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Bearings and bad decisions......

PNW_Steve
Explorer
Explorer
A cautionary tale of wheel bearing tragedy....

Learn from my bad decision.... I was doing my pre-trip walk around this morning as we prepared to get back on the road. I noticed a missing wheel bearing cap. I looked it over and did not see any evidence of bearing grease escaping so I decided to wait until we reach our destination tonight to address it.

Now I am sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck. That will be $375-$500. Probably looking at a $1000 repair bill.

Shame on me........
2004.5 Dodge 3500 5.9 Cummins, NV5400, 5" turbo back stainless exhaust, Edger programmer & 22.5 Alcoa's
2002 Forest River 36 5th Wheel (staying home)
1992 Jayco 29 5th Wheel (Mexico veteran & headed back)
2002 "faux" Wanderlodge 40' My new toy....
52 REPLIES 52

memtb
Explorer
Explorer
Sorry to hear of this. Hopefully you can gittr’r back together without great expense.

We burned a bearing on Dec. 23rd, in route to families home for Christmas. It was nearing dark, in single digits and getting colder. We removed the tire/rim, chained the axle up to the frame, and limped the remaining 70 plus miles , on 3 wheels to the campground we had pre- arranged to stay at. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with family. The day after Christmas, I found a complete hub/brake assembly in Salt Lake, came back to the campground to complete repairs. With temperatures in single digits to low teens, I “dressed” the slightly damaged spindle with a file, put everything back together, broke camp and headed home.

Someone mentioned monitoring your bearing temps by touching the cap....effective, but not real accurate. We carry a temp gun (less than $50), and take tire and hub temperatures on every stop. Occasionally we even take a reading on the rear differential housing if we’ve doing some long, steep pulls. Our 5er weighs-out at 20K pounds when we’re loaded-up.....which works the “Ole” Ram pretty hard in the hills.

One thing about this RV’ing thing, expect and be prepared for the....unexpected! memtb
Todd & Marianne
Miniature Schnauzer's - Sundai, Nellie & Maggie Mae
2007 Dodge Ram 3500, 6.7 Cummins, 6 speed manual, 3.73 ratio, 4x4
2004 Teton Grand Freedom, 39'
2007 Bigfoot 30MH26Sl

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
That’s being prepared!
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

TxGearhead
Explorer II
Explorer II
midnightsadie wrote:
I carry a complete hub assembly ready to install grease packed wrapped up in plastic . never had it out.


me too
2018 Ram 3500 CC LB DRW 4X4 Cummins Aisin Laramie Pearl White
2018 Landmark Oshkosh
2008 Bigfoot 25C9.4
2014 NauticStar 21 ShallowBay 150HP Yamaha
2016 GoDevil 18X44 35HP Surface Drive

midnightsadie
Explorer II
Explorer II
I carry a complete hub assembly ready to install grease packed wrapped up in plastic . never had it out.

naturist
Nomad
Nomad
Thank you to the OP for alerting us all.

CV boot tears, bearing cap knocked off, same thing: grease OUT, dirt in, bearing failure imminent unless you act NOW.

theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Explorer II
A related tip (after a similar event). Every time you stop, check the temp of the bearings by touching the grease cap. If one is hotter than the other, you have a bearing going out.

time2roll
Nomad
Nomad
A bit late in the day to get parts if needed. Best of luck. BTDT.

2oldman
Explorer II
Explorer II
Bummer. So it lost grease?
"If I'm wearing long pants, I'm too far north" - 2oldman