Can you over greese an easy lube fitting? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 03-01-2019, 11:20 AM   #1
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Can you over greese an easy lube fitting?

This has to have been covered before, but I don't see it. Can you over grease an easy lube fitting? I would think the grease would spill out through the rear seal and then get on the break linings causing all kinds of problems such as rendering the brakes useless or possibly even causing them to seize. Are these fittings worth anything? I've always packed by hand method every several years any trailer I've owned. I've never dealt with these things. In one video, I saw someone pump grease into the fitting until it came out clean around the fitting where the gun was attached. Isn't this a bit much and isn't this a potentially dangerous procedure that could lead to brake failure?
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Old 03-01-2019, 12:08 PM   #2
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Yes you definitely can over grease an easy lube system. Just as you indicated, if you keep pumping grease into the hubs it will have to go somewhere. That somewhere is out past the rear seal and onto the brake shoes.

When brake shoes get grease on them, first they slip, and then they start grabbing and will lock the wheel with very light application of the brakes. You will begin to notice that one wheel is locking up which makes the trailer pull to one side and skids the tread off the tire.

Bearings do need service occasionally, but they do not need repeated lubing, such as on every trip.

If you re-pack in the conventional way, you clean the bearings which removes bearing metal that is in the grease, you adjust the preload on them and you replace the rear seal. It's more work, but it is a better method than just pumping in more grease.
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Old 03-01-2019, 12:12 PM   #3
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You can't really over grease IF you do it right.. tire off ground, rotating, not too cool or too fast, etc.. the grease will just come out the front. However its really easy to do it wrong and have the grease blow out the rear seal as John described. I have elected to ignore the grease fitting on my spindle and repack the bearings the way it has been done successfully for decades.
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Old 03-01-2019, 01:44 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by ae6black View Post
... I would think the grease would spill out through the rear seal and then get on the break linings causing all kinds of problems such as rendering the brakes useless or possibly even causing them to seize. ...
BTW, kudos for adding that they might seize. Most people (and myself at one time) think that grease on the brake linings would cause them to lose friction and not stop as well if at all, but in fact sticking brakes is a common symptom of grease on the brakes.
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Old 03-01-2019, 05:41 PM   #5
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I have had Easylube spindles on my boat trailer for years with no trouble but they definitely can seem like a headache if serviced wrong. There are lots of different ideas about how to use them and I made mistakes and learned what works for me.


First of all we are assuming your spindle seal surface is good. Given that the next thing is you must have good quality seals such as Timken, SK or such. Be aware that many of the old standby names have developed two different qualities of products to compete with the Asian Invasion. Just verify that you are installing seals made in the USA to be sure they aren't going to lose their tension after a year. When you start pumping grease do so with a hand gun and not an air powered one. The grease has time to come through the in side bearing without putting excess pressure on the seal that way. As the grease starts showing movement all around the outer bearing by your grease zerk you have enough grease. At that point use your pinky finger and dig all the grease you can out of the area just inside the Easylube rubber seal. This gives a little room for grease as the hub warms up. If you pump grease in till that void is full, then when things expand as they warm up, the rubber plug can be blown out or grease forced by the inside seal. Anytime you walk by and see one of the rubber covers bulging out, pull the edge of the cover back just enough to burp the air out. When you do this and instead of a burp of air you get a burp of grease, then remove the cover and clean the excess grease out with your pinky again. Usually this will only happen after a bearing job. Once you don't see the rubber cover bulging after running for awhile you will be good for a long time. After a few months or a year pull the rubber plugs off and using your pinky dig what grease you can out of the space and wipe it on a rag. Is it the equivalent of 3 pumps on the grease gun? 2 pumps? 4 pumps?...what ever you get don't pump in any more than what worked out. You can continue doing this for years with no problems.

If you decide you want to "flush" the old grease out, that is fine, just keep pumping till you see fresh grease showing around the outside bearing. Be aware though if you do this "flushing" then you will have to be vigilant and go through the bulging rubber cover and burping air and extra grease again till it gets happy again
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Old 03-02-2019, 07:08 AM   #6
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I think that the EZ lube system is great myself. Can it be abused?
The answer is yes it can just like Bearing Buddies and traditional hand greasing.
The first thing to be aware of is that the grease should be warm and the pumping should be slow.


I have over 15,000 miles on my Flexi-Ride axle with EZ Lube and have greased then once.
One should be aware that high speed bearings cannot be full of grease and not overheat! The EZ lube system has the means to purge the old grease and then allow for the excess to be pushed out of the spindle.
Until the excess is pushed out the hub will run warmer than normal. Properly lubricated bearings will basically operate slightly over ambient temp assuming that the brakes were not being heavily used.
I check the hub temp with my hand at every stop out of habit and caution, The tires will run a little warmer and the one on the sun side a little warmer than the shady side.
Last year we made a tour of over 9300 miles and I greased the hubs before we left and I may regrease them this year again and then maybe not.
The hubs on you car were regreased when?????
With the sealed bearing cartridges on the front of FWD drive cars and the many many sealed bearing sets in use today it is very rare to hear of a wheel bearing failure and these sealed bearings actually have relatively little grease in them.
Most trailer problems are with boat trailer hubs that are immersed in the water and the contamination in this service is common and is actually the reason for the Bearing Buddies and EZ Lube in the first place.
My guess is that on most travel trailer bearing failures the root cause is a poor job of regreasing and over- greasing.
Perhaps attention to bearing temperature and benign neglect is a good choice?
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Old 03-02-2019, 10:29 AM   #7
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Thanks for all the great advice. I'm saving this information to give to my mechanic!
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Old 03-02-2019, 12:13 PM   #8
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Thanks all for this info. We have our first trailer with EZ-Lube axles, so far have not added any grease. I think the old, "take-em-apart-wash-and-hand-pack" is best as it cleans out all the old guck, lets you inspect the bearings and seals.
Some places recommend new seals as you can't remove the old ones without damage.
You really don't want the cavity in the hub packed full.
I'll probably just take the ParkLiner to a trailer shop and have them do it.
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Old 03-09-2019, 11:41 AM   #9
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Red face Bearing solution

Aircraft routinely use sealed bearings to avoid the hassles and costs of bearing service entirely. Sealed bearings are available for some trailer axles that are warrantied for 100,000 miles without any service.
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Old 03-09-2019, 11:54 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne Collins View Post
Thanks all for this info. We have our first trailer with EZ-Lube axles, so far have not added any grease. I think the old, "take-em-apart-wash-and-hand-pack" is best as it cleans out all the old guck, lets you inspect the bearings and seals.
Some places recommend new seals as you can't remove the old ones without damage.
You really don't want the cavity in the hub packed full.
I'll probably just take the ParkLiner to a trailer shop and have them do it.

I almost totally agree except that if I have the time and the ambition, I do it myself!
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Old 03-09-2019, 05:15 PM   #11
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Easy lubes are for BOAT trailers due to their submersion in water not RV trailers!
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Old 03-09-2019, 08:40 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by vintageracer View Post
Easy lubes are for BOAT trailers due to their submersion in water not RV trailers!
Bearing buddies are for boat trailers, Easy-Lube is for trailers that don't get submerged. Bearing Buddies allow one to add grease to raise the pressure in the hub so no water can get in while submerged. It keeps water out by being at a higher pressure. The grease gets added outside the bearings into the new "hub cap" that has a zerk on it and a spring loaded seal. These do nothing for lubing the inner bearing. Easy lube is a system that flushes the old grease out while adding new. But Easy-Lube will not prevent water intrusion very well, or reliably expel water that does get in. They are not designed for that purpose. Easy lube cannot be used to raise the hub pressure for water immersion.
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Old 03-09-2019, 09:03 PM   #13
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While some folks could destroy an anvil with a rubber mallet, the simple answer is...
No, EZ-Lube axles can not be over greased.
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Old 03-09-2019, 09:08 PM   #14
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Why I hate EZ Lube Hubs:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/t...be-hubs.74631/

Yes I was confused with Bearing Buddies when speaking of boats.
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Old 03-09-2019, 09:29 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by vintageracer View Post
Why I hate EZ Lube Hubs:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/t...be-hubs.74631/

Yes I was confused with Bearing Buddies when speaking of boats.
That guy was the victim of one of those guys with a rubber mallet!
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Old 03-10-2019, 08:35 AM   #16
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I'm still confused then, probably since most threads about ez-lube end with people talking about how they don't like them.

I guess my question is, if serviced the way Dexter recommends, will overgreasing happen? Will the brakes and everything else get covered in grease? Is the only way to properly service an ez-lube axle to treat it like it's not ez-lube and repack it like a normal bearing?

What's the point of this axle? Just a bad idea?

I have one because it's what was available. I don't remember if there were two options. Dexter was highly recommended, so when I wanted to replace my axle it's what I bought. I don't recall having an option. So ez-lube is what I have. Do I ignore that it's ez-lube and treat it like a normal axle, or is there benefit to pumping grease in there now and then?
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Old 03-10-2019, 08:59 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by ZachO View Post
I'm still confused then, probably since most threads about ez-lube end with people talking about how they don't like them.

I guess my question is, if serviced the way Dexter recommends, will overgreasing happen? Will the brakes and everything else get covered in grease? Is the only way to properly service an ez-lube axle to treat it like it's not ez-lube and repack it like a normal bearing?

What's the point of this axle? Just a bad idea?

I have one because it's what was available. I don't remember if there were two options. Dexter was highly recommended, so when I wanted to replace my axle it's what I bought. I don't recall having an option. So ez-lube is what I have. Do I ignore that it's ez-lube and treat it like a normal axle, or is there benefit to pumping grease in there now and then?
I have used my EZ-Lube for 15 years and I love it.
The only time I disassemble is to inspect/service the brakes.
Of course you must be easy on the grease gun, aggressive use can produce over 3000PSI.
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Old 03-10-2019, 09:07 AM   #18
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There is nothing wrong with treating an EZ Lube spindle just as you would the old standard one. What EZ Lube does is gives you a way to lube your bearings without having to pull the drums, replace the seals and readjust the brakes.

Servicing EZ Lube spindles is easy as the name implies but it doesn't mean you don't have to think. To mindlessly pump grease into a closed system and think that the old grease is somehow going to disappear to make room for the new is a little short-sighted to say the least. Read post #5 of this thread. I explained what is necessary to make way for addition of grease. Also, something I should mention again...Be sure seals are made in the Western Hemisphere and if it doesn't include a coil spring behind the lip it is no good for this application.
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Old 03-10-2019, 10:20 AM   #19
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Alright, thanks. Somehow I skipped over your post.

Conventional wisdom seems to be you pump, and pump, and eventually all the old grease is pushed out and replaced with new grease, which would lead you to believe that you want to pump a bunch in there, until what's coming out is clean, so you know you've got all the dirty stuff out.

But instead, I just want to pump till I see any amount of grease around the entire surface, stop, wipe, and then keep an eye for little while and "burp" as necessary?

I've honestly never re-packed a wheel bearing and only greased my Dexter axle once since owning the trailer, so I'm pretty new to this. It's funny, sort of. I've pulled engines and transmissions and replaced clutches, rebuilt a transfer case and carb. But a brake job? Still intimidating to me. I've only ever replaced the pads on disc brakes, never a full brake job and never done drum brakes. I've done some pretty involved stuff but I'm still unsure about some basic maintenance. I guess that comes from not growing up doing any of this stuff and just taking on and learning projects one at a time as they come up...
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Old 03-10-2019, 12:09 PM   #20
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Why would Dexter introduce a spindle that would easily fail?
I agree in that I just pump a little until I see grease start to be pushed out of the hub vents as I rarely immerse my Scamp wheels over the hubs.
I suspect that if I did I would have bigger problems than regreasing the hubs.
Any grease will discolor with use and that does not indicate that it has failed to perform and that it would not continue to do so.
Probably after water contamination from launching your boat the leading cause for bearing failure might be over-greasing and the resultant excessive heating from churning the grease,
The EZ Lube hub would be less likely to be overgreased as they have the relief ports.
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