Repacking the wheel bearings

[Saskatchewan]

We have a lightweight single axle travel trailer we don't use all that much each year. Last year we put around 25 hours of highway travel on it. It as the same the previous year. Is it necessary to get the wheel bearings repacked after so little use?

[falconbrother]

It's real easy to repack bearings. I had an old EVO Harley that had to be repacked at every tire change (about every 6000 miles or so). Since I mounted and balanced my own tires I repacked those bearings. You need to be sure that you don't have sealed bearings. My 2017 has tapered roller bearings but.. The mechanic at Campingworld said don't touch them for ten years. At most, with regular usage, one squirt from the grease gun every two years or so. My plan is to not mess with them for the next ten years.

If you feel uncertain about them and don't have a grease fitting to add some grease then I would pull those brake drums/hubs and repack the bearings. Use the extra heavy duty grease, the green stuff. You can buy it at Walmart. You will need new seals and cotter pins as well. There's youtube videos about how to do this job.

[Crabbypatty]

It takes me around 2 hours to clean and pack 4 wheels. Which is less time that you will have to wait on the side of the road for a flat bed, if your drum locks up. A couple grains of dirt can compromise the the grease seals.I do it every spring when I pull the trailer up for use and about half the time I seen a leaking grease seal. An ounce of prevention. I just don't want to go out of time and experience the trauma of trying to get repairs on the road, as I have experienced, which is why I upped my game pre season.

[jfkmk]

You need to learn to repack the bearings yourself. On a single axle trailer it should take about an hour for the entire job. Each Spring I pull the wheels, do a thorough tire inspection, pull the drums, do a thorough brake inspection and cleaning, clean inspect and pack the bearings. Upon installation, I adjust the brakes. Now I know that I won't have any issues for the entire season (at least as far as bearings and brakes are concerned) and it cost me less than $10 for the peace of mind.

[NMDriver]

Rule of thumb "if you burn your thumb by touching the hub, check the bearings"

Seriously, if they are not getting to hot to touch then they are fine. Get into the habit of checking them for overheating at each stop. Use the back of your hand and if you can feel the heat radiating off of the hub, before you touch the metal then it is to hot.

[aftermath]

I purchased a used Airstream and took it in right away to have the bearings packed and the brakes checked. The tech said everything looked good and then said that you don't have to do this every year nor every other year. He said 10,000 miles would be a good time to have them checked again and mainly because of the brakes. This is what I do. I usually get in close to 5K miles on the trailer each year. So, 2 to 3 years is the plan.

[Saskatchewan]

So is there any rule of thumb as to how often one should get the bearings repacked? A couple of years ago it cost me close to $300 so obviously I don't want to be doing it needlessly. And of course I also want to make sure I do it when I should so I don't end up with my wheels seizing up on me as I am heading down the highway.

[Alabama_Jim]

IMHO you are good to go.

[azrving]

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[Saskatchewan]

I should have been more specific. We had the wheel bearings repacked in 2016 prior to putting on 50 hours of highway travel.

[time2roll]

As long as you know it was repacked properly at some point and the brakes are operating normal I would go 20,000 miles or 10 years before I checked. Actually I just did that 😉
Only pulled them off to install disks and all looked just fine.

[old_guy]

I look at it this way, yes and I will tell you why. building a TT is not rocket science. so many things on a TT that can go wrong in a short period of time and or use. if they build a TT that is so apt to have something go wrong and if they build them so nilly nelly what makes you think they packed the wheel bearings right the the first time when they put them together. in short I pack mine just as soon as I get the new TT home. I don't trust the way they build TT's nowadays