How Often to Repack Trailer Wheel Bearings?

I repack when I change tires.Same thing for Single Engine Airplanes. Works for me and I use Timken bearings on everything. I have never had a Timken failure and having had a front bearing on a Chevy 2500 even run Timkens on them. As for grease. almost all grease meets NLGI 2 requirements it will work. NLGI goes from 000 to 6, 6 being thickest. We have farmed for years and use 2 for hi speed swathers, mowers and balers with good results. don't get hung up on grease. Wheel bearing grease usually ends up hung to the race and not in the bearing anyway.

Charlie D. wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
One POSSIBLY good thing is that a typical trailer roller bearing "announces" its pending failure by making a metallic clicking sound.

Not always. Just repacked mine. One growled when spinning. Another made no sound but both bearings were spalled.

I agree, mine were completely quiet but the rollers were close to fatal.
If you can hear the failing bearings, total failure can happen at any moment.

theoldwizard1 wrote:
One POSSIBLY good thing is that a typical trailer roller bearing "announces" its pending failure by making a metallic clicking sound. You won't hear it on the road, but is very pronounced when in stop and go traffic or pulling away after refueling.

(Ask me how I know !)

Not always. Just repacked mine. One growled when spinning. Another made no sound but both bearings were spalled. Fourth wheel when I pulled it had a broken bracket that holds the magnet on. Magnet laying in bottom of brake drum. Made no sound when spun by hand. There was wear on the corner of magnet that indicated it had rubbed on something but I never heard a sound when driving.

mike-s wrote:
I wouldn't get all hung up on Timken. Any quality brand would be fine - SKF, ***, NTN, NSK.

LOL, board won't allow F A G

Actually, when I worked in the auto parts business many years ago, F.A.G bearings (pronounced "FOG") were known for being high quality GERMAN bearings for VW, Mercedes, BMW, etc. Don't know what they are today though or if they're still made in Germany.

mike-s wrote:
I wouldn't get all hung up on Timken. Any quality brand would be fine - SKF, ***, NTN, NSK.

LOL, board won't allow F A G

I agree, but they aren't as readily available. I mention Timken because folks won't have an excuse that they couldn't find anything but the cheap stuff.

Lubrication Engineers 3752 LE Almagard Industrial Grease, 14.5 Oz
$12.99 Here

Nor R E T A R D E D ignition timing. Just use spaces in word spelling to thwart SMART (?) censorship

I wouldn't get all hung up on Timken. Any quality brand would be fine - SKF, ***, NTN, NSK.

LOL, board won't allow F A G

westend wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Annually so interior brake components can be checked. There is no sane way to avoid this.

A friend has a 3 axle flatbed trailer with surge brakes. The trailed documented a few DOZEN trips coast to coast. Now has perhaps a quarter million miles on it. The bearings were lubed with Lubrication Engineers, Almaguard 3752

IN 1976

Fact not fiction...

Thanks, Mex. I was hoping you'd post the name of that grease again. Now, to find some.

http://products.lelubricants.com/viewitems/all-purpose-chassis-2/almagard-vari-purpose-lubricant-3750-3752?

Your wish is my command :)

Buy it here, online, at the LE website

No it isn't cheap.
But this scrooge would buy it even at twice the price.

Penny wise dollar foolish people would criticize the cost.
When 10 years pass, guess who gets The Last Laugh?

Yeah, it's -that- good.

In an emergency, I lubed a TT bearing that had NO SEAL. It had been destroyed along with the bearing and race. The owner then wrote me from Guadalajara Mex (days before email) and reported he drove from Antigua, Guatemala to Puebla Mexico and only a -tiny- smidgen, a fleck of grease had exited the wide-open bearing bore. If there ever was a genuine miracle chassis lube - this would be it. I drove a Jeep, so deep in stream crossings water came in and out of the doors. This stuff laughed it off.

Dave H M wrote:
Now I will never use the cheap bearings and replace them with Timken.


Uhhhhh, a while back I bought one of those good Timkins.

Sure enough the box was made in the USA, but the bearing had made in china stamped on it.

Timken has plants in many countries and I wouldn't be afraid to use their brand if it was imported and a not a cheap knockoff. The Timken trailer bearings that I have purchased all were in USA boxes with USA etched on the bearings.

The failures that I have had were Chinese bearings from eTrailer that were of the same brand that come as original equipment on many axles. When I inspected and closely measured the failed parts, I found poor quality steel, angles out of tolerance, poor finishes and incomplete grinding of the load surfaces. Yes, I obtained the bearing blueprints and have the equipment to inspect them.