Re-packing trailer bearings

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: jrmason
Look at the Dexter EZ Lube design and compare it to the Bearing Buddy and you will see the shortcomings of the Bearing Buddy.

Dexter EZ Lube
http://www.cerka.ca/catalog/EZLUBE.asp

Bearing Buddy

http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/pics/B/B/BB2047SS_aa_500.jpg


Dexters design incorporates the entire hub and channels grease to the inboard bearing first than back out to the outboard bearing. It can also be flushed. The Bearing Buddy is simply a cap that forces grease through the outboard bearing and deadheads at the inboard. Its OK, but certainly not the most efficient.


I Think if you have the ez-lube axle, you want to inject a bit slowly as to not rupture a seal. I pump grease slowly until i see newer grease exit. I am also spinning the wheel as i do this.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: jrmason
The advice of going 5 years between inspecting your equipment is pure [censored] and can cause a lot of damage to equipment not to mention unsafe. It should be based on a combination of time, mileage and usage that dictates your service. That's a very uneducated blanket statement. Basically they're giving the nod to the uneducated who read that that its OK to run 5 years without inspecting your bearings for play, pulling the brake drum to inspect brake linings and magnet conditions, etc. Its a recipe for disaster and you just proved why my friend sees so many failures with those things on the end of their hubs.
Thank you for validating my point.


I didn't validate your point.

 

[jrmason]

OK, go five years in my shoes at about 10k miles a year, many of those miles on muddy roads in the spring/fall and dusty roads in the summer and let me know how long you make it before your on the side of the road doing a bearing (if your lucky) Usually its an entire hub assembly if you've let it go that long. Not to mention the brakes will very likely have needed attention long before then as well.

5 years MAY be OK if you do a very limited amount of traveling and most if not all mileage on the pavement but even then I would not be comfortable going that route. After 2 years some of the grease in my hubs have begun to dry up from all the heat cycles. 5 years? No way.

CKN, curious if you even own a trailer. I would guess by your comments and views you dont. Not judging, but anybody who hauls frequently should be able to see right through the whole 5+ year recommendation statement.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: jrmason
OK, go five years in my shoes at about 10k miles a year, many of those miles on muddy roads in the spring/fall and dusty roads in the summer and let me know how long you make it before your on the side of the road doing a bearing (if your lucky) Usually its an entire hub assembly if you've let it go that long. Not to mention the brakes will very likely have needed attention long before then as well.

5 years MAY be OK if you do a very limited amount of traveling and most if not all mileage on the pavement but even then I would not be comfortable going that route. After 2 years some of the grease in my hubs have begun to dry up from all the heat cycles. 5 years? No way.

Since then there has been another 4,000 miles or so towing with trips to Las Vegas, and further North in Utah.

CKN, curious if you even own a trailer. I would guess by your comments and views you dont. Not judging, but anybody who hauls frequently should be able to see right through the whole 5+ year recommendation statement.



I not only own a trailer-I have towed it (two years ago) on a 8,000 mile trip all around the USA. That's from Utah through the SouthWest, then the South to Florida-up the East coast to Maine-and then back out to Utah via South Dakota. So I'm not a weekend tower and have a lot of experience towing. Yes, the hubs need to be inspected on a regular interval, but repacking is not needed.

The trailer has been towed another 4,000 miles since my return of the cross country trip.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: philipp10
I don't understand how everyone says the bearing buddy does not grease the inner bearing. The grease enters from the outer bearing, but the outer bearing has passages for the grease to travel. It can and will easily make its way to the inner bearing. I would not put an inner in dry, it needs to be packed but the bearing buddy will feed that bearing as you add grease.


I have had problems with overuse of grease when replenishing bearing buddies. If you get too much into the cavity in order to force the grease into the inboard bearing, it will also get forced past the seal, then you've got grease getting into the brake drum. This causes your brakes to lose effectiveness. I have had all four brakes on my trailer get contaminated with grease from overfilling of the bearing buddies. The Dexter system looks better to me at this point.

But it has a potential issue, too. Since it pumps grease from the inboard to the outboard bearing, whatever wear debris coming from the inboard bearing will eventually get pushed into the outboard bearing. In my experience, it is the outboard bearing that fails first anyway because it is the smaller of the two.

 

[philipp10]

Originally Posted By: jrmason
Look at the Dexter EZ Lube design and compare it to the Bearing Buddy and you will see the shortcomings of the Bearing Buddy.

Dexter EZ Lube
http://www.cerka.ca/catalog/EZLUBE.asp

Bearing Buddy

http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/pics/B/B/BB2047SS_aa_500.jpg


Dexters design incorporates the entire hub and channels grease to the inboard bearing first than back out to the outboard bearing. It can also be flushed. The Bearing Buddy is simply a cap that forces grease through the outboard bearing and deadheads at the inboard. Its OK, but certainly not the most efficient.


To me, the Dexter system looks superior as I can pump till I see clean grease. I have one other comment on re-packing bearings. Each time you do a disassemble and re-pack, you do take the chance that you will over-tighten or under-tighten the bearing pre-load. If you do, that alone could cause bearing failure. Something to be very careful with.

 

[jrmason]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: jrmason
OK, go five years in my shoes at about 10k miles a year, many of those miles on muddy roads in the spring/fall and dusty roads in the summer and let me know how long you make it before your on the side of the road doing a bearing (if your lucky) Usually its an entire hub assembly if you've let it go that long. Not to mention the brakes will very likely have needed attention long before then as well.

5 years MAY be OK if you do a very limited amount of traveling and most if not all mileage on the pavement but even then I would not be comfortable going that route. After 2 years some of the grease in my hubs have begun to dry up from all the heat cycles. 5 years? No way.

Since then there has been another 4,000 miles or so towing with trips to Las Vegas, and further North in Utah.

CKN, curious if you even own a trailer. I would guess by your comments and views you dont. Not judging, but anybody who hauls frequently should be able to see right through the whole 5+ year recommendation statement.



I not only own a trailer-I have towed it (two years ago) on a 8,000 mile trip all around the USA. That's from Utah through the SouthWest, then the South to Florida-up the East coast to Maine-and then back out to Utah via South Dakota. So I'm not a weekend tower and have a lot of experience towing. Yes, the hubs need to be inspected on a regular interval, but repacking is not needed.

The trailer has been towed another 4,000 miles since my return of the cross country trip.


Thats the whole point, to properly inspect brake axles the drum needs to come apart in order to check brake linings and such. I certainly would never think about going 5 years or 15k+ miles without pulling the drums on a vehicle for inspection, nor would I my trailer. It doesn't make sense to reinstall with old grease and risk contamination does it? Hence why a repack should be common sense more often than their recommendation.

 

[jrmason]

Originally Posted By: philipp10
Originally Posted By: jrmason
Look at the Dexter EZ Lube design and compare it to the Bearing Buddy and you will see the shortcomings of the Bearing Buddy.

Dexter EZ Lube
http://www.cerka.ca/catalog/EZLUBE.asp

Bearing Buddy

http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/pics/B/B/BB2047SS_aa_500.jpg


Dexters design incorporates the entire hub and channels grease to the inboard bearing first than back out to the outboard bearing. It can also be flushed. The Bearing Buddy is simply a cap that forces grease through the outboard bearing and deadheads at the inboard. Its OK, but certainly not the most efficient.


To me, the Dexter system looks superior as I can pump till I see clean grease. I have one other comment on re-packing bearings. Each time you do a disassemble and re-pack, you do take the chance that you will over-tighten or under-tighten the bearing pre-load. If you do, that alone could cause bearing failure. Something to be very careful with.


Yes, the EZ Lube is a superior design for the exact reasons you mentioned. And yet Dexter recommends inspecting and repacking every 12k miles or 12 months. A world apart from Bearing Buddy's 5 year no looksie plan.

The key to installing bearings properly is setting the preload according to your manual. Youll have no problems if you follow their recommendations.

 

[CKN]

Dexters 1 year or 12,000 mile recommendation is a CYA on their part.

 

[jrmason]

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: jrmason


Yes, the EZ Lube is a superior design for the exact reasons you mentioned. And yet Dexter recommends inspecting and repacking every 12k miles or 12 months. A world apart from Bearing Buddy's 5 year no looksie plan.

The key to installing bearings properly is setting the preload according to your manual. Youll have no problems if you follow their recommendations.


My TT is an 05 with the EZ lube axles, I probably have only about 5k on them.I have never pulled them apart. But i have greased them every year. I may go ahead and take them apart for inspection this year.
I agree the preload on bearings is not something most people know how to do. It was common for a lot of home mechanics in the 50's -70's but not today.

 

[Ken2]

Quote:

Thats the whole point, to properly inspect brake axles the drum needs to come apart in order to check brake linings and such. I certainly would never think about going 5 years or 15k+ miles without pulling the drums on a vehicle for inspection, nor would I my trailer. It doesn't make sense to reinstall with old grease and risk contamination does it? Hence why a repack should be common sense more often than their recommendation.

Exactly, and...

Everything on a travel trailer is as cheap and light duty as the manufacture can get away with. Undersized spindles and cheap Chinese bearings and seals. The trailers also are frequently overloaded--folks pack in as much stuff as they might want on a trip with no idea of weight limits...if the limits are actually prudent. The brakes sit for months, get rusty & sticky, then must work right to be safe. Does everyone know that most trailer brakes are electric with an electro magnet sliding along the inner face of the drum pulling the linkage to engage the shoes against the inner rim of the drum? If anything is rusty, or an electrical connection not good, it doesn't work well. Most trailer brakes are not self-adjusting, so they need to me manually adjusted periodically.

Pre-load or pre-loosen wheel bearing when installing them?

Pre-load?...you lose. Mr. Timken wants them pre-loosened to provide 0.001" to 0.007" of end play.
http://www.timken.com/EN-US/solutions/au...ent_English.pdf

Bearing Buddies or similar--I've seen plenty where the grease in the reservoir is new and clean, and the grease in the inner bearing is nasty. Grease does deteriorate in service from oxidation. Bearing Buddy type reservoirs are intended to add a supply of grease to the bearings so when warm hubs are dunked in a cold lake, the hubs suck in grease from the reservoirs, not water from the lake.

The EZ-Lube system and similar from other hub makers is OK, but keep in mind that a special seal is needed. The grease you pump in goes through the drilled passage, hits the seal, turns around, and moves back through the bearings to the relief port. If the grease is too cold and thick, or the grease pumped too fast, it'll leak past the seal and on to the brakes. Replacement requires this special seal, not an ordinary grease seal. The hubs still have to be pulled to check the brakes, anyway.

 

[jrmason]

Is that not proper preload? Too tight you burn them up, too loose you wear them out prematurely. Dont forget the initial torque while spinning the hub BEFORE you loosen the but to hand tight, then back off to the next castellation slot. My 7k axles call for initial torque of approximately 50ft lbs.

 

[Ken2]

The 50 ft-lbs is just to set the bearings into position and squeeze excess grease out of the way. It is totally backed off, then set again at 10 ft-lbs. Totally backed off again, and set with the pre-looseness--axial end play--of up to 7 thousandths. If I can wiggle the loose hub, it isn't pre-loaded. We can slice & dice the terminology any which way, but to many pre-load means tightened to a spec, which they ain't. I have pre-loaded Timken industrial bearings to the spec for that piece of machinery. Wheel bearings take their own spec.