How often to grease wheel bearings

[Steve Outlaw]

There’s a fellow over on the Caista forums named Larry Gamble that some of you may have heard of. He owns Little House Customs ( www.LittleHouseCustoms.com ) and he makes his living building/designing/installing various mods on Casita trailers. I feel certain that he has worked on more trailers than most of us will ever see. I’m confident that he is fully competent to make the following statements that I have compiled from several posts he made a few years ago.


"Buy a complete set of bearings before you go. Pack them in grease and triple baggie them along with a lot of paper towels. Don't leave home without them. Even if you can't do it yourself, at least you can provide the parts for the Good Samaritan that's offered to help you. If you want Timken bearings, they are three or four times as much money and, for what it's worth, current Dexter axles come with Chinese bearings. I have no problem with that. I'd carry a spare even if I was running Timkens. The good news is Chinese versions are probably made from old Studebakers and Maytags."

[Borrego Dave]

Steve, I like your discription of the Chinese bearings but I had to laugh. Didn't all the Maytag commercials say they would last just about forever .

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Steve Outlaw

for what it's worth, current Dexter axles come with Chinese bearings.

I found this out when I bought replacement brake drum kits. I wonder how long Timkin will be around? Raz

[Carol H]

I suspect Timken will be a round for awhile. They are the brand that more often than not appears on the order specs of many large industreal manufacturing & equipment companies around the world.

While I agree with Larry in regards to always carry a spare bearing and seals - learned that the hard way - I would be reluctant to give a full on approval of Chinese made bearings. The quality of made in China bearings varies GREATLY. Timken and SKF both have their bearings built in China these days. Yup its true ;-) but the difference in the bearings is the quality.

Only have to hold in one hand a bearing & seals made by Timken or SKF made in China and a bearing purchased off the internet made in China by a no name company selling for a 1/4 of the price of a Timken bearing to see and feel the difference.

While Dexter axles probable do come with China made bearings these days it is very probable they are not a no brand but instead made for Timken's or SKF.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by deryk

I probably should order 2 sets of replacement bearings and seals and keep them as backups. I do always check my hubs at each stop and even after the 500 mile trip down to ParkLiner they were only a little warm.....how do you check the break pads?

To Adjust Travel Trailer Brakes. Funny enough the first time I took the wheel & hub off my trailer it was clear looking at the brake pads that they were not adjusted correctly as they had very little wear on them even though they were almost 16 years old at the time. I had gotten a pretty good hint of that towing it home as I had to crank the controller *way up* in order to get the slightest hint of brakes on the trailer.