Hot wheels? bearings? or breaks?

[ddadda]

Hi, 2007 dutchmen. I noticed last trip the wheels were hot. Almost too hot to hold your hand on the center of the wheel. One was little hotter then other three. I have never done anything to the breaks or bearing.besides add a squirt of grease into the zerks. Any good advise? I will be doing this soon. Where can I purchase the bearings? / Breaks

[ddadda]

Traveled 50 miles on highway 65 mph 90 outside temp. Slowed to stop. Checked wheels. Not at all hot. Maybe I was over using breaks?

[Passin_Thru]

brakes

[Passin_Thru]

You should take the hub cover off and check ea wheel nut, I believe the torque is around 135 ft lb which is tight. If all are'nt the same the loose one runs hot and the dry one does too.

[phillyg]

If you really think there's a problem you need to disassemble the hubs and take a look. Or, purchase an infrared thermometer and get your actual temps; you may be surprised they're not as hot as you think.

[JJBIRISH]

A squirt of grease isn’t the proper way to use the EZ lube and if you used the wrong non compatible grease you may have contaminated the grease already in there…


I have used the EZ lube axles for years on several trailers and haven’t greased my brakes yet… there are plenty of people that don’t like them… some from the reputation of the old bearing buddy, some old school believers, and some failures with the EZ lube feature (most of those from not following directions or not using a compatible grease)…
They are supplying the EZ lube type axles because they get fewer warranty repairs and it cost them less than it would without them… the only motivation known by the RV industry…
If greasing the brakes were a major problem they would limit them to smaller axles that don’t have brakes…

[RCMAN46]

I agree you need to do some serious maintenance. An easy way to determine if it is brakes or bearings is to go about 50 miles nonstop without using the brakes. (may be difficult in some parts of the country but out here in the west not a problem) Allow you system to slow to a stop with as little brakes as possible. If the grease cap is hot and the brake drum is not then it is a bearing problem. If the grease cap is just above ambient then you have a brake problem. The grease cap should always be near ambient when this is done.

[john_b1]

brulaz wrote:

ScottG wrote:
The squirting grease thing is probably whats causing the heat. Either the bearings need proper greasing or it's yet another occurrence of the EZ lube leaking grease on the pads - which can cause a lot of heat. You need to take it apart and service it properly.

My experience has been just the opposite. When the seal leaked, greasing my brakes, they were a lot cooler than the other, non-greased brakes after a hard stop. That's how I detected the leaky seal.

This makes good sense as the same friction isnt developing because of lack of gription!! JMHO jB

[brulaz]

ScottG wrote:
The squirting grease thing is probably whats causing the heat. Either the bearings need proper greasing or it's yet another occurrence of the EZ lube leaking grease on the pads - which can cause a lot of heat. You need to take it apart and service it properly.

My experience has been just the opposite. When the seal leaked, greasing my brakes, they were a lot cooler than the other, non-greased brakes after a hard stop. That's how I detected the leaky seal.

[opnspaces]

At this point I would pull the hubs to look, or have a shop do it. There is a possibility that you only had hot brakes. But there is a much higher probability that you have a bearing or brake problem.

[ScottG]

The squirting grease thing is probably whats causing the heat. Either the bearings need proper greasing or it's yet another occurrence of the EZ lube leaking grease on the pads - which can cause a lot of heat. You need to take it apart and service it properly.

[nickthehunter]

Only advice I can offer is to do regular maintenance on your wheels more often then once every 7 years. Squirting a little grease in is not "regular maintenance".

[Lynnmor]

There is help and parts at etrailer.com, also easternmarine.com