How to tell if your wheel bearings are bad.

[navy80to04]

I took all 6 hubs off of my RV and it looks like the bearings have spun on the spindle. I have very slight galling On spindles and brown heat marks on bearing were it touches the spindle.
On the outer bearings and 2 of the inner bearings too. Nuts were at the right adjustment And grease was black. No seals were bad. Only grease on outside of 2 rims. So grease got hot and came out around dustcap on 2 wheels.
Replace all 12 bearings and races? and of course all the seals.

[ernie1]

I have bearing buddies on my boat trailer and I wonder if it helps to load the bearing cavity with grease to keep water out.

[ernie1]

navy80to04 wrote:
Done. One tub and tube of grease of mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease. 3 rolls of paper towels. 3 cans of break cleaner. 6 sets of inner and outer bearings with race and seals. The lisle 34550 handy packer worked great. Takes a tub of grease to fill. I cut 4 circles out of 3/8 steel pics later (i have a CNC plasma cutter 8x4 foot up to 1.5 inch thick steel. PartsAndAre.com to see pics). To fit for pressing in and out race.
I will each year pull off and repack bearings. Cost, 6 seals 15 bucks and a little grease i have. And time. Very easy now that i have new bearings in and handy packer to use. Gives me peace of mind pulling down the road.

I WILL NEVER USE BUDDY BEARINGS OR AXLE GREASE FITTING. REPACK OR STAY HOME.

I WILL NEVER USE BUDDY BEARINGS OR AXLE GREASE FITTING. REPACK OR STAY HOME. Just my view. Not for anyone else.

[fj12ryder]

navy80to04 wrote:
Done. One tub and tube of grease of mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease. 3 rolls of paper towels. 3 cans of break cleaner. 6 sets of inner and outer bearings with race and seals. The lisle 34550 handy packer worked great. Takes a tub of grease to fill. I cut 4 circles out of 3/8 steel pics later (i have a CNC plasma cutter 8x4 foot up to 1.5 inch thick steel. PartsAndAre.com to see pics). To fit for pressing in and out race.
I will each year pull off and repack bearings. Cost, 6 seals 15 bucks and a little grease i have. And time. Very easy now that i have new bearings in and handy packer to use. Gives me peace of mind pulling down the road. I WILL NEVER USE BUDDY BEARINGS OR AXLE GREASE FITTING. REPACK OR STAY HOME. Just my view. Not for anyone else.

Better you than me. 🙂

[AH64ID]

Nice!!

Always good to know the status of the bearings.

navy80to04 wrote:
I WILL NEVER USE BUDDY BEARINGS OR AXLE GREASE FITTING. REPACK OR STAY HOME. Just my view. Not for anyone else.

I agree 100%.

In looking thru parts and owners manuals my axles don't come standard with the grease fitting, it's an option. The axles without the grease fitting call for an annual repack, or at 12,000 miles. The axles with the grease fittings call for an annual repack, or at 12,000 miles.

You sure do gain a lot with those grease fittings! About all I can figure they do is instill false confidence. Where does the old grease go when the new grease goes in?

I will probably exceed the annual requirement for a full repack, but not the mileage. I won't go more than annually without an inspection thou, as it's pretty easy to tell if the bearings need attention or not.

[navy80to04]

Done. One tub and tube of grease of mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease. 3 rolls of paper towels. 3 cans of break cleaner. 6 sets of inner and outer bearings with race and seals. The lisle 34550 handy packer worked great. Takes a tub of grease to fill. I cut 4 circles out of 3/8 steel pics later (i have a CNC plasma cutter 8x4 foot up to 1.5 inch thick steel. PartsAndAre.com to see pics). To fit for pressing in and out race.
I will each year pull off and repack bearings. Cost, 6 seals 15 bucks and a little grease i have. And time. Very easy now that i have new bearings in and handy packer to use. Gives me peace of mind pulling down the road. I WILL NEVER USE BUDDY BEARINGS OR AXLE GREASE FITTING. REPACK OR STAY HOME. Just my view. Not for anyone else.

[AH64ID]

Lynnmor wrote:


This is one of the reasons that I keep a considerable distance from other trailers.

Proper maintenance??

[Lynnmor]

AH64ID wrote:
That's what I plan to do, just treat them like they aren't serviceable.

I am not sure they need to be done yearly, but I will probably pop the rubber boot off a few times a year for a peek in there.

The serviceable bearings on my truck are good for 20-30K miles before repack, there is no reason my trailer bearings can't be the same.

This is one of the reasons that I keep a considerable distance from other trailers.

[fj12ryder]

Peg Leg wrote:
Ping the spindle very lightly with the punch. I've like to hit top, bottom, front, back and then one in between. Think of a compass, N, NE, E, SE, S, ect.

There's no reason to do this unless the spindle/shaft is too worn to allow for proper fit of the bearing. Even then it is only a doofer, some places will do that if they can't knurl the shaft. If you have to dimple the shaft to get the bearing to fit then it's time to replace the shaft/spindle.

[liborko]

Duplicate

[Peg_Leg]

Ping the spindle very lightly with the punch. I've like to hit top, bottom, front, back and then one in between. Think of a compass, N, NE, E, SE, S, ect.

[AH64ID]

That's what I plan to do, just treat them like they aren't serviceable.

I am not sure they need to be done yearly, but I will probably pop the rubber boot off a few times a year for a peek in there.

The serviceable bearings on my truck are good for 20-30K miles before repack, there is no reason my trailer bearings can't be the same.

When I was buying my bearings this spring I found out that all Al-Ko 5,200-7,000lb axles use the same bearings, and the inner bearing on the 8K's is the same as well. That tells me that even thou I am at 80% of the axle rating that the springs are the first limiting factor, so the bearings will be fine.

[navy80to04]

Yes U R right RJsfishin. In side was packed full and reading, that will cause over heating. And it all goes down hill from there on your bearings. Them center zert fittings on the axles need to be removed. I will for now on pull hubs off and clean & repack bearings and not just pump in new grease ond over fill hub.

[RJsfishin]

First of all, under normal conditions, and w/ normal maintenance, bearings are good for lifetime. If they go bad, its either defective, or had lack of maintenance.
A bearing is going to turn at its point of least resistance. If that is the inner race/spindle contact, then that is why it spun there. But that will never happen to a "good" bearing that is properly greased. If it really did spin, I would suspect it lacked grease, and tried to seize at one time or another.

[Lynnmor]

navy80to04 wrote:
I think it was for the spindle not bearing. The new bearings fit to good to mess with anything. No pinging for me.

You are correct, they meant you were to raise some metal on the spindle so that the inner race would be tight. A neat slip fit is OK.

[navy80to04]

I think it was for the spindle not bearing. The new bearings fit to good to mess with anything. No pinging for me.