How often should wheel bearings be repacked?

Unless you are putting insane miles per year, I subscribe to the policy of packing them every 2 years. I'm sure that even 2 years is wasteful, but its fairly cheap and easy to do myself. My buddy recently bought an RV, so we might just bring his trailer to my house and do both in one day. The biggest annoyance is getting grease everywhere... 6 wheels isn't any harder than 4...

SoundGuy wrote:
2000 miles?!! Baloney.

Dealers would like you to bring your trailer in for bearing repacking every year, perhaps every 8K to 10K miles, but I'd do those on my own 192RBS every 2 to 3 years, only sooner if I were planning a long cross country trip, otherwise this is plenty often enough IMO.

x2

I just did mine the second time in 12 years. Did them at 2 years and since I knew they were done right they should last the life of the shoes. Now at an 10 years I decided to install disk so installed newly packed bearings. Old stuff looked fine and the Mobile 1 grease was still red. This after 30,000 to 40,000 miles.

I do think the first repack is important do to poor OEM QC.

I guess I am the Odd Ball out!! My trailer is coming up on 11 years old, I have repacked the bearings Twice. Inspected the brakes and replaced the grease seals.
I have the EZ Lube feature and I use it with out any issues.
I believe in Lucas Heavy Duty red-tacky wheel bearing grease. First time I repacked was when I bought it used. It was four years old and I had no idea how many miles on it so I inspected and re lubed.
Since then I pull the end caps and inspect the grease, I look for discoloration and breakdown. Before every season I add more grease with the grease gun until I see grease being pushed forward. I DO NOT force it out until new grease appears.
Everything has been okie dokie! On long hauls I will take my IR gun and check temps,, no issues,. The last two years the trailer has sat allot more than usual. Crabbing restrictions and family matters have kept us home..

But,, this year I will pull the wheels and do a complete service!
So for me,, every four years works!
Now understand that I understand that is not etched in stone. If we will be going extra long distances I will freshen grease.

Regardless of how long in time or miles I remove the grease caps every spring before I use the trailer.

I inspect for any signs of rust or water that may have entered during the last season.

If I find either then a repack is necessary.

I also check that the castle nut can be wiggled by hand and that the bearing is not too loose by wiggling the tire hub assembly.

Then after three years I pull the hubs inspect bearings and brakes.

Replace the seals and repack the bearings.

That is a really good question. When I was active duty, we had to do a 720 day inspection on our munitions trailers. While they do get a work out, they do nowhere near 2000 miles in that time...Maybe 500. I could always tell the trailers that sat and were never (or rarely) moved in that two year time period. Those trailers would sometimes develop dark lines on the bearing races where they sat and the very small amount of moisture that got in caused the darkening. The tech orders said that they had to be replaced, so we did, but that was more of a cover your butt thing with the trailers hauling explosives and such. The ones that were moved on a regular basis rarely if ever developed them. The grease never went bad and it never appeared that there was a lack of grease in the bearings when they came in for the bi-annual service.

Before I joined the military, we ran a race car at the dirt track. We were having to repack the bearings with regular bearing grease about every other week. We found Amsoil synthetic bearing grease. Used it and only had to repack mid way through the season. (Not an ad for Amsoil, just stating what we used)

Finally, I have a 1965 Chevy C10 pickup. It was my fathers who gave it to me when he passed away. It has 49,000 miles on the odometer (and probably wrapped around once or twice before that). Two years ago I went through the bearings in the truck and found that the rear axle bearings were pitted and needed replacing. The front bearings were still in good condition and they were the original bearings. I did replace them all, just in case.

So it is really up to you and your preferences as to what you should do. Take the advice here and from others, and then pick a happy medium that will work for you and your wallet.

Mind you, your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.

I carry an IR temp gun and read the temps after a good pull or between fuel up's. If the temps start heading about 10C North of ambient or if there are big differences between each wheel it's time to give them a look.

20,000 or so miles and I do not track how long it has been. I check the temp of the end cap and hub at each stop and pull the end caps before each trip to make sure there is still grease in there.

I do not travel much over 3-4000 miles each year. Crossing the desert the hubs on the sunny side can get hot to the touch, but as long as they are not hotter than the truck hubs I figure it is fine.

If I start to worry about it I re-pack the hubs to stop the worry.

Mileage, Non-use vs Use, Environment, and Warranty are all factors to consider when deciding the frequency of any maintenance. I agree that every year seems too often and I usually do an every other year routine. If you have any kind of warranty then regardless of how you feel you have to follow their requirements.
I also use a infrared thermometer to check heat from the wheels and hubs during trips. If the temperature starts to climb too much I start to look for answers.
Heat is the killer and the first indicator of problems.

I do mine every three years with Mobil 1 grease.