I bought my camper new last year. After a couple of trips i noticed the hubs on the drivers side were getting so hot that i could not hold my hand on them. The passenger side hubs were warm but much cooler. I didnt have time last season to repack them so i wanted to do it this spring. I looked at lipperts documents and they didnt show parts for the 4400# axles. After some research it looked like they used the same parts as the 3500# axles. I went online and ordered seals and some bearing kits. Today i decided to repack them. I took the first hub off the drivers side and immediately noticed the parts i ordered would not fit. Of course on sunday i could not find any trailer parts sources open. I was able to cross reference the seal to a part at oreilly auto. They were much more expensive and only had 2 of them. I got the seals and started the job. I removed the first hub and i was pleasantly surprised at the amount of grease. I would have taken a picture but i was covered in grease! I had to sccop the grease out if the hub by the handful. I cleaned and repacked the bearings. On the front drivers side hub i found the outer bearing had lots of score marks and the race was very worn. Another trip to oreillys i had a new bearing and race. I Replaced the race and packed the bearings. Couple of questions:The first set i packed i tightened the nut on the hub, spun the drum several times and backed the nut off so i could get the cotter pin in. Where the nut is at seems a bit loose to me. When i rotate the drum i see the washer spinning. If i tighten the nut to the next spot i can get the cotter pin in, i have to put a little torque on it. I dont want to over tighten the nut. I may pull this one back apart and repack. I dont feel any play in the drum where it is at now. With less than 2000 miles on this new camper is it normal to have bad bearings? Were they over greased or maybe over tightened at the factory? I did have what appearred to be oil leaking onto the rims from the driver side which i think is because so much grease was in the hubs. Sorry for the long post

maybe this video will help youhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpM-iit5n-k

A lot of axles have two holes for the cotter pin. If the nut is either to tight or to loose use the other hole.

Even finger tight is too much. Should be some end play. If in doubt run it one trip and check adjustment.

nineoaks2004 wrote:maybe this video will help youhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpM-iit5n-kHammer and chisel mechanic.Use a thin screwdriver to loosen the dust cap, not a chisel.He didn't show the wheel bearing adjustment procedure.Use a smooth hardwood block to tap in the seal, don't hammer it directly.Use a softwood block, or a pipe that fits over the dust cap to tap it in.

You cant over grease them. They may have been to tight or too loose. The Dexter instructions say tighten to 50 ft lb while rotating then stop turning, loosen nut, then finger tighten until snug and install pin or back off to line up with next hole. Do not go past finger snug. When you do this and you have to back up to the next hole you can end up with them just a little loose and the tire wheel assembly will rock ever so slightly. You dont want them pre loaded to get the pin in. Dexter is saying run them slightly loose rather than loaded. I ran into this on 2 of my hubs and shimmed them. I wont run wobbling tapered bearings and have never found any other manufacturer or application who would run a tapered bearing loose. Many applications such as ring and pinions actually preload them X amount. They could improve on this if they used the sheet metal nut style adjuster with more slots which fits over the nut. It gives more adjustment. Finer threads give more adjustment to any mechanism. With these axle nut set ups, depending where the hole is drilled and where the slot of that particular nut on that particular axle all fall, You can be very close to having the pin go in when finger tight, yet when you back off to the next slot you will feel the looseness when assembled with wheel on.Use high quality grease and be meticulously clean when greasing. Use brake clean and air pressure on the parts and in do it when no dust and trash are blowing around. I have put almost 20,000 on mine. I touch the hubs and the tires often and both are warm not hot.

Bearing packing drama | Good Sam Community

todde278
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
It is interesting to me that the cotter pin hole is on the left side of the spindle. The ones i have done in the past were in the center but since this trailer has the lube point in the spindle i would guess thats why.
pickjare
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
The reason you saw "oil" leaking on your wheels is because the bearings overheated. Sounds like they were over tightened. Replace all bearings and races that were overheated along with new seals and grease. It is not normal to need done at 2,000 miles and one year old. Pack bearings good and smear some grease in hub area and assemble.
For the adjustment, here's what works for me:
Tighten nut with channel locks until real tight while spinning hub by hand. This sandwiches everything together solid. Now loosen until completely loose. Now use those pliers and snug up the nut EXCEPT tighten nut with pliers as the jaws face the nut from the front, not the side. I'm not sure how to say this, but we typically use pliers and wrenches at a right angle to the fastener to gain leverage. Don't do it this way for final adjustment, hold the jaws up to the nut from the front and turn the nut with your wrist muscles until it seats. I have found A person probably cannot over tighten the nut, tightening it without a leverage advantage. So now if hole lines up great but if I have to use any leverage that will be too tight so back off.
For what it's worth, that washers job is to keep the bearing from acting on the nut to overcome the cotter pin and loosen or tighten nut. All washers I have seen have a way to keep washer from spinning such as a notch and the spindle has a groove, match them up. If yours just has a round washer, then ok, it must work that way.
It may be interesting to mention that when adjusting hub bearings on semi trailers you always go to a light torque like 10 ft lbs then tighten until holes align (no cotter pin, different device, irrelevant). Much different than RV trailer hubs. The difference? Oil. Semi hubs are in a constant bath of gear oil as are ring and pinion bearings. When oiled this way they can be adjusted tighter. Similar is true with the full floating axle a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup uses, just not quite the initial preload.
Huntindog
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
todde278 wrote:
The washer is not keyed. My only concern is after I preloaded the bearings and spun the hub several times I backed it off to where I could get the cotter pin in. The nut is loose enough that I can slightly turn it with my fingers due to the difference in size between the cotter pin and castles.
Here is a parts diagram:
http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/support/complists/5200-Spring.pdf

This is not my first time packing bearings. I did it several times in my old trailer and grew up doing it with my dad. I guess I am just paranoid now after reading so many cases of bearing failure!

Bearings are supposed to run at zero clearance when at temp. That means when cold they NEED to have a few thousands clearance. Often there is a spec listed for this, and it CAN be measured with a dial indicator setup.. But it is not necessary if the instructions are followed precisely. Follow the procedure, and the clearance will fall into spec.

There should be NO preload on the bearings when the adjustment procedure is finished.. If there is then the bearings will tighten up as they heat up, and fail.
Walaby
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2016
Interesting that you can't tighten any further without a tool, but can't loosen it without it feeling too loose. Does it happen to have two cotter pin holes 90 degrees from each other?

Mike
todde278
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
The race i replaced was a real pain to get out. Took a lot of pounding!

To get the castle nut to the next spot i would have to use pliers. It doesnt take a lot of force but idefinately cant do it with my fingers. I may take it around the block to see if the bearings seat a bit better and try again.
azrving
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
Walaby wrote:
rjxj wrote:
What happened to small double notches in the casting so you could get a good bite on removing the race. Poor engineering. I guess cheesy isn't just everything above the axles, it's in them too!

Great, another great wonderful thing to deal with. I haven't messed with TT axles yet... nice to know they don't have the notches. That sucks.

Mike

Well, some dont. I know my sons 2008 Rockwood ultra light didn't have them. My 2000 5500 lb axles went too bad. They dont have a nice notch but there was more exposed race.
Walaby
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2016
rjxj wrote:
What happened to small double notches in the casting so you could get a good bite on removing the race. Poor engineering. I guess cheesy isn't just everything above the axles, it's in them too!

Great, another great wonderful thing to deal with. I haven't messed with TT axles yet... nice to know they don't have the notches. That sucks.

Mike
azrving
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
Myredracer:
"Are you replacing all the races and cones and seals? Removing the cones in the drums is a major PITA as there is barely any exposed edge of the cone to catch with a drift to drive it out. I ended up using a piece of 1" EMT and it took a while to work it out. I trust you are using grease that meets Dexter's specs. "

You got that right. What happened to small double notches in the casting so you could get a good bite on removing the race. Poor engineering. I guess cheesy isn't just everything above the axles, it's in them too!
Walaby
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2016
Lynnmor wrote:
Walaby wrote:
Given the choice of a tiny turn more than finger tight, or a loosening, I have always leaned toward a tiny turn tighter. Yes, if you over tighten, you will increase risk of overheating the bearing, but to tighten essentially the width of one "castle" on the castle nut past finger tight would be just fine and would be a lot better than the bearing being slightly loose.

Mike

Bad information, slightly loose is what you want.

Interesting.., and not trying to argue. I was an auto mechanic for double digit years, and have restored multiple automobiles in my 35 years of adulthood, and haven't had bearing failures.

The slight difference of turning the castle nut, less than one castle to line up is easily accomplished within the different tolerances of finger tight. What is finger tight to you is likely different than finger tight to me. Im not saying tighten further with a wrench or anything.

What is slightly loose to you will be different than slightly loose to me as well. After all, most castle nuts I've seen are maybe a 1/4 inch between the grooves between the peaks. So, you're talking about an 1/8 inch difference of opinion.

Whichever groove is closer is what I will typically do. If backing it off is closer than a little more hand tightening, then I back off.

I shouldn't have said tightening the width of a castle, because that would mean the hole for the cotter pin was accessable and I tightened a good bit more. If the castle peak is centered on the hole where the cotter pin goes in, back it off. But, I won't run them if I've had to back them off so far that there is movement when moving the hub.

Mike
Lynnmor
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
Walaby wrote:
Given the choice of a tiny turn more than finger tight, or a loosening, I have always leaned toward a tiny turn tighter. Yes, if you over tighten, you will increase risk of overheating the bearing, but to tighten essentially the width of one "castle" on the castle nut past finger tight would be just fine and would be a lot better than the bearing being slightly loose.

Mike

Bad information, slightly loose is what you want.

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