EZ lube spindle and bearing repack question

JCK wrote:
Really bad advice from Bager
The easy lube system is a good system It uses a double lip seal on the axle shaft to prevent grease from entering the brake area. When you grease through the zerk the grease goes through the center of spindle and out a small hole just beyond the inner bearing and before the seal. As you slowly grease and turn wheel the grease is forced through the innner and outer bearing and you will see it coming back at you around the spindle , zerk area then stop . The key thing here is pump slowly and turn the wheel also when pumping . The first time it may require a half tube of grease or more .

As having worked on trailers for the military for most of my 20 year career, I would not call it bad advice...I would say that my experiences are different from yours.

I just watched the video about the Dexter grease system. and while I admit it looks like a good idea, I still will continue to do it the old fashioned way.

(see, I can be flexible without bashing your belief in the system or saying that your advice is "really bad")

What I see wrong with the EZ lube system, is not everyone follows the rules when it comes to maintenance. How many people are going to jack up each tire just to pump grease in the system? They may the first time, but eventually they will tend to either ignore it, or just pop the cap, pump in a few shots of grease, and slap the stopper back on.

Also, as for that rubber stopper...I worked on big rig trailers before I joined the military. The trailers that we worked on mostly use an oil bath bearing lube system. The outer rubber cap comes off, you pour oil in, and replace the cap. In the 18 months I worked on those trailers I had at least 15 or more trailers come in missing rubber caps and bearings going bad because of contamination. While no system is perfect, I would rather trust the metal cap that I knock on with a mallet versus a rubber stopper that can pop off when the bearing grease (or oil in the case of the big trailers) heats up and creates a pressure inside the hub/bearing area.

While it may be harder for grease to get by the seal in the hub on the EZ Lube system, Murphy has a way of popping his head up. Unless it is a closed system, fluid can and will eventually find a way past a seal given the right conditions. But this problem applies to both systems, so it is a draw here. The key thing is that if you never pull the hub and look, you never know if it has happened until your brakes fail, or something worse happens.

Each system has its good and bad. While I admire your love for the self-greasing system, I personally feel that it creates a false sense of security because in some cases people will just pump in the grease and never even think to look at the bearings for damage or possible failure.

But to each their own...