Switching trailer hub oil to grease

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Hello.I have a 40 foot gooseneck with 2 10k axles that are oil bath.I run Mobil 1 80w90 in them.Problem is that the seal blows out on them every 20-30k miles ruining the shoes and sometimes the magnet as well.Dexter shoes are $100,magnet $63,and seal $29 so it adds up since I run 1500-2000 miles a week.I had one blow out completely a couple years ago and saw the smoke in my rear view mirror so I pulled over immediately and the bearings were toast as well as the hub.

Everyone that does hotshot hauling recommends that I repack the bearings with grease so that when the seals fail it doesn't take the shoes out as well.The guys I know run them cross country doing a lot more miles than me and only add a few squirts of grease if one hub is getting hotter and repack once a year.No failures that way.

What would be the best grease for this? Called ConocoPhillips and they said semi fluid,but wouldn't that still leak into the shoes?
 
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I have 10K Dexter's on my gooseneck.......Check that the fill plugs have vent holes in them. Every time I buy a new fill plugs I have to drill a hole in them.

There are too many axles out there that use Oil Bath Hubs successfully for the only solution to be packing the bearings with grease.
 
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I do check them and actually use a razor to cut through them when new.The majority don't run near as many miles as I do and other hotshot haulers do.The ones that do recommend going to grease.
 
Go synthetic, aluminum complex and its waterproof. We use this grease as our main grease at work. Nice and creamy and refined. Doesn't sweat out like Mobil1 and isn't all grainy like Valvoline's grease that looks so grainy, like bad cookie dough and un-refined. Like the guys at Schaeffer's said....I can make lituim grease in 1.5 hours, this grease takes use 3 days to make. We buy it in a 3 case lot and get it for $4.00 a tube thru the local Scheafer's rep. There is a review on Amson that says it separates and leaves a puddle, we have never seen this and we have some guns that have the same cartridge for a year with zero separation. The guy must be in the Mojave Desert with a magnifine glass on the tube.

That's were aluminum complex shines, the base oil goes back into the grease base and doesn't leach out when not in use, so your grease doesn't get all dried out with use.

https://www.amazon.com/Schaeffer-Manufacturing-02742-029S-Synthetic-Grease/dp/B00JF2LBQ6

https://www.schaefferoil.com/274-synthetic-grease.html

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Originally Posted by CT8
How is the sealing surfaces on the axles?

Yep. There is a reason the seals are failing. They don't "blow." They wear out for some good reason. If you can find the reason, fix it. Or use grease. Either will work well. We've all run car & truck front wheel bearings with grease for years. I've run industrial bearings with grease for years. I had some spherical roller bearings on a 200 hp 1750 rpm fan shaft that ran cooler with grease than with oil.

There is no magically good grease. All the greases mentioned will work very well, and more besides. Schaeffer is the pick of the litter. The main thing is to not over fill the bearings. Over filled cause the grease to churn, get overheated, the grease fails, then the bearings fail. The old story about more bearings failing from too much grease than from too little remains true.
 
I think you will get a 100 different recommendations for which type or brand of grease to use but do your regular once a year repack and top up once in a while any NLGI GC-LB will be good. GC is for bearings and LB is chassis but most are both. Some people will also talk about bearings and Moly some say no some say yes. The vavoline grease above was a ford spec for wheel bearings with moly to fix a bearing problem with disc brakes and temp and load so what can you say. We use Delo ep number 2 or Lucas grease's and haven't had any problems. Most bearing problems are from lack of maintenance but you have a plan so stay with it.
 
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