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Old 05-01-2018, 03:50 PM   #1
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Did the bearings and had a surprise.

I'm coming up on the one year mark so it's time to at least do an initial bearing job before we travel across the country.
Did the drivers side front and had grease on the back plate. Now I'm glad I never added grease to the hubs as the seal was leaking.
Cleaned up and greased the bearings and installed a new seal and adjusted the brake pads.
Pulled Drivers side rear. Surprise, it too had grease all over the back plate but the big surprise was no brake dust. Other than some mild rust the inside is clean as can be. I checked the connections to the magnet and they were fine. Then worked my way to the front brake wiring where the other side and the rear on this side split off. The hot wire was not connected so I stripped and re-spliced it. Now I have voltage running to it and the magnet grabs the drum. I finished today as it took awhile to remove and reinstall the loom on the brake wiring. Both drums were grease free on the passenger side and the brake pads and parts looked fine. It stopped fine with one brake missing and doing the 3000 mile adjustments gave no hint there was a problem with the brake. I guess I could have looked for a dirt road and tested but since it seemed fine never gave it a thought. I took it out for a test and it actually does not feel any different. But in wet or slippery conditions it may make a difference that I have all four brakes functional now. I took about a 50 mile test ride and checked hubs and drums for excessive heat and all are fine.
Now I'm ready to do around 8 thousand miles shortly.
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Old 05-01-2018, 04:25 PM   #2
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Dang, I'll be checking that stuff on our new one in June. Thanks.
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Old 05-01-2018, 04:48 PM   #3
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I'm in the habit of checking hub temps frequently while on a trip, hoping to be able to spot a non-functional (due to adjustment or electrical issue) or over-functional (dragging/binding) brake early on. I just look for consistent temps among the 4 wheels by shining the laser pointer of my IR thermometer on the lug nut surface (aluminum wheels), and through one of the holes in the wheels onto the brake drum itself. I also check the tire threads for consistent or out of wack temps. And I do the same thing on the tow vehicle as well. Before IR thermometers got so cheap, I used to hit the manual brake lever on my brake controller while on gravel and look at the skid marks. This worked ok on a single axle trailer, but wouldn't work so well with dual axles - needed an observer to see what each set (left and right) were really doing.
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Old 05-01-2018, 04:52 PM   #4
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I'm in the habit of checking hub temps frequently while on a trip, hoping to be able to spot a non-functional (due to adjustment or electrical issue) or over-functional (dragging/binding) brake early on. I just look for consistent temps among the 4 wheels by shining the laser pointer of my IR thermometer on the lug nut surface (aluminum wheels), and through one of the holes in the wheels onto the brake drum itself. I also check the tire threads for consistent or out of wack temps. And I do the same thing on the tow vehicle as well. Before IR thermometers got so cheap, I used to hit the manual brake lever on my brake controller while on gravel and look at the skid marks. This worked ok on a single axle trailer, but wouldn't work so well with dual axles - needed an observer to see what each set (left and right) were really doing.
We finally went hi tech and bought an ir thermometer. Once a long time back I made the mistake of feeling the brake drum on a trailer.
Not quite as bad as touching a catalytic converter but it will remove skin. So I just felt the hubs, if they all felt similar I was happy.
Now I can check the actual temperatures. Would have found the non functional brake right away with one of these.

And since the 2 axles serial numbers were sequential I suspect whoever did the drivers side at Dexter does not know how to install seals.
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Old 05-01-2018, 06:20 PM   #5
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This may be a dangerous question to post on a forum, but is there a consensus "best" IR thermostat make/model for taking such hub/tire temperature readings?
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Old 05-01-2018, 06:48 PM   #6
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I don't know about "best", but I do know that I bought this in 2012 and have been real happy with it, especially since at that time it was $58, and it's now almost $79. Uses a 9 volt battery, but the battery has lasted literally for years, spending 99.9999 percent of it's time waiting for me to pull the trigger. Comes with a nice zipper storage pouch, and the bright red laser spotting beam can be used for other fun activities too. I'm not too interested in and can't vouch for absolute accuracy, but I'm really more interested in spotting brake and tire and bearing readings where one of them deviates from the others.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:13 PM   #7
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We went with this. A couple people at work had this one while I was there to check for bad connections at weather heads and such. Seems to work OK and are just point and squeeze the trigger . Some of them have all sort of features. Features make it more complicated than I want. Seems to work OK, and gives the same reading if I aim it again at something so at least it is consistent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:17 PM   #8
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I don't know about "best", but I do know that I bought this in 2012 and have been real happy with it, especially since at that time it was $58, and it's now almost $79. ....
Thanks for the feedback! I'll check into it....
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:24 PM   #9
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We went with this. ...
Looks like another good one to consider.
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:24 PM   #10
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We went with this. A couple people at work had this one while I was there to check for bad connections at weather heads and such. Seems to work OK and are just point and squeeze the trigger . Some of them have all sort of features. Features make it more complicated than I want. Seems to work OK, and gives the same reading if I aim it again at something so at least it is consistent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Geez - I had no idea these had come down so much in price. Six years ago when I was shopping for one, there were very, very few on the market, and the one I got was the 'cheap one'. Now it looks like 20-30 bucks will get you there. No excuses now, guys.
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:44 PM   #11
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Geez - I had no idea these guys had come down so much in price. Six years ago when I was shopping for one, there were very, very few on the market, and the one I got was the 'cheap one'. Now it looks like 20-30 bucks will get you there. No excuses now, guys.

I remember this one real well as the company I worked for did not like you using stuff that had not been approved by the safety committee. These and the headsets that allow normal conversation until a gunshot were on most trucks. The headsets for when a fuse blew when you closed it. So I went with what I had seen a couple folks using to check the temperatures..
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Old 05-02-2018, 08:57 AM   #12
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It cost a little more but I always used Fluke had mine for 9 yrs n still going strong and accurate
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Old 05-02-2018, 02:23 PM   #13
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I've the same one as wetzk does, but have had it for years. Use it on all my trailers. Am somewhat compulsive about it.

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Old 05-03-2018, 01:12 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wetzk View Post
We went with this. A couple people at work had this one while I was there to check for bad connections at weather heads and such. Seems to work OK and are just point and squeeze the trigger . Some of them have all sort of features. Features make it more complicated than I want. Seems to work OK, and gives the same reading if I aim it again at something so at least it is consistent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5
I use this every Saturday night to check the temp of my pizza steel. If I set my convection oven at 500F it clicks off at 475F but it takes 30-45 minutes for the steel to reach 425F.
Then it is time to bake the pizzas. It has 2 lazers that converge to show you are exactly 14" from surface be measured. Here's the secret for perfect pizza:

High-Performance Baking Steel Stones for pizza

I recommend the 1/2" thick version.

Never thought of using the temperature device to check hub temps. I check my wife with it @ 92.4F.

I seem to quickly get off topic...
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Old 05-03-2018, 04:13 PM   #15
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And since the 2 axles serial numbers were sequential I suspect whoever did the drivers side at Dexter does not know how to install seals.
Both my seals were leaking ( Driver and passenger side) does that mean two workers don't know how to install seals?
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Old 05-03-2018, 06:51 PM   #16
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Both my seals were leaking ( Driver and passenger side) does that mean two workers don't know how to install seals?
You maybe you received a Monday 8:10 am or Friday 3:45 pm axle.
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Old 05-03-2018, 09:58 PM   #17
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Wednesdays

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You maybe you received a Monday 8:10 am or Friday 3:45 pm axle.
The old man always said when you buy your Cadillac make sure it was built on a Wednesday.
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