EZ-(for you maybe, not for me)-Lube first timer.

[AlanKilian]

Last year, I had a beautiful FlexiRide axle put in our 1977 Scamp 13' replacing the way way worn out Dexter we bought it with.

This axle has EZ-Lube spindles, so you can pop out a rubber plug, hook on a grease gun, pump grease in and the old grease will be forced out the front bearing and all-in-one-go you can replace your grease, no fuss, no muss. (From the advertising information. :-) )

I watched a bunch of videos showing how to do it properly.

I read all the cranky-sounding gentlemen here saying it was a waste of time and that you'll be sorry if you try it. They have always hand-packed their bearings and wouldn't trust an EZ-Lube with their lives. Also, something about lawns? I didn't get that part.

It seems that one thing that can go spectacularly wrong is that if the spindle grease seal fails, all the grease just gets pumped into the inside of the hub and fouls the brake pads and is a super-tough job to clean out.

So, being an old (hand-packing type of) man myself, I decided to give it a try.

I went out and bought a hand-pump grease gun and a tube of grease.

Figured out how to get the gun loaded without getting ALL the grease on the kitchen counter.

Jacked up the trailer a little so I could rotate the wheel.

Noticed the bearings were a tiny bit loose, so I turned the castellated nut TIGHT, then backed it off until things ran smooth and locked it back in.

Popped the grease gun onto the zerk fitting and started pumping.
And all the grease seemed to just be coming out the fitting.

Couldn't get the grease gun back off, youtube, then I got it off with all my might.

Zerk was loose, so I screwed it in tight.

Popped the grease gun onto the zerk fitting and started pumping.
And all the grease seemed to just be coming out the fitting.

So I spun the wheel, pushed HARD on the fitting and pumped a few times and things were going better.

Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.

Nothing coming out the front.

Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.

Well, what the hell.

Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
The rod coming out the back of the grease gun was suddenly all the way in.

Oh, MAN, I pumped an ENTIRE tube of grease into my hubs. :-(

So I took the outer bearing off and pulled the hub, and THERE WAS NO NEW GREASE IN THE HUB AT ALL! Just the old grease. Thank Dog for that.

So, youtube again and it says I probably have an air bubble in the top of the gun, or the new plunger is pretty sticky, so I took the gun apart again, not getting a complete grease-mess in the driveway, and put it all together again pumping much better grease out this time.

While the hub was off, I did some pumping and sure enough, new grease comes out the spindle at the back behind where the inner bearing sits, so good.

Everything went back together, and...

Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Get up off the ground, take a walk, youtube to make sure I was doing everything right.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Decide to return the gun to the auto shop, but
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.

Grease starts to come out of the outer bearing!!!

Spin, push, pump three times.
Spin, push, pump three times.
Eventually, the new grease started to come out.

Put everything back together.

One wheel done in only about 90 minutes.

Jacked up the other side, tightened the bearing, pumped until my head was about to explode and grease started coming out. Eventually all the old grease was out and I popped the plug back in.

Second wheel done in about 10 minutes.

So, I'm going to keep doing this once-a-year until the rear seal fails and I make a big old mess. I'll take the hub off next year to see if there any grease getting through the seal.

I do like the idea that the entire hub is filled with grease and not just the bearing. That should prevent the bearing getting hot and spinning all its grease into the hub and going grease-less until I notice it getting hot.

This old man is going to try this and see how it goes.

[floyd]

great post and a fun read!
I've been using the EZ-Lube myself for a couple of decades with great success.
I do a hand repack only when I want to do a brake service or inspection.
(On average about every 4-5 years and 25 to 30 thousand miles.)
Time being more crucial than distance.


Great invention, but care must be exercised not to over pressure with the grease gun.

[Raspy]

Alan,

Maybe I'm one of the "cranky" ones you mentioned, but I did enjoy reading your story.

I don't see any advantage in having the hub clear full of grease, or using so much grease per wheel. With your method, you don't have the ability to inspect the bearings for damage, and the grease seal never gets changed. As the seal gets older, and the hub is completely full of grease, it seems much more likely that you'll get grease on the brakes. I also don't want to remove the wheel just to check if the seal failed. Once the wheel is off, you've gone a long way toward hand packing, inspecting the bearings and replacing the seal.

If you never do any adjusting, or inspecting, the method you describe might be better than doing no service at all, but I think I'll stick with the more thorough, albeit difficult way of traditional re-packing and replacing the seal. And of course, inspecting/adjusting the brakes at each service, which requires removing the wheel anyway.

[Iowa Dave]

Call it paranoia or whatever you want, I’m not a grumpy guy when it comes to packing wheel bearings, I go back 60 years when I bought my first boat and trailer and my dad showed me how to service the bearings. So when I do it now, it’s a trip down memory lane and reassuring to me that I know what’s going on in there. I have easy lube axles but have never pumped grease to them. I’m like the robber in the opening scene from Dirty Harry. “I gots to know. I gots to know.” I have lived and depended upon inspection, from the bearing cages, to heat discoloration, to scoring and dirt that builds up.
No criticism of others and the way they do theirs, to each his own. But I gots to know.
Iowa Dave

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Alan,

Maybe I'm one of the "cranky" ones you mentioned, but I did enjoy reading your story.

I don't see any advantage in having the hub clear full of grease, or using so much grease per wheel. With your method, you don't have the ability to inspect the bearings for damage, and the grease seal never gets changed. As the seal gets older, and the hub is completely full of grease, it seems much more likely that you'll get grease on the brakes. I also don't want to remove the wheel just to check if the seal failed. Once the wheel is off, you've gone a long way toward hand packing, inspecting the bearings and replacing the seal.

If you never do any adjusting, or inspecting, the method you describe might be better than doing no service at all, but I think I'll stick with the more thorough, albeit difficult way of traditional re-packing and replacing the seal. And of course, inspecting/adjusting the brakes at each service, which requires removing the wheel anyway.

Just how often do you need to inspect the bearings or the brakes, or change the seals?
Or maybe the question should be... Just how often do you need to repack your wheel bearings.


I can't tell you how many times I have seen bearing failure soon after a repack when it was just not done right.


I see EZ-Lube as a supplement, not as a replacement for hand repacking.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Last question for all the "older" bunch here...


Just how often did you replace/repack the front wheel bearings on your car "back in the day" when they had them?


For me? It was like when the car needed brake service.

That meant about 100000 miles once really good disc brakes/pads came along.


The only thing that generally makes trailer hubs need more attention is long term outdoor storage with a long time between uses.

[Iowa Dave]

A couple observations
In my opinion if the hubs aren’t regularly submerged and the bearing service is done right , 35 or 40 thousand miles ought to be often enough. I towed about 38,000 in 2017, 18 and 19. Then less than 10,000 in 20 and 21. I just packed the bearings and they would not have needed it but I was changing the brakes so I went ahead and serviced the bearings. The brakes were original 2013s and still had a lot of meat on them.
When I was a yute, I worked with my dad in a Standard Oil station. One afternoon after school I came in and my dad had the front wheels off of a Buick or an Oldsmobile. The front wheel bearings were destroyed to the point of falling apart. They had never been serviced. The car had 94,000 hard miles on it having primarily been driven on dirt and gravel roads. The brakes were down to nothing also. In those days, we honed the wheel cylinders and put a kit in them, put the drums on a lathe and cleaned the grooves out of them and then put new shoes on the assembly. Then the fluid was accessed in the master cylinder by virtue of the bleeder valves on each wheel and the air was bled out of system. It was quite a process. But people didn’t have the money to throw away so they did what thruway could to get by.

Sometimes my Dad would work for folks who raised turkeys, chickens and ducks. He’d come home about 10PM and as he came through the door he’d say “Mother, start the water.” When I was old enough I’d head down the basement to the canning stove and fire it up with a big scalding pot on the burners .my dad would kill the fowl in the back yard, the water got hot and the butchering began. Pinfeathers on geese where the worst. And the next night there was chicken for dinner. We knew where it came from because the next day you could still smell scalded chicken feathers on your hands.
But I wasn’t alone so it didn’t bother me.
Growing up the way we did sure made it easier later in life.
Iowa Dave

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by floyd

Just how often do you need to inspect the bearings or the brakes, or change the seals?
Or maybe the question should be... Just how often do you need to repack your wheel bearings.

Good question that I can't answer very well. At least not in a general way. So, I decided that the best way for me was to inspect, re-pack and replace the seals soon after getting a trailer. New or used. A lot of bearing failures happen on almost new trailers that were not set up right at the factory. On my Explore, new with only about 5,000 miles on it, I found pitting on one race and installed a new Timken bearing and race.

Then, I suggest following Dexter's recommendation and do it again at 12 months or 12,000 miles.

At that point, I know it was done correctly 12,000 miles earlier. I can decide how it's doing and adjust my interval. Maybe 20,000 miles before the next time.

Adjusting the brakes each time is good and when the drums are off, one can inspect the shoes I tend to use the trailer brakes hard. I can always feel it pulling back when braking. This lets me know they are working and takes the load off the truck.

If you ever begin to feel the tow steer to one side when braking, it is likely the opposite side trailer brake has gotten grease on the shoes and has become grabby. Grease makes brakes grab after the grease glazes. If the left trailer brake grabs, it pulls the rear of the tow to the left, which has the affect of steering the tow to the right.

I have no idea why it seems car wheel bearings last so much longer than trailer wheel bearings. You can easily keep an eye on trailer bearings by touching the hubs at fuel stops. If they are the same temp and you can hold your hand on them, they are fine. I run no wheel covers or decorative center caps just for this reason.

[AlanKilian]

I figure I can do the mediocre parts of both worlds and take the hub off every couple of years to look at things, but not clean the bearings and do the EZ-Lube after putting everything back together.

I do adjust the brakes a couple times per year since the axle is new, but I do that through the access hole in the back of the brake mounting plate, so no need to remove the hub for that.

I have "sensitive" condo partners so I do try to reduce my solvent usage to a minimum and not cleaning bearings in gasoline and pouring the results in the back yard like I used to is probably good for me, the neighbors and the environment. Oh, the things we used to do embarrass me now.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Good question that I can't answer very well. At least not in a general way. So, I decided that the best way for me was to inspect, re-pack and replace the seals soon after getting a trailer. New or used. A lot of bearing failures happen on almost new trailers that were not set up right at the factory. On my Explore, new with only about 5,000 miles on it, I found pitting on one race and installed a new Timken bearing and race.




Then, I suggest following Dexter's recommendation and do it again at 12 months or 12,000 miles.
.

I too think that the initial repack is possibly the most important, I used to do front wheel bearings on a new car before leaving the dealership with it.
As for seals... I use good seals when I can get them (new or reused}
I don't like the seals used on the straight spindles with 7"brakes.


I did the front wheel bearings on my last Ranger maybe 2-3 times in 18 years.(200,000 miles)
That would compare to 18 times on the trailer if the protocol was followed religiously.

[parmm]

One of the best investments I've ever made - a rechargeable battery grease gun! But I only use it on the garden tractor/snowblower and the zero turn mower. When I need the trailer bearings checked and repacked - I take it to the local independent garage, folks that do all my automotive work and state inspections.

[ShelbyM]

I guess trailer manufacturers have to use whatever the axle companies provide but it's a head scratcher. Who wouldn't pay a few hundred dollars more for hubs that required only the same service as those on our autos, essentially none for the lifetime of the vehicle? I can see boat trailers might need more maintenance but for our trailers it seems like a "cost savings" nobody is asking for.

[Stephen_Albers]

There is a joke about being able to tell a Bell 47 (Mash) helicopter pilot by the grease gun in his back pocket. Every bearing must be greased before each flight. The Bell 47 is ancient technology. I fly a Robinson helicopter. All the bearings are sealed and require no service between overhalls.

In a like manner, a serious RVer can avoid the tyranny of the grease gun and the inconvenience, expense and catastrophic consequences of missing service by fitting sealed bearings that require no service for 100,000 miles. Chris at Texas Customz (​979 778 0626) can do that for you. He can also fit an independent boondocking suspension to get rid of the axle.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by ShelbyM

I guess trailer manufacturers have to use whatever the axle companies provide but it's a head scratcher. Who wouldn't pay a few hundred dollars more for hubs that required only the same service as those on our autos, essentially none for the lifetime of the vehicle? I can see boat trailers might need more maintenance but for our trailers it seems like a "cost savings" nobody is asking for.

U-haul did that, using GM Citation rear sealed hubs. not all that great and now hard to find replacements.


As for those requiring the same service as as automobiles, they do, meaning the same as those with spindles and serviceable bearings.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Stephen_Albers

There is a joke about being able to tell a Bell 47 (Mash) helicopter pilot by the grease gun in his back pocket. Every bearing must be greased before each flight. The Bell 47 is ancient technology. I fly a Robinson helicopter. All the bearings are sealed and require no service between overhalls.

In a like manner, a serious RVer can avoid the tyranny of the grease gun and the inconvenience, expense and catastrophic consequences of missing service by fitting sealed bearings that require no service for 100,000 miles. Chris at Texas Customz (​979 778 0626) can do that for you. He can also fit an independent boondocking suspension to get rid of the axle.

I'm thinking of switching to oil lubed wheel bearings, but decided to wait until I have to replace the drums. The adapter for standard drums is not quite right. Oil lubed bearings in transmissions seem to last forever, and wheel bearings are the same thing. Maintenance is to remove a plug to drain the oil and pour in a small amount of new gear oil.

[CharlesinGA]

I'm in the hand pack camp. I have no desire to fill hubs with grease and risk it leaking into the brakes.

I put brand new Timken bearings and races and National seals in during early 2021 when I switched to 6 lug hubs and wheels. Being packed with a synthetic moly grease, I will probably not repack them until 2023 or 2024.

The worst thing to do to bearings is to have them sit and not be run.

With eez lube you use most of a tube of grease on a single hub, that can get expensive and serves no purpose.

As for sealed bearings, I have been lucky. I am on my second car with sealed bearings, plus the front of the RAM truck, and with 234K on the first car, and over 250K on this one, I have had no problems, but its a fairly lightweight car as opposed to a heavy trailer. The Unit bearings on the RAMS are somewhat noted for failure, but it has a front end that weighs 4K almost exactly and thats a lot of weight on a bearing. The truck is 19 years old and 104K miles so I keep listening for the first sign of a problem.

Charles

[mary and bob]

[QUOTE=floyd;839130]U-haul did that, using GM Citation rear sealed hubs. not all that great and now hard to find replacements.

In all the time we owned a Uhaul camper, and belonged to the Uhaul Facebook group, there was only one reported case of wheel bearing failure and the cause of it was questionable. I believe the original bearing hubs were made to Uhaul's spec but the later replacement ones they sold are probably the ones for GM cars as they have the ABS or speed sensors on them. I have two of the replacements that we didn't sell with the camper. Would sell them, but to cover shipping cost and recover a few dollars it would be cheaper for someone to buy a replacement locally. As for bearings running in oil, I never saw a bearing failure but plenty of seal failures that resulted in a real mess to clean up.

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by CharlesinGA

I'm in the hand pack camp.

It sounds like you've got the perfect process for you and your trailer.
I bet you're the guy who checks his hubs every stop, has no problems on the road and therefore has a wonderful stress-free camping experience.

With eez lube you use most of a tube of grease on a single hub, that can get expensive and serves no purpose.

I'm not sure I agree with this statement:
1) There's no where near enough space between the spindle and the hub to hold a lot of grease. Not a full tube that's for sure.
2) Two good grease seals which would be required if you hand-pack cost more than a full 14.5 Oz tube of quality grease.

Anyway, it's great to hear you have a process that keeps you running cool down the road.

[redbarron55]

You would be surprised as to how little grease it takes to grease a bearing. Actually all of the packing done to get it inside the rollers and so forth is pretty much wasted as the act the bearing going round and round pushes most of it right out.
Probably as many hubs and bearings are overheated and burned out due to over packing a bearing in it's housing. If full and if there is no place for the grease to get pushed the spinning bearing will churn the grease, heating it up and driving the oil out of the emulsifiers and clay, leaving no lube at all.
Just a small amount of grease actually lets the oil seep onto the races and actually lube the bearing. In the case of the EZ-Lube the same vent that lets the overflow out also provides pressure relief and lets the excess grease escape, not allowing for grease pressure to blow past the inner seal and onto the brake.
I have used the EZ-Lube on my FLexiride exclusively and have had no problems at all. I think that as long as you don't have them on a boat trailer and submerge them they will work just fine as advertised. I do find that after I have lubed them per instructions they will run slightly warm until the excess grease is pushed out.
By the way the dye in the grease will turn color long before the grease is "bad".
With many years if experience with greasing small, medium and large motors and pumps in an industrial application where we have temperature sensors fitted we see this every time the bearings are serviced. When we see a problem it is often due to over greasing and that may require a teardown to correct to clean the bearings and regrease.
On the EZ-Lube that rubber cover is not a complete seal and it will "flap" open to allow the excess to escape and you can look for that as well.

[Kathy & Doug Roach]

An epic post.
Sagas will be sung in campgrounds hither and yon of "Alan the Great, King of Grease".
Honestly, I've never read a more forthright rendering of this allegedly simple task that frustrates me yet nigh into my dotage.
Thank you.

[FlyGuy]

"Spin, push, pump three times."

Ah, there's the problem.

FOUR "pumps" is the "magic" number.......... (leg pull........)