What Kind of Grease

[Slim]

I have a 2014 13' Scamp. I have contacted Scamp several time to ask them what grease they use, so that I can grease the wheel bearings with a compatible grease. I never get a reply from them. Does anyone know what they use at the factory?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Slim

I have a 2014 13' Scamp. I have contacted Scamp several time to ask them what grease they use, so that I can grease the wheel bearings with a compatible grease. I never get a reply from them. Does anyone know what they use at the factory?

Any lithium based grease will work fine...
Here is what I use...

[redbarron55]

Originally Posted by Slim

I have a 2014 13' Scamp. I have contacted Scamp several time to ask them what grease they use, so that I can grease the wheel bearings with a compatible grease. I never get a reply from them. Does anyone know what they use at the factory?

Almost any lithium based grease will be adequate.
Synthetic grease would be better, but it is not compatible with lithium so to make more sure that it is not mixed use lithium. NLGI-2 is usually used for axles.
If you have the EZ-Lube then you can use a grease gun to lube them.
A search of the forum will find many threads on the subject. Many, many, many threads

[C&G in FL]

I use Lucas Red & Tacky. I find that it doesn’t dissociate like other greases I have used, or in other words, I do not find drops of oil on the wheel below the hubs. And I would caution against using E-Z Lube exclusively. First, you must spin the wheel while slowly pumping and even then there is a possibility that it could squeeze out the rear seal and contaminate the brake surfaces. I personally believe the quality of seals is not what it once was. Second, the bearings and races should be thoroughly cleaned and inspected periodically prior to packing them. Others may disagree.

[gordon2]

My 2015 has a Lippert axle, and the Lippert Axle manual listed four recommended specific bearing grease products. So check you axle manual.

Compatibility Chart:



PS.. I agree with Carl. I don't think the EZ Lube should be the sole method.
Periodic inspection is appropriate, and the risk of using EX Lube does not justify the convenience. I say that because I am one of those that used the EX Lube and got grease past the rear seal and on the brake pads. Used with care, the EZ Lube system might work but why risk it?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by gordon2

My 2015 has a Lippert axle, and the Lippert Axle manual listed four recommended specific bearing grease products. So check you axle manual.

Compatibility Chart:



PS.. I agree with Carl. I don't think the EZ Lube should be the sole method.
Periodic inspection is appropriate, and the risk of using EX Lube does not justify the convenience. I say that because I am one of those that used the EX Lube and got grease past the rear seal and on the brake pads. Used with care, the EZ Lube system might work but why risk it?

Of course a grease gun should be used correctly. It can produce up to 3000 pounds of pressure and push passed the inner seal, so it is advisable to stroke slowly while turning the wheel.

EZ Lube works well. At least as well as a hand repack.
The first common cause of failure is lack of lubrication, the second is damage caused by improper preload or seal damage during reassembly after hand repack.
Of course a hand repack is appropriate when doing a brake inspection or repair, but EZ Lube is a brilliant innovation.

[Slim]

Thanks for all the helpful information!

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by floyd

Of course a grease gun should be used correctly. It can produce up to 3000 pounds of pressure and push passed the inner seal, so it is advisable to stroke slowly while turning the wheel.

EZ Lube works well. At least as well as a hand repack.
The first common cause of failure is lack of lubrication, the second is damage caused by improper preload or seal damage during reassembly after hand repack.
Of course a hand repack is appropriate when doing a brake inspection or repair, but EZ Lube is a brilliant innovation.

I don't see how greasing with the EZ Lube is overall better than the conventional methods of re-packing. The drums still must come off occasionally for brake inspections, the pre-load should be adjusted, the seals must get replaced and the bearings cleaned and inspected. Pumping enough grease through the system to flush out all contaminants means a lot of waste. You have to remove and re-install the caps and clean up the mess of grease. Having the hub completely full of grease, and only a small bit of air behind the cap, means extra heat and pressure in the system.

Sealed bearings may prove to be the best setup. Does anyone know if they can be retrofitted to a conventional system?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Raspy

I don't see how greasing with the EZ Lube is overall better than the conventional methods of re-packing. The drums still must come off occasionally for brake inspections, the pre-load should be adjusted, the seals must get replaced and the bearings cleaned and inspected. Pumping enough grease through the system to flush out all contaminants means a lot of waste. You have to remove and re-install the caps and clean up the mess of grease. Having the hub completely full of grease, and only a small bit of air behind the cap, means extra heat and pressure in the system.

Sealed bearings may prove to be the best setup. Does anyone know if they can be retrofitted to a conventional system?

I wouldn't say it was overall better when done right, but when you consider the number of errors I have seen when people do it wrong, its a great equalizer.


Done right, EZ Lube has proven to be effective and easy (both to learn and do).
I have seen inner seals destroyed during installation, dust covers lost because of poor installation, even bearings destroyed when not seated or adjusted properly.
I do a hand repack usually when I buy tires, at which time I inspect the brakes. That's about every 20,000 miles or so, or about every 4 years.
Grease is cheap and 100% replacement is not really necessary and the waste of grease is really no more than the waste with hand repack.

I know my bearings and spindles looked and performed like new after 16 years and at least 80,000+ miles.
I did a hand repack and inspection 3 or 4 times during that period including at 600miles when I brought it home from the factory.

By the way, I have no problem with reusing inner seals and have done so for over 50 years, problem seems more with defective new ones nowadays.


I respect the choice to hand repack every year or so and that's fine, but I don't expect to suffer a bearing failure anytime soon. If I do it will likely not be from a lack of lubrication.
I do carry a spare tire, packed spare bearings, assorted light bulbs, etc.out of abundance of caution, and usually end up using such things on someone else's trailer


I don't remove the dust cap when I use the EZ Lube, only the rubber plug is removed and a finger used to remove the old grease from the cavity.
Heat dissipation has not shown to be a problem and pressure is certainly not since excess grease would be pushed into the cap.I have never seen the cap any fuller when I removed the plug to grease than when I replaced it.


Sealed bearings are common on newer vehicles and in my opinion suffer failure at a greater rate than old school,but they don't require regular service.


While some trailer axles come with sealed bearings I am sure that there is no retrofit available to switch from conventional bearings.

[ChetC]

Originally Posted by CPW

I use Lucas Red & Tacky. I find that it doesn’t dissociate like other greases I have used, or in other words, I do not find drops of oil on the wheel below the hubs. And I would caution against using E-Z Lube exclusively...

I'll second the Red & Tacky. That's all my Dad (a heavy equipment mechanic) ever used and recommended for bearings. And I will add that while the E-Z Lube hubs look good on paper, I've known more people (myself included) who simply blew out the rear seals when trying to use the E-Z Lube zert. Stay away from it. Repack the bearings the good ol' fashioned way and you won't have to worry about your brakes getting hung up from grease that squeezed past the rear seals because you used the E-Z Lube function.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by floyd

By the way, I have no problem with reusing inner seals and have done so for over 50 years, problem seems more with defective new ones nowadays.

I'm sure you have more experience than I concerning all of this. But a few points: Dexter glues their seals into their drums. I would like to see anyone remove these without ruining them, which means they get replaced. Second, seals are relatively cheap. And if they fail, the brakes are ruined. I see no reason to re-use them if they are not perfect. Always buy good quality seals. It's so easy to stop by a NAPA store and pick up a pack of ten or so for stock. Having a spare set of bearings, seals, and grease, along with the tools to install them, is a good policy.

I still think that servicing them every 12,000 miles is way too often, but it's hard to say what is the better interval without servicing them and seeing if it was way too early, or not, and then adjusting the timing accordingly. But in fairness, driving across the Country on vacation is not a good time to have a failure, so a bit of extra maintenance off-season, is not a bad plan.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Raspy

I'm sure you have more experience than I concerning all of this. But a few points: Dexter glues their seals into their drums. I would like to see anyone remove these without ruining them, which means they get replaced. Second, seals are relatively cheap. And if they fail, the brakes are ruined. I see no reason to re-use them if they are not perfect. Always buy good quality seals. It's so easy to stop by a NAPA store and pick up a pack of ten or so for stock. Having a spare set of bearings, seals, and grease, along with the tools to install them, is a good policy.

I still think that servicing them every 12,000 miles is way too often, but it's hard to say what is the better interval without servicing them and seeing if it was way too early, or not, and then adjusting the timing accordingly. But in fairness, driving across the Country on vacation is not a good time to have a failure, so a bit of extra maintenance off-season, is not a bad plan.

Napa doesn't have a decent seal for the 7" brake hub which came with my Dexter 2200 pound axle, so only the OEM quality crap is available.
If I can find a true automotive quality seal for my new axle I certainly will buy it.
My experience, like yours, is that 12000 miles is too often as well.
Of course I would not reuse a less than perfect seal.
Also I agree that equipment should be well maintained and checked out pre-trip every time.

What sort of glue comes with your 10pack of quality replacement seals?
Do you expect that my new Lippert Axle with 10" brakes will have glue in seals?
Sounds like a profoundly stupid idea.


My Gramma used to raise radishes in her garden and she once told me that you could not expect a decent crop if you pulled them out of the ground every couple of days to see if they were ready to pick.

[Raspy]

Dexter glues their seals into the hubs and the factory ones are very hard to get out, resulting in destroying them. My experience is with the 3500 lb axles, and the 5200/6000 lb axles mostly. This glued in seal would be good for the EZ Lube setup because there is no way those seals will pop out by greasing the bearings, if the procedure is followed. The NAPA seals are neoprene, or some sort of rubber-like material with a wrapped spring to hold them against the shaft. They look identical to Dexter seals and seem to be very good. They also have a sealant of some sort already around the perimeter. I found it's best to have extra seals in stock in case I wreck one getting them installed, and I have no intention of re-using them. I've been told by the Dexter rep that they had a brass drift to change the bearing races, but I've never found them in the catalogue or had a counter guy able to find them. So I made one and carry it in the tool bag.

I'm pretty lax with utility trailer bearings and let them go for years and many mies without service. The travel trailer, not so much. And I've never had a failure.

[Captleemo]

I don't know what kind of synthetic grease you use but Mobil1 grease is compatible with lithium. https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/...thetic-grease/

[CasitaMiner]

I use EZ lube only and just enough to replace the old grease no more, occasionally I will adjust preload if it gets too loose, and I do it in reasonably warm weather, on trips I hand check the hubs when we stop, warm to touch ok and too hot to hold is bad, never had too hot, did this for 9 yrs and now I am in process of total replacement of braking system with preassembled dexter brake assemblies and new dexter hubs, and I replaced the new china bearings with timken usa bearings/seals.



I will do same method of greasing and checking for any problems with this new braking system. Occasional adjustment of bearing preload may be necessary down the line and is normal. Might as well take advantage of EZ lube method, its great. Disassembly every few thousand miles is just not worth the time, or effort and a waste of money unless a bearing hub is getting overheated. Just my take on this.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Raspy

... Dexter glues their seals into their drums. I would like to see anyone remove these without ruining them, which means they get replaced. ...

Lippert says to use sealant (sort of a glue)...

Always check the seal to make sure that it is not damaged, nicked, cracked or torn and is in good working order. If there is any question of condition, replace the seal.

Procedure to replace seal:
1. Pull seal from the hub with a seal puller. Never push the seal out with the bearing. The bearing may get
damaged.
2. Apply a PERMATEX sealant to the outside of the new seal.
Note: Do not use PERMATEX on rubber encased seals.
3. Tap the new seal into place using a clean, hardwood block (Fig. 3).

I always use the Permatex on new seals and I always replace the used seal after pounding the heck out of it to remove it.

[Captleemo]

Have you ever tried using https://www.harborfreight.com/seal-p...d6ef0691546one of these seal removing tools. They work great.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Captleemo

Have you ever tried using https://www.harborfreight.com/seal-p...d6ef0691546one of these seal removing tools. They work great.

Yes I use one.. and should have said,

Originally Posted by gordon2

....and I always replace the used seal after prying the heck out of it to remove it.

Either way, it gets destroyed.

[Raspy]

I'm convinced there is no way to remove the Dexter seals the first time without destroying them. I'm not saying they should be glued, I'm saying they are glued by Dexter.

The largest size Nipex slip joint plier, grabbing the seal by reaching in next to the bearing to get a good solid pinch on it, then prying it until the plier is laying on the other side of the hub opening and striking it with a three pound hammer like you really mean it. Several blows and the seal comes out destroyed. But the bearing is fine. It seems rude and crude, but that was the only way to do it that I could come up with. Never pound on the bearing.

Just destroy it and replace it.

The next time through, a "sealant" might be much easier to deal with. But the seal must not get pushed out while pumping grease into the hub.

[ROBERT ONEILL]

If you didn't buy the trailer new originally I would make sure that I pulled the hub off and properly clean and inspect the bearings and axle where the seal rides for any damage or grooves worn in it. Inspect the bearings and races and if they have any discoloration, pitting, flaking, rust, galling, replace that bearing, both that bearing and the race. I would also clean out all the old grease and then hand repack the bearings with the kind and Brand of grease you plan on using that can be used in a grease gun. When you install the new seal always make sure you apply that same grease to the inner lip of the seal and on the seal outer lip just a light film.

If you use the E-Z Lube Watch some YouTube to see how to do it right and wrong.

If you have to replace the race make sure the hub area where the race goes is dirt and burr free. You can use the old race as a driver to seat the new race all the way to the bottom of the hub. First start the new race in with a clean block of wood and drive it until it is flush with the hub. Next put the old race on top of the new one, making sure the old race is sitting the same way as the new one or you won't be able to get it back out of the hub. Now you can finish driving in the new race. Also you will know when the race is bottomed out by the solid sound when driving it in. Then with a drift pounding from the other side through the hub you can knock out the old race with the drift sitting crossways in the hub seated on the old race. All seals install with the lip facing the grease, oil, air or whatever it is sealing, that is the side with the small spring if it has one. The seal is a interference fit in the hub to retain it. Most quality seals have sealer on the mating surface. If it doesn't fit tight something is wrong. One other thing is to fit the seal on the clean axle to see if it is a tight seal. The new seal may not ride in the same exact location as the old seal and that is ok if the surface where it will ride is not rusted, pitted or damage and is polished and clean.

I remember that some of the early wheel seals were made out of leather or felt so bearing needed to be serviced very often.

Hope this is helpful to some of you out there.