" grease gun.

Absolutely do not use a pneumatic grease gun for wheel bearings or ball joints for that matter. And if you feel more than just a little bit of resistance, stop and figure out why. Make sure your grease is compatible with the existing grease as well.

So true, when pumping grease into my MC trailers EZ Lubes I did not really feel much if any difference once the cavity was filled.

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
I think some of you fellers aren't familiar with the EZ-Lube axles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0RKDGgDm8

Good video! Notice he said "MANUAL" grease gun.

Absolutely do not use a pneumatic grease gun for wheel bearings or ball joints for that matter. And if you feel more than just a little bit of resistance, stop and figure out why. Make sure your grease is compatible with the existing grease as well.

Hannibal wrote:
I think some of you fellers aren't familiar with the EZ-Lube axles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0RKDGgDm8

Good video! Notice he said "MANUAL" grease gun.