Wheel Bearing Question

OH48Lt wrote:
It all depends on your individual situation. If you put a lot of highway miles on your trailer, you need to repack a little more often than normal. If you immerse your hubs in water, you'd be wise to repack. If you are only going 5000 miles a year, it is not necessary to repack every year.

EZ Lube hubs shouldn't even be on a travel trailer or 5ver. As mentioned above, they are for boat trailers that get immersed in water. I had some questions about the EZ Lube hubs on a toy hauler I had, and called them. Their representative said he gets a lot of calls from RVers that have blown out the back seal. He says that the bearings on a non-boat trailer should not be lubed via EZ Lube. Take the hubs off and do it the right way. Its a very easy job, the hardest part is jacking it up correctly and safely.

(bolded above was me)

Nope .. that wasn't what was mentioned at all!
What was mentioned is that Bearing Buddies are for boat trailers! EZLube hubs are not the same thing!

And if EZLube hubs and spindles should never be used on a travel trailer, someone should tell the Dexter axle company, and all the trailer manufacturers that put them on their trailers.

Once again ....... oh never mind!

I agree, best case is to manually pack your bearings, whether every year on high mileage rigs, or every couple of years ... whichever you think is best, but it bothers me to be misquoted, and for people to not even check out what they're referring to!

2-MTnesters wrote:
...There have been many complaints that wheal seals have blown out using the EZ Lube system. Also rally no need to fill the entire hub with grease which is what ultimately happens. Tim

in 2012 I bought a used cargo trailer. The only maintenance the previous owner ever did was pump more grease in every year. The seals eventually blew out because the hubs were completely packed full of grease.

My game plan was repack the bearings, inspect brakes, etc before I started using the trailer, but I sure didn't anticiapted a complete rebuild of every wheel hub. The owner claimed that the brakes worked very well and would stop the truck. That was an exaggeration - when I got out on the road when I left his driveway, I had to crank the integrated brake controller up to the highest setting to get any braking action at all, and it was minimal at that. That made it obvious something wasn't right with the brakes.

If you have EZ-Lube hubs, they don't eliminate the need to do a full repack every so often.

Here's what I found when I got started on the project:
All 4 rear grease seals were blown, which explained why the brakes didn't work very well. The brakes were covered in grease.

The project required all new brakes and drum/hubs at all 4 wheel positions.

The trailer was 4 years old when I bought it, but had a LOT of miles on it.

It all depends on your individual situation. If you put a lot of highway miles on your trailer, you need to repack a little more often than normal. If you immerse your hubs in water, you'd be wise to repack. If you are only going 5000 miles a year, it is not necessary to repack every year.

EZ Lube hubs shouldn't even be on a travel trailer or 5ver. As mentioned above, they are for boat trailers that get immersed in water. I had some questions about the EZ Lube hubs on a toy hauler I had, and called them. Their representative said he gets a lot of calls from RVers that have blown out the back seal. He says that the bearings on a non-boat trailer should not be lubed via EZ Lube. Take the hubs off and do it the right way. Its a very easy job, the hardest part is jacking it up correctly and safely.

Regardless if EZLube or Bearing Buddies system, I manually remove each wheel hub, do full brake inspection (inside the remove hub) and re-assemble "every year". Nice to pump a squirt/squirt every 2-3 years but annual inspection inside drum brake system is mandatory. re: http://www.dexteraxle.com/i/u/6149609/f/600-8K_Service_Manual/Maintenance_Schedule.pdf

Note: If one doesn't remove the brake drum, how does one do "minimum" annual internal inspection of the brake drum linings and seals?

4X4Dodger wrote:
nobody ever thinks of repacking their cars wheel bearings every year. And it's wheels are subjected to the same if not tougher conditions than a trailers.I cannot find a single reason to do this yearly re pack.

Bring a trailer bearing along to an auto parts store. Ask to see a wheel bearing for your truck. Now ask yourself "What could possibly go wrong"

I read these "bearing" threads every time they come around, and always see the confusion between EZLube, and Bearing Buddies. They are NOT the same thing!

With Bearing Buddies, (most used on boat trailers) it is an addon you press onto the outside of the hub. When the cap accepts the grease, there is a spring arrangement that keeps pressure on the grease, pressing into the hub to keep water from seeping past the seals when the trailer backs into water. These are really easy to overfill and push grease out past the seals!

EZLube have a channel formed into the axle, where the grease enters from the grease fitting, through the bearings, goes through them, pressing out old grease, and back out the wheel where you're filling.
Much less chance of overfilling and blowing the seals, because there should be nothing blocking the excess from simply flowing out around the bearings on the outside of the wheel.

I'm sure there are instances where EXLube axles have failed, but y'all should google and see the differences, and then know which setup you have.

Shadow Catcher wrote:
My take on this. Most cars do not require repacking bearings yearly, if ever. They do however use high quality bearings and often use synthetic grease. Yes there are different grades of bearings. I replaced the Chinese originals in our Dexter with SKF and properly packed them with Amsoil synthetic. Over packing can lead to over heating (the BIG fault of EZ lube). I will adjust brakes and check hub temps and I carry the old bearings and a set of seals properly packed as back up.
I think the redo yearly is a CYA.

I agree. This idea has always bugged me. nobody ever thinks of repacking their cars wheel bearings every year. And it's wheels are subjected to the same if not tougher conditions than a trailers. I have put more than 100,000 miles on most sets of car bearings with no problems.

I think the Yearly re pack for trailers is a holdover/carryover from boat trailers where the wheels get submerged in water salt or fresh on a regular basis. I cannot find a single reason to do this yearly re pack. I do regularly inspect for evidence of a leak of grease or if the wheel is running hot.

This is the trailer equivalent of the 3000 mile oil change. We have just accepted it as gospel without any real scrutiny of the facts. The real benefit goes to the people who sell all the grease and bearings and do the shop work.

A set of good bearings and good seals should last a very long time.

The excess grease should come out the front through the hole in the side of the spindle. I had them on my boat trailer which takes way more abuse than a travel trailer, (how often do you submerge your trailer bearings in salt water), I could see the old grease coming out, and the beginning of each season, I would pull the wheels off and inspect them and about every 3 years replace the bearing.

I follow these "bearing threads" with interest. It's informative to me to see all of the different ideas and processes folks have for trailer bearings. It's probably difficult for a newwbie to sort it all and discern exactly what's necessary to keep everything running well, I'd suggest to those mildly confused to follow the MFG's directions on maintenance. Dexter Axle has good videos and other literature about bearing maintenance.

Shadow Catcher wrote:
My take on this. Most cars do not require repacking bearings yearly, if ever. They do however use high quality bearings and often use synthetic grease. Yes there are different grades of bearings. I replaced the Chinese originals in our Dexter with SKF and properly packed them with Amsoil synthetic. Over packing can lead to over heating (the BIG fault of EZ lube). I will adjust brakes and check hub temps and I carry the old bearings and a set of seals properly packed as back up.
I think the redo yearly is a CYA.

^^^^ great post!