How often to repack wheel bearings on TT

[Tennessee_Nomad]

How often do you all repack the wheel bearings on your TT's. Should it be done every year or a specified mileage/usage.

Thanks for your advice!

[dieselenthusias]

Need-A-Vacation wrote:
Local hitch/trailer parts dealer said it is possible! Reason being is most will add grease before a trip, with "cold" grease/bearings. If the old grease has hardened up some the new grease will take the path of least resistance, usually past the seal.

From my understanding, you will not blow the seal if you are slowly hand pumping the mechanical grease gun. For obvious reasons I would not recommend using an air or electric powered grease gun. Here’s one caveat: If your rear seal is already in poor condition, then you might have a problem. Sometimes you or a technician might inspect the brakes and fail to put on a new seal when pulling the hub. It’s also possible that you or a technician might damage the surface of the seal on the spindle threads when sliding the hub back on. Older dry seals may fail to reseat. These things can make the seal weak and result in a leak when hand pumping. This is not the fault of the EZ lube.

The purpose for the EZ lube is to keep fresh grease in the system. It is designed to flush out dirt and old (dried) grease. Upon flushing your bearings, you have extended the life of your bearings and have allowed them to run cooler. I can vouch for this by the thermal data that I have collected.

[bfast54]

shelbyj wrote:
I repack the bearing when I change the blinker fluid. 😉

Well you say that in Jest.......But who saw the day when.....,."You have to pee in a tank"....To DRIVE your Diesel.......:h

[dieselenthusias]

myredracer wrote:


Do you only inspect and repack at 10 years?

This is our second travel trailer and I have never repacked the bearings. I take hub thermal readings at most fill-ups. I collect the data by logging the temps into a small notebook. I also inspect the tires at each fill-up. Please understand that I'm very observant and take lots of data to monitor the condition of my equipment. I change the engine oil once per year (typically at 10,000 - 12,000 mile intervals. I pull an oil sample at every oil change to monitor the condition of the engine oil and to see what's going on inside the engine. I also run Amsoil 5W30 Heavy Duty Diesel oil, which again, most people would say is wrong. Just because something appears wrong doesn't mean it's wrong if you have a legitimate way to monitor what's going on with your equipment.

myredracer wrote:

Dexter says to remove, inspect and repack bearings every 12 months or 12K miles, whichever comes first, and Al-Ko says 6 months & 6K miles. If that's what the manufacturer says to do, why would anyone intentionally ignore that?

Manufacturers have to contend with liability issues. They want to play it safe because they don't know what type of abuse people may put their trailers through, plus they are leaving room for human error in manufacturing parts, installation, etc.

myredracer wrote:

I just don't understand what's so great about EZ-lube axles (or the other ones) if they say to re & re once or twice a year anyway. Like others I've read others say on forums, and I agree, I think it's more of a sales thing than being a practical thing.

EZ lubes are highly effective if properly used. Again, you need to monitor the condition of your hubs. If you are a geek for data, then you will find enjoyment in monitoring your system's components.

myredracer wrote:
I've read about some cases where owners have found that the factory did not pack the bearings properly at the factory and had little grease.

From my understanding, the factory does not give the bearings a lot of attention because it is the responsibility of the RV dealer to repack the bearings correctly. Both RV dealerships that I have purchased from have repacked the bearings even though the trailer is new.

[myredracer]

dieselenthusiast wrote:

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread. There is nothing wrong with repacking the bearings annually. In my opinion, that is overkill for 90% of RV owners. The EZ lube works well. I might repack with new bearings once my unit is 10 years old, otherwise, I do not see the need.

Do you only inspect and repack at 10 years?

Dexter says to remove, inspect and repack bearings every 12 months or 12K miles, whichever comes first, and Al-Ko says 6 months & 6K miles. If that's what the manufacturer says to do, why would anyone intentionally ignore that?

I just don't understand what's so great about EZ-lube axles (or the other ones) if they say to re & re once or twice a year anyway. Like others I've read others say on forums, and I agree, I think it's more of a sales thing than being a practical thing.

I've seen what can happen to the "quality" bearings they use in TTs and FWs and don't think it's a good idea to forgo annual inspection.

Dexter maintenance schedule

AL-KO bearing maintenance schedule (on page 😎

I've read about some cases where owners have found that the factory did not pack the bearings properly at the factory and had little grease. It just might be a good idea to check them or pump a little grease in when you get a new unit. I'm pretty sure our dealer said they remove the drums to inspect bearings and brakes as part of their PDI. We're about to pick up a new TT from them and I'm going to talk to the head tech. to find out exactly what they do and ask specifically what to do with the EZ-lube axles.

[Need-A-Vacation]

weathershak wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

weathershak wrote:

hotqld wrote:
I like the Dexter easylube system, it allows a grease change to be done once a year like in our case, with no tools.

Yep, the days of hand packing aren't needed with this setup.

Until you accidently pump too much grease in and it seeps out the seal and lands on your brake drum.

Not possible. The Easy lube system is NOT a bearing buddy. You can pump the grease gun 100 times and it will not affect the seal in any way. There is no pressure. All the grease oozes out right in front of you. There is only the rubber cap that holds the grease in. I used to give a couple shots of grease before every long trip and once a year I would jack up the wheel so I could spin it to check for noise and then check for end play. About every 3 years I would pull the wheels and check the brakes. Applying grease with a grease gun forces grease thru both bearings. I would slowly spin the wheel and apply grease until it came out clean. Worthy note....I used to only put about 5000 miles per year on the TT.

Local hitch/trailer parts dealer said it is possible! Reason being is most will add grease before a trip, with "cold" grease/bearings. If the old grease has hardened up some the new grease will take the path of least resistance, usually past the seal.

As you metioned, he did say to spin the tire if your going to use the ez lube system. Ane even better to run the trailer down the road to warm up the bearings/grease some. He did also mention (no idea if true!) that as a wheel spins, the bearing will want to draw grease in from the "outside" (dut cap) in naturallly, so spin the tire backwards when using the ez lube (if you use them) since the grease is moved from "inside to out".

For new trailers I go may be a season, then repack. The maybe every 2-3yrs after do to low mileage, I do check temps after a longer stretch at speed (hwy) during a trip.

[dieselenthusias]

Lynnmor wrote:

phenrichs wrote:
My dealer told us with the EZ axles put one squirt of grease per year and you should be good enough. Well, I will be doing them by hand this year anyway.

Doing one squirt per year, in about 20 to 30 years you will have greased the front bearing.

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread. It takes nearly 1/2 tube of grease before you pump the old grease out and the new grease in. We bought our trailer new in 2008 and I have never repacked the bearings. I use good quality synthetic grease (Amsoil) and thoroughly pump in new grease once very 3 years. You will visually be able to see the old discolored grease come out. Once you see the fresh grease come out, then you know that you have thoroughly greased the bearings. You will need to spin the tire/wheel as you are pumping it. I also have a thermal gun and take temperature readings to ensure that the hubs are running cool. There is nothing wrong with repacking the bearings annually. In my opinion, that is overkill for 90% of RV owners. The EZ lube works well. I might repack with new bearings once my unit is 10 years old, otherwise, I do not see the need. If I see the temperatures rise on the hubs, then I will repack and replace the bearings.

[MitchF150]

Wow.. Some of you are just damn lucky if you don't do it and have not had any issues...

Believe in the maintenance schedule of your choice.. Makes no difference to me... 😉

I guess your brakes never need looking at either? Or checking to see if the breaks are working at all?? Nice plan.. 🙂

I've had my trailer since 2002 and the manual said to do them once a year.. I did them after the first year I owned the trailer and they were almost DRY..

Packed them nice and good and I also found that 2 out of my 4 brakes had severed electric wires to the magnets that actually STOP the thing...

I fixed those and adjusted the brakes and WOW... The trailer actually had brakes again!

Did the same thing the next year, but the bearings looked pretty good (still had a good amount of grease in them, but not as much as I remember putting in)

Checked again the next year and the the brakes were still good and the grease still good..

Started to do it every other year and that's been MY schedule since then.

I've since replaced the brake assemblies on them since it looked like my magnets and the pads were getting worn and it was 8 years since I bought it.. At only $40 each for each assembly, it was easy peasy..

Like I said, do whatever you want to do for YOUR own maintenance schedule, but I'll stick to mine... 🙂

Happy camping...

Mitch

[weathershak]

goducks10 wrote:

weathershak wrote:

hotqld wrote:
I like the Dexter easylube system, it allows a grease change to be done once a year like in our case, with no tools.

Yep, the days of hand packing aren't needed with this setup.

Until you accidently pump too much grease in and it seeps out the seal and lands on your brake drum.

Not possible. The Easy lube system is NOT a bearing buddy. You can pump the grease gun 100 times and it will not affect the seal in any way. There is no pressure. All the grease oozes out right in front of you. There is only the rubber cap that holds the grease in. I used to give a couple shots of grease before every long trip and once a year I would jack up the wheel so I could spin it to check for noise and then check for end play. About every 3 years I would pull the wheels and check the brakes. Applying grease with a grease gun forces grease thru both bearings. I would slowly spin the wheel and apply grease until it came out clean. Worthy note....I used to only put about 5000 miles per year on the TT.

[Lynnmor]

phenrichs wrote:
My dealer told us with the EZ axles put one squirt of grease per year and you should be good enough. Well, I will be doing them by hand this year anyway.

Doing one squirt per year, in about 20 to 30 years you will have greased the front bearing.

[dodge_guy]

I do mine every couple of years. It`s due again this year.

[phenrichs]

My dealer told us with the EZ axles put one squirt of grease per year and you should be good enough. Well, I will be doing them by hand this year anyway.

[rider997]

myredracer wrote:
Is NSK the company that has the made in Japan bearings I've heard of that are one of the best, or the best out there? Out of curiosity, how much does a set of quality bearings and seals cost? I'm thinking of replacing the OEM ones at the earliest possible convenience.

NSK is good (Japan)
FAG is good (Germany)
Timken (used to manufacture primarily in the USA, but has moved a lot of production to China- be extremely careful buying them now)
SKF - seems to manufacture different lines all over the world - double check the origin of the specific bearings you buy.


Pretty much any US, Japanese, or German made bearing will give you superb service life. The price premium over Chinese bearings is usually minimal.

[goducks10]

weathershak wrote:

hotqld wrote:
I like the Dexter easylube system, it allows a grease change to be done once a year like in our case, with no tools.

Yep, the days of hand packing aren't needed with this setup.

Until you accidently pump too much grease in and it seeps out the seal and lands on your brake drum.

[Racefan1]

I know we like to support American made products, but there are quality bearings being manufactured all over the world. Just because it is American made, does not always mean top quality. Dexter is a very reputable company, and I was sure they didn't use inferior bearings. They have a reputation to withhold and I was not surprised when I found my Dexter EZ Lube hubs actually had Timken bearings. I use Lucas Red & Sticky lithium grease and despite what some have said, I have yet to blow out a rear seal on my travel or construction trailers.(9) They all have EZ Lube hubs. You have to take your time and give no more than two pumps at a time and continually rotate wheel. "THEY WORK FOR ME"