# Bearings



## GSJ (May 20, 2008)

Good evening all, I have looked around and can not find the bearing size for my 23RS...
Can anyone help.?(Thats a ritorical question) They have never been done , I think its time.
G.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I hold off on buying replacement bearings until I knew I needed them.

I took mine all apart last summer and everything was fine. I clean the bearings...inspected them (they were fine) then simply repacked them in new grease.

...of course I used an new cotter pin when I put the assembly back together, everyones Dad told us to "ALWAYS REPLACE THE COTTER PIN!!"


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## dgilmore12 (Mar 31, 2008)

My 03 26rs with AL-ko axles has these., the inner and outer are different.

Last year I redid mine and didn't have replacements. I broke a bearing taking the seal out. It took me a week to find one, so the Outback sat in the middle of the driveway all week until I could move it. I now have a spare set that I carry with me.

In addition to a cotter pin, you probably want to get new grease seals as well.


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Just did mine over the weekend and agree with everyone else, Buy new axle seals and cotter pins, reuse the bearings unless you find them bad. I used a 3 jaw slide hammer to remove the axle seal (grease seals) and a bearing/race press to put them back in. A solid piece of steel or the like will work just as well for the install.

You can rent these tools and any hardware store if you need too. I got my axle seals at camping world for $24 for the set of 4. I spent more money on brake cleaner than parts.

It took me the better part of the afternoon or about 4 hours start to finish, not a bad job at all.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

When the dealer told me that I probably needed to have my bearings repacked after 4 years of heavy towing, i decided it was allot easier just to purchase a new trailer...


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## swanny (Oct 31, 2007)

always inspect bearings and races first. if all looks good, repack. then do as previous posts said. New seals and cotter pins.
I would also clean all the old grease out of the hub.


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## russlg (Jul 21, 2008)

Just did mine as well, I replaced the grease seals and the cotter pins. if you are careful enough with the seal, you can read the number off of it and call your local auto parts store and probably save some $$ over an RV store. That is what I did. Be sure to thoroughly pack the bearings with grease. The ifrst thing we learned in auto shop way back when was how to manually pack bearings. One of the best things they ever taught me... If the bearings show no signs of over heating (blue streak marks or dark, blackish marks) and are free of scoring (heavy gouge lines in the actual part that "rolls") I would say repack.


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## DernMooseAK (Apr 16, 2004)

I need to replace a stud that I broke when changing the tires. My 21RS has the AL-KO axles with the easy lube hubs, do you just remove cotter pin and castle nut to remove brake drum?
Will the bearings stay put or will I be needing the tools mentioned above?


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Yes, that is how you remove the drum so you can have the stud replaced. The inner seal and bearing will stay put but care must be taken not to contaminate them.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

To remove the seal very easy.

Take out cotter pin and nut lock. Remove nut. Pull out outer bearing...

Put the nut back on using several turns.

Slowly pull drum to you till nut contacts inner bearing.. Nudge drum towards middle of trailer and give it a quick hard pull. When the drum comes off, it will leave the inner bearing and seal on the axle/spindle.

The nut is used as a puller for the seal this way.

You will never hurt an inner bearing doing this as the nut is not big enough to ding the bearing cage.. The nut will rest against the strong part of the bearing, which is the center part of the bearing that the rollers ride on..

I learned this in auto college in 1983 and have used this ever since..

Works great! No seal puller is needed..

In the event that a seal would need reused because of parts availability such as the side of the road. The seal will never be hurt or damaged if you use this method to remove the seal.

Carey


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> ...You will never hurt an inner bearing doing this as the nut is not big enough to ding the bearing cage.. I learned this in auto college in 1983 and have used this ever since..
> Carey


Funny, I learned this too while working at a tire & brake shop as a mechanic back in the 70's. It has worked well every time I have done this, except for.....the first time I tried it with the AL-KO drums on the Outback









Yup, destroyed the inner bearing. Maybe I lost my touch!?!?

I now have a shinny new inner bearing plus spares of both inner and outer in the camper.

Be careful


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

As I am planning on repacking my bearing prior to our trip to Florida next month, I have been doing a bit of research on the topic and I thought I'd share my findings.

The stamp in the tag around my axles indicate that they are Al-KO model number T35.

I found the owners Manual for my Al-KO axles here --> Owners Manual. If you scroll down to page 36 in the PDF file, you will find 10" hub / drum service replacement parts list and diagram.

I found a decent price of $15.15 (when you buy a kit for both axles) on a rebuild kit that includes all the parts needed to replace bearings and bearing parts here --> Bearing Kit

A this will be the fist time that I will be performing the maintenance, I found this video tutorial to be a helpful guide --> Tutorial

As I like to be prepared for the worse case scenario, I plan to head over to my local auto parts store to see if they offer the bearing rebuild kit. I also plan to purchase the inner seals separate. Hopefully I'll just be able to replace the seals and return the bearing kits. But either way, I should be all set.

I hope that someone can find this info useful.

EDIT: I noticed that Firefox does not like the link to the bearing kit as it believes it is an endless redirecting loop. Here is the actual page to copy / paste --> www.southwestwheel.com/store/p-183-bearing-kit-for-84-spindle.aspx


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

H2oSprayer said:


> As I am planning on repacking my bearing prior to our trip to Florida next month, I have been doing a bit of research on the topic and I thought I'd share my findings.
> 
> The stamp in the tag around my axles indicate that they are Al-KO model number T35.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the links. On my past trailers, I have always taken them to Camping World to have the bearing repacked... boy, after watching that video...I think I'll save me some money and do my own work.







looks quite easy... just need to find the time.


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## Rubrhammer (Nov 27, 2006)

Others have stated to inspect the bearings before you just go out and replace them. This is good advice. However, you may not know what to look for so here is a tip. Look for any discoloration on the rollers. This would indicate a heat cycle at some point which could have compromised the hardness of the rollers. Look for any scoring on the rollers or races. Now this is the hard one, the ends of the rollers have a radius on them. There should be a smooth transition from the rarius to the load surface of the rollers. When you run your finger from the end of the roller onto the shiny barrel of the roller if there is a sharp edge the bearing is worn. Replace the bearings if any of these conditions exist. If none are present just repack, replace the seals and go camping.
Bob


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## Northern Wind (Nov 21, 2006)

Oh ya and don't forget the ever popular missing rollers! my favorite for sure, last year when I went to repack mine I found every other roller missing on one of the bearings! Now just out of curiosity where do they go, same place as those socks in the dryer?

Steve


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## folsom_five (Jan 10, 2008)

Northern Wind said:


> Oh ya and don't forget the ever popular missing rollers! my favorite for sure, last year when I went to repack mine I found every other roller missing on one of the bearings! Now just out of curiosity where do they go, same place as those socks in the dryer?
> 
> Steve


Geez, they even have Gilligan manufacturing the bearings now? Only he could forget to add all the rollers.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

folsom_five said:


> Oh ya and don't forget the ever popular missing rollers! my favorite for sure, last year when I went to repack mine I found every other roller missing on one of the bearings! Now just out of curiosity where do they go, same place as those socks in the dryer?
> 
> Steve


Geez, they even have Gilligan manufacturing the bearings now? Only he could forget to add all the rollers.
[/quote]

Actually Lippert installs the axles and bearings/hubs previous to Keystone getting them.. Keystone just installs wheels and then builds a camper on top..

I will say they)Lippert) have similiar Gilligan type employees from a far away place south of the USA...

Expect anything..

Carey


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