Lost dust caps

[wazkaren]

On my last camping trip I somehow lost one of the dust caps off the axle of my trailer. Drove at least 5 hours without the cap. I've gotten a new cap but do you think I should have the old grease in the axle cleaned out out and replaced? I'm wondering if dirt could get in there and cause wear and tear.

Thanks,
Greg

[JRscooby]

Gdetrailer wrote:

BarneyS wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Snip...
Takes a whole 10-15 minutes to pull the bearings and drums and clean out the old grease and refresh with new grease...Snip....

WOW! You work a whole lot faster than I do!!!! :E
Barney

I have the routine down to a science, jack up in the correct place and you can lift both axles on one side at the same time. I also make use of air tools to remove the lug nuts, makes for very quick work

I do that twice per yr since I have not only a travel trailer but a 18ft flatbed trailer both with dual axles. Takes me a whole hr for all four drums on each trailer.

PA requires a trailer safety inspection once per yr, one of the requirements is the mechanic must pull a drum on each side and inspect the brake shoes condition.

Instead of waiting to get surprised with a failed inspection I suck it up and pull them and verify the condition myself before hauling the trailer to the inspection station.

Being proactive has saved me a few trips over the years and paying for a failed inspection.

IMHO, even for a pro, with all the equipment, 15 minutes is pretty quick. I spend about half that much time just cleaning and inspecting the bearings if they're good.
Working on my camper, I make it a point to use only tools in the rig. If I ever had to do it on the road I know I may not have my best tools, but I have tools that can work.
1 trick I learned to save time is the first step when you get it apart is clean the inside of hub. You will almost certainly will re-use it. And cleaning it you will clean the races. And once the races are clean a bad spot is easy to see. And if you see a bad place on a race, no reason to clean the bearing.

[BarneyS]

That is very nice, but the average Joe is not going to have either your experience, or your tools to do the job in that short amount of time. Advising someone to go ahead and have the brakes inspected because it only takes 15 minutes to do it yourself is not quite accurate advice in my opinion.

While the advice to do the inspection is sound and good advice, I think the time estimate is completely unrealistic for the average person and is where I differed from your opinion. Thanks for the clarification.:)
Barney

[Gdetrailer]

BarneyS wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Snip...
Takes a whole 10-15 minutes to pull the bearings and drums and clean out the old grease and refresh with new grease...Snip....

WOW! You work a whole lot faster than I do!!!! :E
Barney

I have the routine down to a science, jack up in the correct place and you can lift both axles on one side at the same time. I also make use of air tools to remove the lug nuts, makes for very quick work

I do that twice per yr since I have not only a travel trailer but a 18ft flatbed trailer both with dual axles. Takes me a whole hr for all four drums on each trailer.

PA requires a trailer safety inspection once per yr, one of the requirements is the mechanic must pull a drum on each side and inspect the brake shoes condition.

Instead of waiting to get surprised with a failed inspection I suck it up and pull them and verify the condition myself before hauling the trailer to the inspection station.

Being proactive has saved me a few trips over the years and paying for a failed inspection.

[wazkaren]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll be extra cautious and just get them repacked. I'm not particularly handy myself so I'll have a local trailer shop do it, it's not very expensive. I'm thinking it's some cheap insurance in case I did get dust inside.

[BarneyS]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Snip...
Takes a whole 10-15 minutes to pull the bearings and drums and clean out the old grease and refresh with new grease...Snip....

WOW! You work a whole lot faster than I do!!!! :E
Barney

[Gdetrailer]

Birdnst wrote:
GregThis not even close. Yes, repack that wheel.Such Paranoia

I wouldn't call "preventative or proactive" maintenance "paranoia".

Dirt/dust/mud can act like sand to bearings and over time render your bearings in a less than smooth shape.

Moisture in the air or rain can splash into the now open bearings and that can start rusting the bearing surfaces.

While 5 hrs doesn't seem like much time to worry, we don't know exactly what kind of roads the OP was driving on or if it was raining.

Takes a whole 10-15 minutes to pull the bearings and drums and clean out the old grease and refresh with new grease and once you are done with that you have the satisfaction that you now have prevented a possible future bearing disaster that would leave you on the side of the road ruining your trip.

Besides, it is never a bad thing to routinely remove the drum, inspect the brakes and refresh the grease.. Most axle manufacturers require that to be done every 12 months or 12,000 miles which ever comes first.. Have you ever looked at your brakes? Most folks never look at the brakes let alone refresh the grease.

Not to mention JR is correct, caps do not typically pop off for no reason at all.. Best to investigate.

[Birdnst]

GregThis not even close. Yes, repack that wheel.
Such Paranoia

[JRscooby]

Did you take cap off, not get back on right? Hit something and knock it off?
If a well-installed cap came off on it's own I would bet there is a issue with the bearing.

[bucky]

It wouldn't hurt but if you're doing one you may as well do them all.
Unless you went thru a western dust storm I don't see the need.

[Huntindog]

wazkaren wrote:
On my last camping trip I somehow lost one of the dust caps off the axle of my trailer. Drove at least 5 hours without the cap. I've gotten a new cap but do you think I should have the old grease in the axle cleaned out out and replaced? I'm wondering if dirt could get in there and cause wear and tear.

Thanks,
Greg

This not even close. Yes, repack that wheel.

[Grit_dog]

Does it look dirty or not? If it’s not, shoot some more grease in it and let er rip.