Just because I like to be prepared.. How do you determine the bearing size for your axles so as to keep a spare set on board? I suppose I could take the hub off and measure with a caliper but, there's got to be an easier way.

Get the bearings in the parts list in the manual for your axle. The manuals from Dexter & Lippert are available on-line. There should be a label on your axle with specs and model #. I find that the bearings for the Dexter & Lippert 3,500 lbs axles are the same. I see your 2017 Coleman 262BH trailer likely has a pair of 3,500 axles. Here's Lippert's parts list for those: 122089 Outer bearing cone, L44649 125102 Outer bearing cup, L44610122092 Inner bearing cone, L68149 124296 Inner bearing cup, L68111

If you're organized enough to cary a spare set... why wouldn't you want be sure that the brgs & seal you're caring be are right ones??? "easier way" could be a disappointment..

The numbers are right on the bearings.

Just an observation BUT ... surely by now the RV industry could be using bearings that don't need any servicing at all, just as the automotive industry does. Sure, any car / truck bearing could fail but it's pretty rare, I've had but one bearing fail on all the vehicles I've ever owned for the last 50 years, and when it did fail it wasn't a matter of life or death, replace it now or else. It just got noisy so the service manager said to just bring the truck in at my convenience, in the meantime I could continue to drive it, no biggie ... so why are we still dealing with this nonsense with our trailers? Good grief, is it not time we can have tires that don't blow up at a moment's notice for no apparent reason and bearings that don't fail during the lifetime of the trailer?! :M

My spares already packed with grease and stored in plastic jar. Then jar in plastic bag. I only use "double lip" seals. Hope I never need them on the road.

Spare bearing question.. | Good Sam Community

deltabravo
Nomad
Jun 21, 2018
TIMKEN.

Go to a bearing house and buy genuine made in USA Timken bearings/

Skip the made in China bearings.
mosseater
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2018
Get the numbers off the bearings. Only way to be sure.
myredracer
Explorer II
Jun 20, 2018
ScottG wrote:
myredracer wrote:
Best way to be 100% certain is to get the numbers off the bearings. Our axles are allegedly 4400 lbs and I had trouble finding the right bearings. Turns out the bearings are 5200 lbs (or maybe 6000 lbs, can't recall).

.

Pretty sure those are all those axles are the same size bearings!

That's what I was led to believe but not in my case. Been to long to remember the details tho. I ended up taking the old bearings to an industrial bearing supplier and they ordered the right ones. The local RV bearing supplier that the dealers here use was of no help.
bartlettj
Explorer
Jun 20, 2018
I would just pull one and check the numbers. I screwed myself over last month by preordering brake shoes for a 3500lb Dexter axle. Thought they were the standard 10x2.25, nope they are 10x1.5.
ScottG
Nomad
Jun 19, 2018
myredracer wrote:
Best way to be 100% certain is to get the numbers off the bearings. Our axles are allegedly 4400 lbs and I had trouble finding the right bearings. Turns out the bearings are 5200 lbs (or maybe 6000 lbs, can't recall).

.

Pretty sure those are all those axles are the same size bearings!
myredracer
Explorer II
Jun 19, 2018
Best way to be 100% certain is to get the numbers off the bearings. Our axles are allegedly 4400 lbs and I had trouble finding the right bearings. Turns out the bearings are 5200 lbs (or maybe 6000 lbs, can't recall).

Dexter has their Nev-R-Lube sealed bearings. If you do some reading up on google, premature failures have been reported. Dexter warranties them for 100K miles or 5 years. Does that mean they simply ship you new bearings? Not much help if on a long road trip miles away from a shop.

I removed our unknown/suspect/substandard quality Chinese made bearings and replaced them with US-made Timken. Can't get much better than that and with some routine maintenance & inspection, should last a very long time. The dealer had our drums off for inspection and when I went to replace the bearings, I had to use a wrench to undo the nuts. Never trust a dealer to work on your bearings!

Lippert has their Never-fail plastic spring bushings which oughta be standard. The cheapo ones they use can fail in only a couple thousand miles. It's all about building TTs as absolutely inexpensively as possible (read "cheaply").
ScottG
Nomad
Jun 19, 2018
There's a tag on your axle that has model info. Use that to order bearing from eTrailer.com.
MarkTwain
Explorer
Jun 19, 2018
falconbrother wrote:
Just because I like to be prepared.. How do you determine the bearing size for your axles so as to keep a spare set on board? I suppose I could take the hub off and measure with a caliper but, there's got to be an easier way.

I would just go to a tire / automotive shop that would normally repack your bearings( in calif. Les Schwab) and they will have all that specific information and will sell the bearhings to you.
shum02
Explorer
Jun 19, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
SoundGuy wrote:
Good grief, is it not time we can have tires that don't blow up at a moment's notice for no apparent reason and bearings that don't fail during the lifetime of the trailer?! :M

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Because frankly cassette bearing suck.

That's just an excuse - if the automotive industry can supply bearings that don't need yearly inspection / repacking / replacement every year but can go hundreds of thousands of miles / kms then surely the RV industry could as well. :S

They could but why would they?? Oh wait.........money.

I've R&R'd mine on the side of the road, in a camp ground and at home. Not that bad a job and I carry several actually. PM does not seem to matter but I'm sure driving my axles to their gvwr probably has something to do with it ;) **** rock collection....
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jun 19, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
Good grief, is it not time we can have tires that don't blow up at a moment's notice for no apparent reason and bearings that don't fail during the lifetime of the trailer?! :M

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Because frankly cassette bearing suck.

That's just an excuse - if the automotive industry can supply bearings that don't need yearly inspection / repacking / replacement every year but can go hundreds of thousands of miles / kms then surely the RV industry could as well. :S