Wheel Bearing Maintenance

I have posed the same question myself, and never received a convincing answer.

I feel the same towards any concerns I had too. It seems the axles manufacturers put out service info that adequately covers their butts, and would remove them from any legal actions should something happen. I see the same thing with so many things these days. I know structural very well, and am a Civil Engineering Technologist, so not a full engineer who can stamp plans, and see how much overkill is designed into simple residential structure. It more than adequately covers the engineers butt, but often costs us (and in the end the customer) a lot more money than needed.

In rereading that paragraph, it seems that I feel the is a lot of butts being covered. :D
Oh the joys of living in a litigious time. ::)
 
I feel the same towards any concerns I had too. It seems the axles manufacturers put out service info that adequately covers their butts, and would remove them from any legal actions should something happen. I see the same thing with so many things these days. I know structural very well, and am a Civil Engineering Technologist, so not a full engineer who can stamp plans, and see how much overkill is designed into simple residential structure. It more than adequately covers the engineers butt, but often costs us (and in the end the customer) a lot more money than needed.

In rereading that paragraph, it seems that I feel the is a lot of butts being covered. :D
Oh the joys of living in a litigious time. ::)


Helps RV shop owners make their boat payments...;)
 
...It more than adequately covers the engineers butt, but often costs us (and in the end the customer) a lot more money than needed.

In rereading that paragraph, it seems that I feel the is a lot of butts being covered. :D
Oh the joys of living in a litigious time. ::)

Hey I know from experience that in most cases you need to be conservative in a design, because there is usually someone who is going to use it for some application that was never intended. As for civil engineers covering their butts, mine is large enough that I have to be super conservative or else for sure something will be left exposed. ;D
 
I always figured it was a throwback to when trailers, pop-ups mostly, had those tiny little wheels, 12"?. Due to the small size they heated up much quicker and were more prone to going bad.

Of course I could be full of it too.

The size of the wheel and tire do make a difference. The bigger the wheel, the fewer revolutions are turned going the same distance.

Like any maintenance, it less expensive than damage to your RV.
 
The size of the wheel and tire do make a difference. The bigger the wheel, the fewer revolutions are turned going the same distance.
And even more important, the fewer revolutions per minute going the same speed (which could be what you are implying). Those old trailers with tiny tires were notorious for bearings failing.
 

Dexter's website says you still need to do "periodic" service, which I take it to mean you have to check the bearings yearly or every 10k as mentioned previously. What value "repacking" as mentioned in their video is between yearly servicing is anyone's guess.

I did mine per the video a couple years ago, and like Glenn also had grease ooze out and get on the tires and wheels up until I did a manual repacking a few months later.


Well now that ETI has been using the easy lube axles for awhile how have they been holding up, is lubing easy as they state or is there a mess for most people? Curious minds need to know.


Cheers
Doug
 
Well now that ETI has been using the easy lube axles for awhile how have they been holding up, is lubing easy as they state or is there a mess for most people? Curious minds need to know.
I would be interested, too... and I'm interested in how this feature is being used:
Do you change grease with the E-Z Lube fitting instead of doing the recommended maintenance? or
Do you change grease with the E-Z Lube fitting in addition to doing the recommended maintenance, thus changing the grease more often than recommended?
... or some other combination?

Do you flush all of the grease through as intended, or do you just "top up" the grease with a squirt?

I assume that as per Dexter Axle recommendations, E-Z Lube owners are flushing the grease with the E-Z Lube fitting after each time they immerse their Escape's hubs completely in water ;)
 
In theory, the E-Z Lube seems like a great idea. However, I was taught not to completely fill the hub with grease when repacking bearings. The E-Z Lube system "delivers" grease to the inner bearing. It would take a relatively huge volume of grease to fill the voids within the hub before grease being pumped in would be forced toward the outer bearing. So while it may sound good in theory, I personally believe it is best to repack bearings the old fashioned way, and by doing so, you can visually check the bearings as well as the brakes. Yes, it is more work, but it is done properly. Furthermore, immersion in water is not really a problem as grease is not water soluble and will remain on the rollers within the bearing. And if water can get in, it can also get out. However, immersion in salt water due to the corrosiveness of salt is problematic. Immersion is more of a problem with boat trailers. And honestly, if you use a good quality grease such as Lucas Red 'N Tacky, I have had no problems going 3 years/30,000 miles between packings on my various trailers with no detrimental effects. But as Donna D would say, YMMV.
 
We have our bearings repacked each fall ,then put our trailer up on blocks to get weight off of the axle
for winter storage . About once a month in the winter I manually rotate the tires .At a cost of only $34 to have the bearings repacked it seems like cheap insurance to me.
 
Hey I know from experience that in most cases you need to be conservative in a design, because there is usually someone who is going to use it for some application that was never intended. As for civil engineers covering their butts, mine is large enough that I have to be super conservative or else for sure something will be left exposed. ;D

When I went to trade school it was called overbuilt and under engineered.
 
Hey I know from experience that in most cases you need to be conservative in a design, because there is usually someone who is going to use it for some application that was never intended. As for civil engineers covering their butts, mine is large enough that I have to be super conservative or else for sure something will be left exposed. ;D

When I went to trade school it was called overbuilt and under engineered.

Believe it or not, building conservatism into a design cannot always be equated with an "under engineered" design. When a design is conservative, it does not mean that design work/thought or effort going into the design were any less than would be undertaken for a less conservative (i.e. aggressive) design. There may be a whole host of anticipated and unanticipated conditions that necessitate that conservatism.
 
... I was taught not to completely fill the hub with grease when repacking bearings. The E-Z Lube system "delivers" grease to the inner bearing. It would take a relatively huge volume of grease to fill the voids within the hub before grease being pumped in would be forced toward the outer bearing.
The E-Z Lube system does require filling the void between the bearings with grease, which is not needed or even beneficial for any other reason... and that does mean a grease flush via the E-Z Lube fitting requires more grease than a conventional repack.

On the other hand, I don't know if the wasted grease does any harm. I suppose if it expands too much with high temperatures it could ooze out of the bearings, but as long as that is into the cap (as it should be), it seems relatively harmless.

Immersion is more of a problem with boat trailers.
Yeah, that's what E-Z Lube is for.
 
Our Casita had the Dexter easy lube axles and there are many pages on their forum discussing it. Most don't seem to like it, or at least the most vocal ones don't like it!

I used the easy lube feature and didn't really have a problem with it as long as I could verify that grease was not going past the inner grease seal. I first pull off the tire and then remove the dust cap, not just the rubber cap. Very slowly turn the drum while adding grease. At about the 3 and 9 o'clock position at the back of the drum, you can use a bright flashlight and peek at that inner seal to make sure that no grease is getting by it. Cant do that with the tire on! Once grease starts coming out the outer bearing, its time to stop and clean up any excess grease and reassemble.

We took our Casita all the way to northeastern Montana and back last summer with no issues. The bearing hub was always very cool to the touch and never had any mess from excess grease.

I will probably continue to use this feature on our 5.0ta for couple of service events. I don't think that it is that bad as long as no grease gets past that inner seal. Bob
 
Believe it or not, building conservatism into a design cannot always be equated with an "under engineered" design. When a design is conservative, it does not mean that design work/thought or effort going into the design were any less than would be undertaken for a less conservative (i.e. aggressive) design. There may be a whole host of anticipated and unanticipated conditions that necessitate that conservatism.

I received a engineering book for Christmas one year that covered wood structures .
Many homes are built with lumber larger than necessary simply because the carpenter or home owner thought the
properly sized lumber just looked to small .
Thusly they were overbuilt and because no engineering was involved ,they were under engineered. When the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis , the failure was traced to undersized metal gusset plates holding the bridge up . The general contractor questioned the size of the gusset plates when building the bridge but his concerns were dismissed with the usual reply "I am an engineer are you ?" . I heard that same response from electrical engineers in my 40+ years in the trade . Many buildings are over built and under enginnered . Like in all fields there are good and bad,
 
Once grease starts coming out the outer bearing, its time to stop and clean up any excess grease and reassemble.
Bob, what are you trying to achieve?
  • If you want to change the grease, that's stopping too soon - as the Dexter video illustrates (using two colours of grease), you need to keep going until all the old grease is flushed out.
  • If you just want to ensure that the hub is fully packed with grease, this works... but like Carl, I don't see any point in keeping all the void space of the hub filled with grease.
 
Bob, what are you trying to achieve?
  • If you want to change the grease, that's stopping too soon - as the Dexter video illustrates (using two colours of grease), you need to keep going until all the old grease is flushed out.
  • If you just want to ensure that the hub is fully packed with grease, this works... but like Carl, I don't see any point in keeping all the void space of the hub filled with grease.

You are correct, allow me to clarify. I was servicing after a complete bearing inspection. I had already packed the bearings and could have very easily stopped there, just like the days before the easy lube showed up. The reason was that I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about and I knew that no harm would be done by doing so. Overkill, but I wanted to try it for myself.

If the bearings are just being lubed at the beginning of the season, you would continue to carefully pump until clean grease is coming out from the outer bearing.

Yes, there really is no reason to fill the hub with grease. But if one chooses to the use the easy lube feature, there is no getting around it.


Sorry for the confusion! Bob
 
I changed the axle on my Scamp a number of years ago, to the E-Z lube. Yes, it's just as easy as they say. And no, it doesn't just grease the front bearing, it starts filling from the back bearing. Take a look at this image. These are NOT the same as Bearing Buddies, which were invented for boat trailers. In all the reading I've done, I'd say 99% of the people who don't like E-Z lubes have never had them. They just don't trust the technology. I think really? This isn't a beta test. They've been around for years and Dexter wouldn't continue to manufacturer them if they were flawed.

E-Z_Lube.jpg

Obviously, if they're on your trailer you can use them as designed or not. Your choice. Frankly, I'm glad to have them.
 
1I just called a local rv garage and asked about repacking both sets of wheel bearings, $200/ouch. I then asked if they jack up the trailer which was answered affirmatively. I stated that my frame is foam covered, he said no issue they can raise with one wheel on blocks. Then he asked when was my inspection due, I said " what inspection, it's a new trailer". Well supposedly every trailer, including rv' s need a yearly inspection, cost is $40. But he says by getting the yearly inspection they inspect one wheel and can tell the condition of the bearings and most times they are okay for another year. So I'll spend $40 and hope the 5 year in use is in effect.
 

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