repacking wheel bearings

Gdetrailer wrote:

jjjandrbaker wrote:
Well, went this morning and got the bearings repacked. They installed bearing buddies and taught me how to grease them. All in all, I am very satisfied with the service and the price. Anyone who knows me knows how often my attempts at minor repairs or DIY projects routinely lead to disasters and much more expensive repairs. Like some people have no green thumb and can't keep a plant alive, I have no handyman skills.

Stupid "mechanic".

Hope he didn't charge you for the bearing buddies, they are not for RV trailers.

They are for BOAT trailers.

The "idea" behind bearing buddies is to JAMB every nook and cranny full of grease.. This is supposed to reduce water from being sucked into HOT bearings when you dunk a boat trailer into water.

The idea does not "translate" very well to RVs which the axles typically are not submerged into water.

The use of bearing buddies on a TT will eventually lead to BRAKE FAILURE when you start pushing grease PAST the inside grease seal which is not designed for PRESSURIZED GREASE..

The grease seal does not take kindly to pressure, properly hand packed bearings will leave a lot of empty air space between the bearings. This space allows for any expansion or contraction of the grease without pushing it past the seal.

That grease ultimately ends up INSIDE the brake drum..

Then the grease will get slung around and COAT your brake shoes..

Once the brake shoes get grease on them you no longer will have brakes.

FIND YOURSELF A REAL MECHANIC IF YOU ARE TOO LAZY TO DO IT RIGHT..

That last statement is uncalled for. Just because one wants to pay to do bearings does not mean one is lazy..

If you do start adding grease, go easy on it. If the bearings were packed properly, you can haul for a long time before they need more grease.

jjjandrbaker wrote:
Well, went this morning and got the bearings repacked. They installed bearing buddies and taught me how to grease them. All in all, I am very satisfied with the service and the price. Anyone who knows me knows how often my attempts at minor repairs or DIY projects routinely lead to disasters and much more expensive repairs. Like some people have no green thumb and can't keep a plant alive, I have no handyman skills.

Stupid "mechanic".

Hope he didn't charge you for the bearing buddies, they are not for RV trailers.

They are for BOAT trailers.

The "idea" behind bearing buddies is to JAMB every nook and cranny full of grease.. This is supposed to reduce water from being sucked into HOT bearings when you dunk a boat trailer into water.

The idea does not "translate" very well to RVs which the axles typically are not submerged into water.

The use of bearing buddies on a TT will eventually lead to BRAKE FAILURE when you start pushing grease PAST the inside grease seal which is not designed for PRESSURIZED GREASE..

The grease seal does not take kindly to pressure, properly hand packed bearings will leave a lot of empty air space between the bearings. This space allows for any expansion or contraction of the grease without pushing it past the seal.

That grease ultimately ends up INSIDE the brake drum..

Then the grease will get slung around and COAT your brake shoes..

Once the brake shoes get grease on them you no longer will have brakes.

FIND YOURSELF A REAL MECHANIC IF YOU ARE TOO LAZY TO DO IT RIGHT..

Good luck with the Bearing Buddies, they are for boat trailers.

Well, went this morning and got the bearings repacked. They installed bearing buddies and taught me how to grease them. All in all, I am very satisfied with the service and the price. Anyone who knows me knows how often my attempts at minor repairs or DIY projects routinely lead to disasters and much more expensive repairs. Like some people have no green thumb and can't keep a plant alive, I have no handyman skills.

I do mine myself. It is flat ridiculous what these Dealers charge. $125 per axle!!! :E That's $250 for a tandem axle trailer. I spent my high school summers working in gas stations back in the early '60's. It is very easy although a bit messy!!! Back then we charged $4 per axle and that included seals!!! If gas increased as much as packing wheel bearings has it would have gone from 0.25 to 8 bucks a gallon.

For your and others information, we have an excellent tutorial, complete with pictures, of brake shoe replacement and wheel bearing maintenance stuck at the top of the Towing forum here.:)
Barney

I identify with the OP --- I know how to do this, and have done it when I was younger, but I (too) just don't want to do it anymore. On the other hand, I always get nervous when I hire someone to do such a critically important task like this.

I suggest you check your hub temperatures with an IR gun after they are re-packed. We got into TT'ing 3 years ago and I had my tire shop pack the bearings at the next season. They ran waaay too hot right out of the shop, and long story short, I found out they thought the castle nut is supposed to be at 50 ft lbs torque. It is supposed to be finger tight.

Now, I take the hubs off and deliver them to that shop for the dirty work of cleaning and packing, and then I install them so I know the bearings are set correctly.

Just a suggestion.

I finally found a place that works on RVs. I have an appointment for Wednesday morning, and they will pack the bearings while I wait. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

I'm retired and have time so I always tell them I'll wait. I schedule the first appointment time of the day. If they would tell me that it would take two weeks then I would move on to some other place.