WHY ALL THE FUSS.

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Why all the fuss over these wheel bearings. People drive there cars for 50 & 60 thousand miles & never bother with wheel bearings until they do a brake reline or something. My Toyota truck has the same bearing set up - 30 thousand miles & they most likely will not get re-packed until I do a front reline at about 50,000 miles.

Question 2#. How much air in our trailer tires. The tire says 50 but that for max load & probably most of us will never run at Max load. Tony at East Coast Trailer recommends low 40's. Much less shock to the trailer & its body & less chance of damaging a tire from sharp blows & bumps as the tire is more flexible & can absorb a lot abuse etc. gravel & rocky roads etc.
I recenbtly installed Goodyear Marathon ST trailer service tires 14 inch. They have a load capacity of 1700 pounds. These Marathons are made in Canada. So lets here some comments from the board?
MANZI

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I dunno Joe,

Maybe it's got something to do with the fact they are only 1 inch bearings. I know when I bought mine ,the guy had a receipt for repacking two years before. I decided to check em out and they where a little loose so I repacked them. I will check again this spring and see if they got loose again (play). The grease looked ok though.
I could see more problems with a boat trailer being under water all the time.

Tires seem to be fine at 35 pounds for me. Of course I just have a little 13 footer.
Maybe some of these behemoth 16,17,21 footers with all that air-conditioning and microwave stuff need more tender love and care.

Maybe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
But where's the adventure in that?

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I didnt realize there was a fuss.

I pack my bearings every 8000 miles. I consider it normal maintenance. Kind of like insurance.I also check my hubs at every stop f0r heat.

Your mileage may vary but please don't give the impression that it is something that people can just forget about.

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Hi Nick, Thanks for responding. Point is do you repack the wheel bearings on your car every8000 miles & stop to check the hub for over-heating etc? So why on a trailer? What makes trailer bearings so special? MANZI

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What is YOUR point Joe. Is there something wrong with me, posting my opinion..

P.S. Dexter recommends 12000 mile service...

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:wave Nick,

Thanks for the info. I am way over due. I need to have mine checked before I head to Arizona & Nevada.

As I think about it, They take a beating here in the summer crossing the desert when it is over 100 degrees.

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I agree with Nick that trailer wheel bearings should be checked frequently. My husband pulls the wheels and checks the bearings every spring and re-packs if necessary. Most times there's not 500 miles from last spring when he checked. But so what! It is easy, cheap and a half hour of time is all it takes for peace of mind and one less thing to have to worry about when travelling down the road.

There's something about the fact that trailers sit in one position for long periods of the time...
Nancy

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Orginally posted by Nancy D

There's something about the fact that trailers sit in one position for long periods of the time...
Nancy

Nancy,

You nailed it. RVs sit for long periods and that allows the grease to settle out, leaving the bearings dry.

It's best to follow the manufacturers advice concerning service. Your local Bubba's might recommend something else, ignore it.

[Oops, just remembered you're in Ontario. You may not have a local Bubba's] ;)

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I had my bearings packed when I bought my trailer in VT in a Sept, pulled it to Florida and then across the lower USofA to Vegas and then up to Washington -- Six to eight Kmiles, one heck of a lot less than 12Kmiles.

It sat for about year in Washington and then I started out for Alaska, foolishly neglecting to check the bearings. Not far into British Columbia, the right bearing disintegrated and the hub scored the spindle and shoulder so badly that I (later) had to replace the axle, altho I was able to make repairs and limp around for about 25K miles at lower speeds that summer. The left bearing's grease was water-contaminated when I did the repairs to the right., so I presume that was also the problem on the right.

These aren't nice, clean, beefy, automotive bearings hidden relatively deep inside the machinery, and they certainly aren't the modern sealed bearings (which need to have wheels turned every couple of weeks or they will rust) -- They need far more care. The instructions for my old Jayco recommended repacking at 3Kmile intervals. YMMV

Pete and Rats

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All of this is another reason to "exercise" your trailer a couple of times a month ... all year long ... to redistribute the axle grease.

I've found the new bearing buddy zerk fittings on the newer trailers are allowing me to extend the physical repacking interval.

If you have these fittings, be careful not to overfill the bearing and blow a seal ... just a couple of pumps every 5,000 miles or so.

I know Casita (and others) were telling folks to pump until they see new grease push out ... but that is a sure fired way to blow the seals, in my opinion.

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Charles, are you talking Bearing Buddies, with the spring loaded cap, or Dexter's EZLube with the hole down the center of the spindle? The BBs just force grease from front to rear, hopefully thru the bearings, whereas the EZL forces grease up thru the inner bearing before it tries to come out at the crown nut.

In either case, Dexter's EZLube system on the 13' axle (#9) has a 10-60 seal, which has a double lipped seal and the retaining spring, which I would recommend when you next change seals as part of the take-apart and inspect and clean old grease off action. I dunno the seal size for the #10 axle.

Pete and Rats

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Thanks Pete! I'll check the EZ lube seals next repack!

I said "bearing buddy" because I forgot the Dexter called its version EZ Lube (my pea brain only holds so much terminology!)

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Charles, if they came new with EZLube and brakes, you will have the right seal, because they come as an assembly from Dexter to the trailer manf. Be sure to take a close look at the seal, so someone doesn't sell you the wrong one in future, as so far not many RV places carry them in stock and the NAPA cross-ref numbers seem to be wrong, at least for the 10-60 seals.

Pete

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I was just asking a question in my thread. It had nothing to do with your opinion at all. The question was do you re-pack your car bearings every 8000 miles & do you ever check for hub heat?
I know one good check to do on a trailer when you stop is to grab the top of the wheel with both hands & using a little gusto shake the wheel back & forth. Away from you & then pull it back. This is a quick check for loose bearings or loose wheel nuts etc. If the wheel moves somethiong is wrong.

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Hello Pete, just curious if you actually saw that trailer shop in VT pull the wheels & re-pack etc. If you saw it done-great. But if you didn't its possible he gave you a grease job instead of the bearings thus the failure. Its just a thought. I recently took a Chrysler New Car dealer to court over worked that they charged me for but never did! And this was a so called 5 Star Dealership! They were bigger crooks than the Jessie James gang when they robbed the Glendale Train!
MANZI

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Joe,


I try to repack the truck wheel bearings at or before the manufacturers recommendations

I don't check the hubs on the truck around town, but I do check both fronts and rears hubs and tires for excess heat on a trip.

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Indeed, I saw him packing the bearings, he did it and he did it right. Too much time and too many miles. No silver bullets or pixie dust for these small axles. Closest thing to it is prolly the EZLube, where if old grease pushed out by the new grease is water-contaminated, you know you need to inspect the bearings for damage and then repack (or replace).

Dexter now says 12Kmiles or 12 months, but that's pushing it, based on my experiences with a number of trailers and the experiences of others, esp if the trailer sits a lot so the grease sets up and corrosion forms on the axle at the seals.

Look at it this way -- Most trailer folks carry extra bearing/seal sets and have had occasion to use them; it's darn rare to find anyone carrying bearings for their truck/car -- There's a reason behind those practices.

The real problem in my case (after owner stupidity) was water intrusion thru the seal over time. You just can't expect the life of these bearings to equal the beefy bearings and even beefier seals on trucks and cars. I am now a religious checker of tire and hub temps all the way around whenever I stop; even bought an infra-red temp checker at Radio Shack.

BTW, if your bearings are so tight that you can't get a tiny amount of play when pulling the tire, they are too tight...

Pete and Rats

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If you look at the bearings from the front hubs of a car, and hold them side-by-side with a trailer bearing, you'll see the reason for the shorter maintenance interval. The actual roller bearings are much smaller, which means they spin much faster. Add to that, that trailers often run smaller wheels than do the tow vehicle, so the wheel itself is spinning faster. So, if you are cruising at 60 mph in your tow vehicle, it is possible your trailer bearings are spinning at an "equivilent" of 120-150 mph. This generates a LOT of heat.

Now, also consider that, according to an Elkart, IN trailer manufacturer I know, RVs are built to last for five years. And, during that time, they only expect to be used a couple of times per year. Therefore, the running gear is not designed to go the distance -- it doesn't need to be. You may note that most fiberglass owners go much longer and much further and much more often. But, guess what - you are running the same axles that they put on the five year stick-builts. Therefore, if you want to make them last, grease em up!

Final consideration -- If you have ever had a wheel bearing fail a hundred miles or so from anywhere, you'll suddenly get fanatical about packing them on schedule. And, if you aren't sure when they were last packed, go ahead and do it now!