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greig00183's avatar
greig00183
Explorer
Sep 23, 2013

HELP! Dexter Torflex EZ-Lube

HELP! I have dexter torflex axles with the ez-lube on the end. Have the trailer about 2 years now and 10,000 miles I never greased the wheel bearings. So I decided to grease them and first I used a pneumatic grease gun and started greasing 2 wheels on one side but no grease was pushing back out at me. Than I watched video on youtube (which I should have done first DUH!) from dexter on how to grease them and not to use a pneumatic grease gun so I did the other side with hand gun and lifted wheels off the ground and rotated tires as I greased. Still no grease pushing back out at me like it should. On my boat trailer just 1, 2, pumps of grease and it starts moving old grease back out towards me, but not on this one, boat trailer is about 8 years older. It seems like the hubs are taking the grease but I don't know where it is going??? is it pushing out the back seal????? are the hubs just not full enough yet??? I bought trailer brand new. How do I know if I pushed grease out back seals on to brakes?????
  • gmw_photos's avatar
    gmw_photos
    Explorer
    Sep 23, 2013
    from the dexter website:

    Bearing Adjustment and Hub Replacement
    If the hub has been removed or bearing adjustment is required, the following adjustment procedure must be followed:
    1. Afterplacingthehub,bearings,washers,andspindlenut back on the axle spindle in reverse order as detailed in the previous section on hub removal, rotate the hub assembly slowly while tightening the spindle nut to approximately 50 lbs.-ft. (12" wrench or pliers with full hand force.)
    2. Thenloosenthespindlenuttoremovethetorque.Donot rotate the hub.
    3. Fingertightenthespindlenutuntiljustsnug.
    4. Backthespindlenutoutslightlyuntilthefirstcastellation lines up with the cotter key hole and insert the cotter pin.
    5. Bendoverthecotterpinlegstosecurethenut.
    6. Nutshouldbefreetomovewithonlyrestraintbeingthe cotter pin.

    .....and yes, I see the formatting of the text got confused, but it's easy enough to read thru it....
  • StewB's avatar
    StewB
    Explorer
    Sep 23, 2013
    Itakethe5th2011 wrote:
    You have to fill the whole hub up with grease before it starts to come out of front bearing. It will take 2 or 3 tubes to fill. The first year I did just as direction said. This last spring, before my trip, I pulled drum off to check brakes. Found 3 out of 4 seals had leaked grease on to brake shoes. I will never use hand grease gun again. Hand packing bearings on RV trailer is the only way to do it right.


    Don't know what hubs you are useing but on my dexter axels it takes exactly one tube of grease to fill 4 hubs the first time. This does leave a small amount of space as subsequent greasing it will take a couple of pumps before the grease comes out the front. There is not a lot of room inside a hub once the spindle goes in.

    One Key is to make sure you use double lip seals as per dexters reccemendations. If you use single lip you will be much more prone to pushing grease past the seals into the drum. In over 10 years of using dexter axels on my boat and rv trailers I have never had grease go into the drums when I used double seals.
  • modern_family's avatar
    modern_family
    Explorer
    Sep 23, 2013
    From the factory, the bearings are packed just as you would a regular set of bearings with grease just inside the bearing itself and that is all. The hub is completely empty and as stated above, you will use atleast a tube of grease to "fill" the hub before it pushes the original grease out. Most will agree not to use the EZ lube to avoid damaging the seals and wasting grease and just re-pack once a year or so depending on mileage.
  • Itakethe5th2011's avatar
    Itakethe5th2011
    Explorer
    Sep 23, 2013
    You have to fill the whole hub up with grease before it starts to come out of front bearing. It will take 2 or 3 tubes to fill. The first year I did just as direction said. This last spring, before my trip, I pulled drum off to check brakes. Found 3 out of 4 seals had leaked grease on to brake shoes. I will never use hand grease gun again. Hand packing bearings on RV trailer is the only way to do it right.

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