EZ Lube Gone Wrong

[Eddie Longest]

Recently bought a used trailer and on the way home I noticed the brakes were weak but the brake controller indicated good wiring. Caused by having single lip seals installed and maybe by pumping in too much grease. (Both sides). PO had a shop repack the bearings.
Eddie

[Steve Outlaw]

Got grease?

[Alex Adams]

Look at the bright side.... You'll never have to replace the brake pads ever!

[Raspy]

I don't like EZ Lube for the very problem you show.

It's much better, overall, to service the bearings in the traditional way.

Once you get grease on the shoes, they will glaze and become grabby, so if there is grease on them, it's best to replace them as part of this repair. And possibly the easiest way to do that is to just replace the entire backing plate assembly. Then everything is new, including the magnets. It seems like overkill, but the price can be nearly the same as just replacing the shoes, and it is pretty easy to do. It's also probably best to do both sides so the new shoes match in friction and remaining life.

Things can get complicated from a simple mistake. Repeated greasing, and adding too much, can cause problems.

[floyd]

A grease gun can produce as much as 3000# of pressure, easily enough to violate even a good and correct bearing seal.
When greasing EZ-Lubes, the wheel should be clear of the ground, pump slowly while rotating the wheel.
The hub can not be over filled since it is designed to vent into the dust cover.
It can be over pressured enough to get past the seal if done carelessly.
Especially with the inferior quality of commonly available seals.


Thank you Eddie for bringing this up, you may have saved some grief for other Fiberglas trailer owners!

[Donna D.]

Just shows you can pay a Pro and if they don't know what they're doing they can screw up.

[ZachO]

Pro needs to be in quotes. Anyone can screw up, but having just come from Les Schwab to get my tires rotated, I can tell you that very few of the employees working there could be considered "pros". Same with oil change places. Those people are not mechanics, and I never let someone like that touch my truck if I can help it. I try to tell myself you can't mess up a tire rotation too badly...

I prefer to even do that myself but without a garage, driveway or floor jack, it's just too much of a pain.

[Darral T.]

Spot-on Zach! That's also why wouldnt take my camper to a Camping World. Most of their "Techs" are on the same level as the "GIFFY LUBE" oil change places. I DO take my Toyota to the dealer. At LEAST you have a little more of a chance of winning a "fight" if they screw up....hopefully. Their oil change is a bit higher, but I agree about trying to jack one up etc. Been there and dont wanna do that. Yeah...I still begrudgingly change the oil in my mowers.

Originally Posted by ZachO

Pro needs to be in quotes. Anyone can screw up, but having just come from Les Schwab to get my tires rotated, I can tell you that very few of the employees working there could be considered "pros". Same with oil change places. Those people are not mechanics, and I never let someone like that touch my truck if I can help it. I try to tell myself you can't mess up a tire rotation too badly...

I prefer to even do that myself but without a garage, driveway or floor jack, it's just too much of a pain.

[Radar1]

I like to do my own, because I once worked at a shop balancing tires, packing bearings, etc, and I know that most of the people there had as much experience as I did when I started....none.

Eddie, another camper?

[Cliff Hotchkiss]

I recently repacked the bearings on my 5.0TA. Not because it needed it but because of all the hype published on the necessity of yearly repacking and every 12k towed etc. This includes the factory recommendations, both ETI and Dexter axles. What I found was 3 of the 4 wheels had grease that had leaked past the seals. The bearings where still totally well lubed with clean, looked brand new, grease. What happened here was not a failure of the seals but in IMHO, a lousy design that makes it all too easy to over lube the hubs. The grease inside the brake area was coated with brake dust, if you carefully ran your finger through the grease, it was clean underneath. The grease was there before the brake dust. It had to have happened on application not after use. The hubs where full and again IMHO with enough grease in each hub to pack 2 more bearings. I repacked all 8 bearings by hand, replaced with new seals (the exact same as OEM). In 10k miles I will pull the wheels again, if there is no leakage I’ll just put it back together and then check again in another 10 k. I believe a proper hand packed hub with bearings and wheels the size on a 5.0 will easily go 50 k before it needs to be repacked. That is unless you drove through axle deep water or mud.
This is not a recommendation or even a suggestion on how anyone should maintain their own trailer, just an observation and deduction. 😎

[Raspy]

Cliff,

I agree completely.

I have now settled on the idea that all wheel bearing should be serviced on new trailers as soon as you get the trailer. Then you know it is right and you have a good starting point for your service interval. Then check at 10-12,000 miles and see where you stand, and go from there. A 20,000 mile interval seems reasonable if all is well and you've done no deep water crossings. And by then the brakes will need to be adjusted anyway, and it will be time to look at the brake shoes.

[Perryb67]

Originally Posted by Cliff Hotchkiss

I recently repacked the bearings on my 5.0TA. Not because it needed it but because of all the hype published on the necessity of yearly repacking and every 12k towed etc. This includes the factory recommendations, both ETI and Dexter axles. What I found was 3 of the 4 wheels had grease that had leaked past the seals. The bearings where still totally well lubed with clean, looked brand new, grease. What happened here was not a failure of the seals but in IMHO, a lousy design that makes it all too easy to over lube the hubs. The grease inside the brake area was coated with brake dust, if you carefully ran your finger through the grease, it was clean underneath. The grease was there before the brake dust. It had to have happened on application not after use. The hubs where full and again IMHO with enough grease in each hub to pack 2 more bearings. I repacked all 8 bearings by hand, replaced with new seals (the exact same as OEM). In 10k miles I will pull the wheels again, if there is no leakage I’ll just put it back together and then check again in another 10 k. I believe a proper hand packed hub with bearings and wheels the size on a 5.0 will easily go 50 k before it needs to be repacked. That is unless you drove through axle deep water or mud.
This is not a recommendation or even a suggestion on how anyone should maintain their own trailer, just an observation and deduction. 😎

Where were you on the Escape Forum when I talked about this?


Enjoy,

Perry

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Cliff,

I agree completely.

I have now settled on the idea that all wheel bearing should be serviced on new trailers as soon as you get the trailer. Then you know it is right and you have a good starting point for your service interval. Then check at 10-12,000 miles and see where you stand, and go from there. A 20,000 mile interval seems reasonable if all is well and you've done no deep water crossings. And by then the brakes will need to be adjusted anyway, and it will be time to look at the brake shoes.

[Markz]

Originally Posted by Alex Adams

Look at the bright side.... You'll never have to replace the brake pads ever!

Always check, I mean double check that you have sufficient brake lube and runnion rods installed before vacation season.

[tractors1]

Duh, I just follow the Dexter instructions to the letter and have have never had a problem with EZ-Lube system over the last 3 trailers.

[Raz]

My trailer did not come with EZlube and I doubt I would use it if it did. Up until last year I have been putting 8k-10k miles a year on my trailer, so I followed the Dexter recommendation of yearly service. Every time I find the outer bearing pristine and the inner bearing with some contamination. I was using seals made by Tekonsha. I switched to etrailer specials a while back and found the contamination worse so I switched back. Over the years there has been talk of buying quality seals but no one ever says where to find them.

A big advantage to yearly service is inspecting the brakes. I often find the retainer clip that holds the magnet is missing and one year I found a wire had worked loose and the insulation was worn in one spot. Since adjustment simply determines how far the swing arm moves before brake contact, as long as the wheel spins freely, I've never found it that critical in terms of function.

Last year I only put 3k mile on the trailer and because of Covid I expect less this year, so the bearings will wait until next year.

[Cliff Hotchkiss]

Originally Posted by tractors1

Duh, I just follow the Dexter instructions to the letter and have have never had a problem with EZ-Lube system over the last 3 trailers.

🤔 It’s too bad whoever was working at Dexter the day they put mine together didn’t follow the instructions “to the letter “.
No big deal, couple hours work, 4 new seals, a little bit of grease and it’ll probably be good for another 50k miles. We’ll see.
By the way I watched a YouTube video where the guy was doing his EZ-lube axles. Think he went through almost 2 tubes of grease for each wheel. That’s probably 4 times the amount of grease necessary to hand pack. Just saying 😎

[Iowa Dave]

I buy all genuine Dexter parts and Timken bearings at a local heavy truck and trailer parts dealer in a town near where I live. They are called Midwest Wheel. I have dealt with them for 35 years. Their counter men are extremely thorough. They consult the huge, updated paper catalogs, make sure they have every number right by writing it down and won’t sell you something you don’t need.
I probably know of about 10 businesses like that in separate fields from Lumber to specialty hardware and locks to lawn care supplies and seed in my area. I will travel about 75 miles one way to get exactly what I want from my favorite shop. I get the stain for my house from a guy about 150 miles away. It’s not a waste of time and money for me.
Iowa Dave

[Perryb67]

Originally Posted by tractors1

Duh, I just follow the Dexter instructions to the letter and have have never had a problem with EZ-Lube system over the last 3 trailers.

My father smoked cigarettes all his life and never died of cancer.

I saw this problem on our Lance. According to my trailer guy he sees it far too often.

Perry

[k0wtz]

got lots of grease to spare!!