Grease gun/ grease recommendations
For EZ lube axle, what brand do you use for the wheel bearing grease.
Thank you -Peter
Thank you -Peter
Forum Discussion
44 Replies
- I do both. Use the zerk every year in the spring and repack by hand every fourth year.
Never had grease on the brakes or any other problem. ScottG wrote:
there is no need to do them every year.
Except when using cheap, Chinese junk bearings from eTrailer and most other suppliers, then 8 months is too long.
- Do yourself a favor and follow the procedure specified in Dexters on service manual.. that means pulling the hubs, taking the seal out, cleaning and inspecting..etc... Also if you just lump grease in those fittings you can’t see condition of brakes, magnet, and hold down hardware.
Old school way... tried, true, and tested for decades.
And... view this link,, it’s from Dexters website.. video on how t9 grease wheel bearings...
Notice..the axle the6 are working on is an EZ lube axle hub... easily identified by the yellow axle nut retainer
https://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/videos/bearing-maintenance bpounds wrote:
Same old nonsense from those scaredy-cats who won't use their EZ lube feature. Just ignore that.
Follow instructions on how to use the EZ lube axles. You can find a video on it. Most importantly is to raise the wheel and rotate it while you slowly pump the grease. Watch around the spindle nut area, and as soon as you see the slightest movement of the old grease, stop. It is full.
Yes it will use a lot of grease the first time you do it, because the factory did not fill the voids in the hub. After the first time, it will take LESS grease than if you packed by hand. It shouldn't take more than 2 tubes the first time to do all 4 hubs. Buy 3 to be safe. Not a big expense.
Well a member here did his two axle TT, for the first time, and he reported 3.5 tubes of grease. This will of course vary depending on just how much the factory put in. But since grease costs money, and they make thousands of axles, and most here report little grease in theirs.. It is a pretty safe bet there isn't much in there.
As for the video. It really is meant to convince those that do not think mechanical things thru.
The Dexter video makes it look simple and easy....
Well here is what it doesn't tell you:
At the intial grease gun greasing, you will pump grease in while slowly rotating the wheel. This will (hopefully) push the old grease out of the inner bearing and into the hub cavity. Much more pumping will be needed and almost a tube of grease before the inner bearing grease reaches the outer bearing and pushes its grease out. The video shows a band of dirty grease exiting, followed by some clean grease, and they call it good..... And IF the hub was empty and IF no grease pushed past the inner seals onto the brakes, you would be.
But IF there was some clean grease in the hub, or at the next greasing when there will be a filled hub,,,, the results will be different.
What would happen is the dirty inner bearing grease would be pushed out of the inner bearing, pushing the clean grease in the hub which will push the dirty outer bearing grease out... Just like the video shows... Problem is, that is just the outer bearing grease you see. The inner bearing grease is still in there somewhere. Just where it is is anyones guess. If the hub was perfectly filled with grease, and your grease pumping wheel rotating was perfect (not likely) there will be a dounut shaped section of dirty grease still in the hub between the inner and outer bearings. But since you cannot see it, you do not know if this dirty grease is a perfect donut shape, or if it is stretched out of shape, or if any of it made it to the outer bearing. IOW, at thae second, and all subsequent greasings, you need to pump in enough grease to see TWO areas of dirty grease exit... That will almost a tube of grease per wheel. And that is how it would need to be done EACH time.
That is a LOT of pumping. The more pumping, the more likely grease will leak past the seal and onto the brakes.
Since you have to remove the drum to inspect the brakes anyway....Just grease the bearings by hand then.
This is cheaper, better and safer than using the zerks.
But if you do not want to or cannot handle this job, you will not want to deal with grease on the brakes either.
As always, your money, your choice.- EZ lube just doesn’t work.
- Those with experience know. Notice that those that have been around the longest suggest not using them?
If you're going to do them, don't be lazy - do it right.
OTOH, there is no need to do them every year. - EZ lube while work. but for piece of mind and knowing what it looks like in there I do mine by hand.first time you get grease all over your pads will make you a beleaver. and if your only a 5k mile per year camper ? you don,t need to do them every year.
- I have never thought re-packing wheel bearings a big job. And when I pull the hub I can look at bearings, shoes, and magnets. YMMV. But lets use a little logic here.
bpounds wrote:
Same old nonsense from those scaredy-cats who won't use their EZ lube feature. Just ignore that.
Follow instructions on how to use the EZ lube axles. You can find a video on it. Most importantly is to raise the wheel and rotate it while you slowly pump the grease. Watch around the spindle nut area, and as soon as you see the slightest movement of the old grease, stop. It is full.
Yes it full. But you have pumped new grease in, mixed it well with the old. Any contamination in the old grease is still in there. Might be good enough for you, or the people that sell axles and parts, but not me. Now if you keep pumping grease in, grease comes out clean, maybe.Yes it will use a lot of grease the first time you do it, because the factory did not fill the voids in the hub. After the first time, it will take LESS grease than if you packed by hand. It shouldn't take more than 2 tubes the first time to do all 4 hubs. Buy 3 to be safe. Not a big expense.
Fill the voids in hub is just a waste of grease. As the temp changes the air space in the hub might prevent buildup of pressure on seals. Some think if the bearings get hot that grease will flow into the bearing. Maybe, but long before that grease is warm enough to flow the grease in the bearing will have left the building, taking bearings with it. You just have a lot more contaminated grease to clean out.
But I'm just a dumb truck driver. It's yours, you can do what you want - I use Pennzoil wheel bearing grease. Always use a grease that was made specifically for wheel bearings, Dexter has an approved list on page 53. I also will never use the grease fitting for reasons stated above plus the fact that the brakes are inspected annually and that would be a real mess.
- Thank you for all the advices and tip I appreciate it. I will watch more in YouTube. Thanks
