Grease and Bearing

[haggus75]

Hi,

Just wondering how often should I put grease in my TT (Jayco Jayflight Swift 264bh) wheel bearing... Bought the TT in May and done a couple of small trip, but next week I'm leaving for a long one (around 400Km to get to my camping ground).

Thank you for your help,
Martin

[haggus75]

Yes it's a 2013... bought in April.

[moll672]

Was your trl new? Bought a secondhand one 3 years ago and pulled the bearings last week. Ended up replacing 4 of 8 bearings due to lack of grease wear. I had been giving the eazylube shots of grease but unless the hub is full it just greases the rear bearing. Kicking by butt for not checking sooner, don't know what I was thinking, but glad I did them now. Lesson learned is never to assume that the previous owner did them.

[Cecilt]

Supercrewfan wrote:
This topic is interesting to me. I thought it would be good to have an RV place repack the bearings last Jan. Boy was that a mistake! Less than 50 miles later we were on the side of the road waiting for a repair service smelling the very hot smell of burnt bearings. The RV place had put all 4 bearings on to tight and we were lucky we were flagged over after the first one spewed grease out on the highway. The wheels would barely spin when the roadside mechanic tried to turn them, he had to reset all the cotter pins so we could drive to a repair shop. Now it sounds like I didn't need to have them repacked at all since I had had them done 2 years earlier with only a couple hundred miles driven in the meantime. Oh well, live and learn. Now if we hadn't let them put new tires on I would feel a lot better....never heard of the brand they used that they said were very good. Deestone???

Almost our story exactly. Had mine repacked Oct 1, 2012. Had 2 years on the bearings and 13k miles. Thought from all the posts here about needing it done every 2 years I should do it. Had a shop do them. On our return Sunday from Myrtle Beach blew the bearings on 220 just south of Ashboro. Had to be towed via a Low Boy to a Campground where a mobile RV tech replaced the backing plate, hub, bearings, seals and races. He checked the other ones and they were fine. My assumption was the shop did not tighten the nut enough but no way to prove that.

In the future I will inspect every 5 years. I think people on a forums like this are over zealous about everything and do things to the nth degree. Sticking with recommeneded from now on.

[Pauljdav]

I would like everyone to consider that it is very easy to inspect a wheel bearing. A good trusted shop can inspect them very easily. If you are capable of removing a tire you also are capable of inspecting them.

I recommend that any used trailer purchased have the bearings inspected. I did not do this on a boat I bought. Everything was well maintained but I toasted a bearing and needed a new axle. I was also in the sticks so it was costly.

I also hear about new trailers having metal shavings when inspected or other indicators of a bad install. For this I recommend a temp gun or putting your hand on the bearing to feel.

I recommend making sure you check the inner bearing as well as the outer. You will be able to feel an issue before it happens. I have extra sets of bearings in case I have an issue and it takes about 20 minutes to replace the bearings and races. This is not a hard job to do at a rest stop or campground. It is even easier if you have a new hub with greased bearings already. It is almost as easy as a tire change.

Paul

[PaYahoo101]

bought a used 2008 rock wood 33" last july, took to fla and back, about 3000 miles. When I had it inspected, there were filings in the first wheel they took off. Ended up having to replace all four. So there is reason to keep an eye on them but I would think if they are checked each year when inspected, you should be able to determine if they need repacked/replaced.

[bighog01]

These posts are really making me reconsider my own plans. I was planning to have the bearings pulled and repacked before we take a long trip next week. My tt is 8 years old, I've had it almost 5 years and never even added grease with the EZ lube feature.

[coolbreeze01]

If you can see the new grease moving, that's enough. Have fun :C

[robsouth]

About 2 years ago I took my trailer to the tire dealer I deal with and they agreed to pull the wheels and check the wheel bearings as it had been about 5 years since being check. I told them just to put new ones in, but after pulling and cleaning, he showed them to me and said there was nothing wrong with any of them so he greased them and put them back on. I told him that I had been reading about needing to repack at least every two years or so and he said that was a crock of bull droppings. He said I was wise to check them every 5 years or so depending on mileage and usage (very dirty roads, etc) so I am going by that now.

[john_bet]

My 5er is a '05 model and just did mine 2 years ago before a 5k trip. They didn't need to be done then. The brakes were even good to go.

[Supercrewfan]

This topic is interesting to me. I thought it would be good to have an RV place repack the bearings last Jan. Boy was that a mistake! Less than 50 miles later we were on the side of the road waiting for a repair service smelling the very hot smell of burnt bearings. The RV place had put all 4 bearings on to tight and we were lucky we were flagged over after the first one spewed grease out on the highway. The wheels would barely spin when the roadside mechanic tried to turn them, he had to reset all the cotter pins so we could drive to a repair shop. Now it sounds like I didn't need to have them repacked at all since I had had them done 2 years earlier with only a couple hundred miles driven in the meantime. Oh well, live and learn. Now if we hadn't let them put new tires on I would feel a lot better....never heard of the brand they used that they said were very good. Deestone???

[Dr_Quick]

I have worked on vehicles for over 50 years, and contrary what you think, wheel bearings do not consume grease. You may get slight leakage do to a seal going bad, but have never seen that cause a bearing to go dry. My own truck recommend that bearings be repacked at 60K, I did them at 58K and they were in perfect condition. I have seen bearing go 100K without any problems. More brakes have probably been ruined by over greasing, when excess grease has no where to go but inside the brake drum.

[ktmrfs]

Our newest trailer is 3 years old, towed over 15K miles. Just pulled the wheels to regrease and IMHO there was no real reason to regrease, although I did. Plenty of grease, no moisture, bearings in good shape, so other than checking the brakes etc. there was really no reason to do anything. My other trailer is 10 years old, bearings never repacked, has about 25K miles on it. will pull them this fall to check and compare. I'm inclined to let them go 4 years at least , 25K miles before checking again. I still don't understand why trailer bearings need repacking so much more often than similar bearings on cars, which will go 100K easily.

My neighbor is pulling a 28ft cargo trailer, has about 150K miles on it in the last 10 years and he pulled the wheels and replaced brake shoes at 100K, said bearings were still in good shape and plenty of grease.

[Sandia_Man]

We do ours every other year and average 6-8K miles a year. Would be a good idea to at least check them to be sure they were properly greased to begin with as there have been reports to the contrary. I do my own and they still have plenty of grease with no real wear noted from the last repacking.

[haggus75]

And is this a good video to follow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ndN_9NQL4

Thank's
Martin