Wheel bearing maintenance interval

[kopy_kat]

I’ve seen posts that say to repack every 12 months or 12,000 miles...since I only tow a little over 1,000 miles per year, do really have repack every 12 months? Does the wheel bearing grease degrade as the trailer sits in storage?

Thanks, Larry

[bucky]

The best thing you can do with EZ Lube axles is to remove the zirks and toss them in the woods. Other wise you end up with this because some idiot can't walk by the rig without pumping a tub of grease in every time they walk by.
I bought this rig in January and the brakes pretty much sucked. The pic is what I found when I pulled the drums.
2 of the 4 magnets were hanging by the wires, each drum took a can of brake clean to get the grease off, and as you can see all the brake hardware and linings were covered. This was just the first one, the other 3 were this bad also.
I replaced them with the better self adjusting brakes, checked and repacked the bearings that were good, and replaced one set that showed heat signs.

[midnightsadie]

x2 for touching the hub every time you stop, could save you a real mess down the road.

[Lynnmor]

Mike134 wrote:
In the "old Days" our auto wheel bearing were repacked every 30,000 miles, without any consideration to months gone by.

In the "old days" bearings didn't come from a back alley in China. I'm glad that I didn't learn the hard way after seeing bearings on the verge of total failure and replaced them with quality Timken brand.

[MitchF150]

All it costs me is a little time and some grease... 🙂

[cummins2014]

fj12ryder wrote:
No, and No. Repack every few years when you get the urge. This, of course, presupposes the fact that you know the bearings were greased properly when you first bought it.

IMO doing it annually is completely unnecessary. Other people have other opinions. Mine have been greased once and checked once, in 9 years.

I thought I had the record ,I did mine twice in 12 years on previous fifth wheel :B Yes totally unnecessary as often as some do . I have said before that peace of mind sure has cost some a lot of money :R

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

I check mine about every 7 to 8 years. Never had a bearing failure in my life.

[theoldwizard1]

From a guy who has experienced a bearing failure that caused a blow out. At night. In the middle of nowhere.

Every time you stop, check the hubs for heat. Warm is fine. Hot is not.

[Mike134]

Flan wrote:
How does one know how many pumps of grease to squirt into the easy lube axles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=XT0RKDGgDm8&feature=emb_logo

A video by Dexter.

[Flan]

How does one know how many pumps of grease to squirt into the easy lube axles?

[Mike134]

In the "old Days" our auto wheel bearing were repacked every 30,000 miles, without any consideration to months gone by.

[ajriding]

Jack up so tire is off the ground. Check for play. There should be an ever-so-dlight amount of play in the wheel, but not a obvious amount. If loose, then it will need to be tightened, if not then it won't.
Grease is another issue. Any mechanic will tell you , "grease is cheap".
I have seen recommendations as often as every 3,000 miles, this seems a bit often. For a new trailer check it pretty early on as new things will "settle" in.
A heavier trailer will need more frequent checks than a light trailer on the same axle.
Many trailers now have grease fittings so you can just squirt some grease in and not have to take anything apart. If you have this, then I would do every 5,000 for high abuse, or every 10,000, or every year. There is no one size fits all answer.

[MitchF150]

I do mine every other year, more to just check the brakes than the bearings.. But, of course, while it's apart, I'll re-pack them..

On my old trailer, I did this every other year.. After around year 2 of owning the trailer from brand new (around 2005), found that one wheels brake wire was pinched and cut inside the drum and not working from day one...

Spliced it back, re-packed, which I found to be pretty 'dry' in the sense of not much grease on them to my liking..

Checked them this way until I felt I needed to replace the brake assemblies when the magnets looked more worn than the pads, so just swapped them out after around 7 years of ownership..

Did a check the season before trading that old trailer in on the new one and all was good..

The new one has the easy lube setup on it.. I've pumped in some grease on them and have had it out twice last season.

I'll probably check them at some point this season, just to check... But, I've also got the self adjusting brakes, so will see what I do..

Oh, my little 4x8 utility trailer that I've owned for 22 years.... I've done the bearings on it twice... They were fine, both times I've done them..

Good luck! Mitch

[spoon059]

My trailer is 5 years old. I checked the bearings after the first year, they were perfectly fine. We tow close to 5,000 miles a year. I have an IR gun and check hub temps when I stop for fuel. I've never had an abnormally high temp, so I let them go without service. I would strongly encourage you to do the same. High temps could indicate sticking brakes or bearings starting to go. Pretty easy to find when 3 wheels are 110 degrees and one is 160 degrees.

Finally repacked them this year and they still looked great. Plenty of grease, it was still nice and thick and the bearings were in great shape. They say every year to cover themselves. If you don't check every year and something happens its on you. That said, I expect 4-5 years between maintenance.

[azdryheat]

My triple axle is 6 years old. I've re-packed twice. I am using the original cheap bearing but they are holding up fine as is he grease.

[kopy_kat]

Thanks for the replys. The factory DID NOT do an adequate grease job, nor did the delivery dealer who “said” he re- packed all bearings...which led to a complete replacement of all bearings two years ago. The trailer shop here in Reno, Kro-Built Trailers, did the job right (including properly adjusting the electric brakes).
So I’m thinking that I’ll wait at least one more year before having it done again...especially since campgrounds are still closed at this time. ??

Take care all, Larry