After having a bearing failure on my last camper when I had a shop replace and pack new bearings on my 3 year old TT I am a little skiddish about bearing failure. We sold that TT and are now in our 3rd season of using it. We have probably put 17k miles on the TT since purchased new in Sept 2013. My axles are the EZ Lube. Keystone Outback. I had the TT inspected which is required in VA and they checked for looseness and if the wheels wobbled while they jacked up each tire off the ground. All was tight but they did not pull bearing caps(not required).How many repack bearings regularly? Not sure why they would even dry up in a closed system of if folks just do this out of habit? My thinking is let them be. Sometimes messing around with things opens up problems down the road.When my old one failed it was a bad job and I don't want to worry again that if I have them repacked that I won't have another failure due to poor workmanship. Should I just squirt a little grease in the fitting and call it a day? If so, what is best grease and should it just be a small squeeze of the grease gun. I know that too much grease will blow the seal and I don't want that to happen. tks

Cecilt wrote:.......... Should I just squirt a little grease in the fitting and call it a day? If so, what is best grease and should it just be a small squeeze of the grease gun. I know that too much grease will blow the seal and I don't want that to happen. tksA squirt or two does nothing for correctly greasing the bearings in the EZ Lube axle. Either take it apart and grease the bearings by hand. Or follow Dexter instructions and pump enough grease into the fitting to push all the old grease out the front, replacing it with new grease. That takes a lot of grease. Too much grease does not blow out the seal. Improperly adding the grease may blow out the seal though.Google Dexter EZ Lube and you will find information on just how that system works, and instructions and videos on how to do it properly.

You are using logical thinking, and this is one time where that is a great idea.Truth known, there are a lot more bearing failures from improper installation than from lack of packing them now and then. You right, just a little shot of grease every 6 months-to one year, they have a good chance of lasting forever.Now, lets hear of all the seals popping out, and grease getting all over the brakes !!

I put about 7-10K miles on my FW every year. Before we head out on our summer journey, I remove each wheel and hub, inspect the brakes, including linings, magnets, wiring and drums. Then, I remove the grease seals, clean and inspect the bearings and repack the bearings with new grease. I follow this up with new double lip grease seals and then install the hub with the proper bearing pre-load. When it's all installed, I finish off with a brake adjustment.There is NO way to understand what is physically going on behind the drum unless you (or your mechanic) physically inspect it. Yes, you can inject grease into the hub with the EZ lube, but that is a short cut I refuse to take. I want to know the condition of the critical components that are inside.Jim

I remove each wheel and hub, inspect the brakes, including linings, magnets, wiring and drums. Then, I remove the grease seals, clean and inspect the bearings and repack the bearings with new grease. I follow this up with new double lip grease seals and then install the hub with the proper bearing pre-load. When it's all installed, I finish off with a brake adjustment.Now that's just what I do every two years. The brake adjustment, I do once a year at the start of our camping season. We put 4-6 thousand miles on our camper annually.

I'm half way through my 2-year clean & re-pack procedure even though I have the E-Z Lube axles. If you start mixing grease via E-Z Lube it may or may not be compatible with what's in the bearings from the factory.I hand pack the bearings then use the grease gun until the grease comes out the front bearing. Same grease.

Greasing EZ Lube TT axles | Good Sam Community

Lost_Traveller
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
Yep, it is a 2002 5th wheel. I couldn't believe the great shape it was in(except for the rear brakes). The only other things wrong with it were stuff we broke learning as we were Rv'ng. We were and definitely are still "newbies". But, we're getting better.

Bruce and Connie
Cecilt
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
Lost Traveller wrote:
Bought a 2002 Fleetwood Prowler 1 1/2 years ago. This is our first RV. Everything was in very good condition. Never thought to check the bearings or brakes. Seemed to stop ok and when I would check the hubs at rest stops, they were never hot. Wanted to check it all out before we headed out this year. Since I wasn't too sure how to do it, I had a friend of mine come over to show me how to check and grease bearings. All of my bearings were fine. But my brakes were a different story. The rear axle brakes basically fell apart when we pulled the drum off. Springs were broke on one side with no pad whatsoever. The magnet was not connected and one of the pads fell off on the other side. Wiring was also broke in the axle, which was a good thing, other wise they would have been working and could have made a real big mess. Front axle brakes seemed ok, but we went ahead and put new brakes all the way around. Now, I will check my bearings/brakes every spring before I head out. Taking a day to do this will be worth it to me.

The Lost Travellers,
Bruce and Connie

If 2002 is what you meant and not 2012 as the year of your TT then you probably faired okay with what you found for a 16 year old TT. Wonder if those bearings were ever touched :@
Lost_Traveller
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
Bought a 2002 Fleetwood Prowler 1 1/2 years ago. This is our first RV. Everything was in very good condition. Never thought to check the bearings or brakes. Seemed to stop ok and when I would check the hubs at rest stops, they were never hot. Wanted to check it all out before we headed out this year. Since I wasn't too sure how to do it, I had a friend of mine come over to show me how to check and grease bearings. All of my bearings were fine. But my brakes were a different story. The rear axle brakes basically fell apart when we pulled the drum off. Springs were broke on one side with no pad whatsoever. The magnet was not connected and one of the pads fell off on the other side. Wiring was also broke in the axle, which was a good thing, other wise they would have been working and could have made a real big mess. Front axle brakes seemed ok, but we went ahead and put new brakes all the way around. Now, I will check my bearings/brakes every spring before I head out. Taking a day to do this will be worth it to me.

The Lost Travellers,
Bruce and Connie
BB_TX
Nomad
Apr 28, 2016
Slownsy wrote:
And many including me has followed dexter so instructiens only to find grease on one wheals brakes
Frank

Curious to know if you knew for sure there was no grease on that brake before you used the EZ Lube.
Slownsy
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
And many including me has followed dexter so instructiens only to find grease on one wheals brakes
Frank
John_Joey
Explorer
Apr 27, 2016
Yup, I see what you're saying. To me that is obvious and goes without saying. You need to see grease coming out to insure all area's are filled. Much like filling the lower unit of an outboard, if you don't see oil coming out the top, you're not done.

You are correct, and some may not know that.
BB_TX
Nomad
Apr 27, 2016
John&Joey wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
John&Joey wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
...Adding grease to the zerk only supplies grease to the front (or outer) bearing if you pump enough grease in to push the grease thru the inner bearing, thru the hub cavity, and out thru the outer bearing...

I think you're thinking about those cheap end caps you buy from Harbor Freight.

This is how they work:

Clicky

Apparently you are not familiar with the Dexter EZ Lube axles and how they work. They have a zerk at the outer end that ports grease to the inner bearing, thru the hub, to the outer bearing. If you watched the video you posted the link to you would see what I mean.

Read what you wrote. You started with the outer bearing first gets greased then pushes to the inner. The very opposite of what happens. You're changing your song now that you watched the video.

You need to reread what I wrote. I said grease ONLY gets to the outer bearing if you use enough grease to push it thru the inner bearing, thru the hub, and out the outer bearing. You even highlighted it in red!
John_Joey
Explorer
Apr 27, 2016
BB_TX wrote:
John&Joey wrote:
BB_TX wrote:
...Adding grease to the zerk only supplies grease to the front (or outer) bearing if you pump enough grease in to push the grease thru the inner bearing, thru the hub cavity, and out thru the outer bearing...

I think you're thinking about those cheap end caps you buy from Harbor Freight.

This is how they work:

Clicky

Apparently you are not familiar with the Dexter EZ Lube axles and how they work. They have a zerk at the outer end that ports grease to the inner bearing, thru the hub, to the outer bearing. If you watched the video you posted the link to you would see what I mean.

Read what you wrote. You started with the outer bearing first gets greased then pushes to the inner.

OK, I re-read what you wrote a few times, what you're trying to say is you need to see grease come out to insure the outer bearing is lubed. I got what you meant, and yes you are correct if nothing comes out then you are not guaranteed the outer bearing is lubed.
MFL
Nomad II
Apr 27, 2016
OP...If you have not adjusted the brakes on your trailer, now would be a good time. If you raise the axle to turn the wheel while greasing, adjust the brakes also.

There is no guarantees concerning leaking seals. There are a couple extra holes in the backing plates on my FW, that I can look through to view the seals. I use an LED piston light in one small hole, and view through the other. I can clearly see if they are leaking or not.

Jerry
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 27, 2016
Cecilt wrote:
Thank you. I will go with this. To be clear, using the zerk will not cause excess grease to blow out a seal or cover the brakes in grease. Appreciate all the replies.
There's no guarantee that you won't blow the seal out because it may be improperly installed, or there may already be grease past the seal due to improper greasing at the factory/dealer. Some people have reported to having problems due to grease on the brakes without even adding any grease. See how the brakes work and go from there. If you have good braking, then use the EZ Lube the way it's intended, if poor braking and you suspect greasy brake shoes, pull the brakes and check it out.