Wheel bearings
What is so different with RV wheel bearings that they have to be packed at least every year or two. My truck and car does not require this yearly maintenance, why does the RV axles??
Forum Discussion
On the topic of automotive sealed bearing:
A bearing manufacturer rep for a company that makes sealed automotive bearings recently discussed them. He said that some time in the 90's the auto manufacturers specified that the bearings have very low rolling resistance. This resulted in a design that uses dual-row ball bearings instead of the traditional roller bearings. They did result in lower rolling resistance. However, ball bearings have a much smaller contact area (theoretically a point instead of a line) and therefore they wear out faster. The practical result of this is that most auto bearing assemblies only last about 100K miles.
I have replaced many bearing assemblies on my new cars (and on friend's cars) at just past 100K miles so this seems plausible.
He said that trucks still used roller bearings because of their durability and ability to handle the heavier weights.
Steve
A bearing manufacturer rep for a company that makes sealed automotive bearings recently discussed them. He said that some time in the 90's the auto manufacturers specified that the bearings have very low rolling resistance. This resulted in a design that uses dual-row ball bearings instead of the traditional roller bearings. They did result in lower rolling resistance. However, ball bearings have a much smaller contact area (theoretically a point instead of a line) and therefore they wear out faster. The practical result of this is that most auto bearing assemblies only last about 100K miles.
I have replaced many bearing assemblies on my new cars (and on friend's cars) at just past 100K miles so this seems plausible.
He said that trucks still used roller bearings because of their durability and ability to handle the heavier weights.
Steve
