2nd time for grease seal leaking, same axle

OP here...Thanks for the reply's. I'm going to consider every one of them.

I've had two things go wrong with RV last couple weeks. Must be my turn.

Thanks again

With the EZ-Lube deal, I have them but don't use them. It came new with EZ-Lube and what I found was Dexter of course filled the bearings and hub with grease thru the zerk. I had "oil" slowly working it's way onto the backing plate, shoes, magnets, and also out around the dust cap. When I pulled the hub apart the hole hub cavity was filled with grease. What I think happens is while the trailer is parked the grease has a slight separation, becoming a little bit of oil and a whole lot of grease. You can see this happen in a can of wheel bearing grease that has set on the shelf for a little while, and tube grease in a grease gun. So when the hub heats up, that oil is getting pushed past the seal and dust cover before it gets mixed up. There was enough grease in those hubs I could have packed bearings after bearings. I used rags and more rags to get the grease all out of the hubs. Have repacked the bearings by hand with no grease in the hub don't use the zerks. Things have stayed dry for several years now. If I would have packed the bearings and hub on a race car that I used to work on like Dexter did, the crew chief would have sent me down the road kicking pebbles! And for some of our Canadian friends, we call them zerks, above the border many people call them grease nipples.

path1 wrote:
Second time for one axle grease seal has leaked in about 7,000 miles. Doesn't look like any gouges or out of round or anything else out of place. I don't know what type of seals I have or if one brand is better than another. Axle is AL-KO (now Dexter) with Ez-lube zerk fitting. I hand pack bearings and use Ez-lube fitting very sparingly. Other 3 axles have no problems and I'm doing the same procedure for all of them. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. Axle is left front on trailer. Weight is not a problem. Tire wear looks the same as other tires, so not way out of alignment.



Question:

Any recommendations for grease seals that are "heavy duty" or known for better quality?

Any hints to why this one axle is giving me problems?

............If I remember correctly , there are Two sizes of grease seals for 5,200 , 6,000 , and 7,000 lb. axles ! 2 1\8th" and 2 1\4".....probably not your problem but could be ! Have your axles been serviced lately ? , jf

A single seal leaking again and again is odd.

If the spindle looks good, maybe the drum is out of shape. A new drum might fix it, and they are not that expensive.

How badly has it leaked? After 9000 miles, all my original seals had leaked a small amount, enough to grease the wall of the drum where the magnet rides, but not the brakes or outer drum.

They were replaced with Dexter double-lipped seals. I placed a big block of wood on the seal, covering it and the cast flange, and hammered the seal in until the flange stopped it. The seals looked evenly inserted, by eye anyway.

Turns out my 5200# Al-Ko axles come in two possible spindle sizes: 2.25" and 2.125" where the seal rides. I needed to caliper the spindle to find the I.D. of the required seal.

RVhiker wrote:
I believe that grease seals for an EZ lube axle are supposed to be constructed with two grease seal lips; does the leaky seal have two sealing lips?

I don't know. Just put on what I was given at time when buying bearings

Was the leaky seal installed evenly - that is, is the flat surface of the seal evenly deep into the bearing hole?

OK, something else to check

Grease seals are supposed to be replaced each time a drum is removed (but I've cheated on this a time or two.) Did you install a new seal or clean up and re-use the old one?

Every time hub comes off (twice now) I put on new seals.

Thanks for the info

I believe that grease seals for an EZ lube axle are supposed to be constructed with two grease seal lips; does the leaky seal have two sealing lips?

Was the leaky seal installed evenly - that is, is the flat surface of the seal evenly deep into the bearing hole?

Grease seals are supposed to be replaced each time a drum is removed (but I've cheated on this a time or two.) Did you install a new seal or clean up and re-use the old one?