# 11,000 Miles On Trailer



## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

After 11,000 miles on the trailer including a cross country trip the first year of ownership, it was time to repack the bearings. One note, I never pumped 'extra' grease into the fitting. None is supposed to leak out, so why would I need to add more.

RF wheel, removed drum, found primary shoe down to metal, sec shoe half worn. replaced brakes, repacked bearings

RR wheel, removed drum, found one wire from the magnet was damaged and broken, wheel seal leaked. Brakes were saturated in grease but with broken wire, the brake was not working anyway. No leaking grease ever was visible outside of the backing plate so I was unable to see leak earlier. repaired wire, replaced brake shoes and repacked bearings.

LR wheel, removed drum, found both wires from magnet cut inside drum, which meant brake lining perfect because this brake never activated. repaired wires, replaced shoes anyway, repacked bearings.

LF wheel. removed drum, found everything normal, replaced shoes and repacked bearings.

I found all 4 wheels well packed full of grease from the factory, if I had tried to pump more greae in, it probably would have forced the seals to leak from overpacking. 
Not happy that I found neither brakes on the rear axle had ever been working. I pulled this trailer cross country including Int 70 in Colorado and only one axle was slowing over 9000 lbs. No wonder, I had to replace the brakes on my dually sooner that I thought was normal. Heading to Myrtle Beach on July 8, it will be interesting to see the difference in braking with 4 wheels braking.


----------



## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

Makes one think it would be worth taking a look at the brakes, sooner rather than later. Mine is one year old, and I've been trying to decide whether to pull the drums and inspect the brakes and repack the bearings, or give one squirt of grease to each wheel and call it a day. Everything seems to be working fine, so I've been leaning towards the easy answer. Hmmm.


----------



## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

tdvffjohn said:


> After 11,000 miles on the trailer including a cross country trip the first year of ownership, it was time to repack the bearings. One note, I never pumped 'extra' grease into the fitting. None is supposed to leak out, so why would I need to add more.
> 
> RF wheel, removed drum, found primary shoe down to metal, sec shoe half worn. replaced brakes, repacked bearings
> 
> ...


This experience shows the annual bearing re-seal/grease packing is not necessary, but the brake inspection is a must.


----------



## mommy2boyz (Feb 3, 2010)

OK I'm sure I'm not going to get the terminology exactly right here, but we just dropped off our new-ish 250RS to be inspected/serviced just in time before our 1-year warranty was up, and they told us that our bearings were shot and have to be replaced. My husband didn't understand why they would be in such bad shape after less than a year of ownership with only about 10 trips out...the service guy is saying that it probably has something to do with the poor quality coming from the manufacturer. We're hoping this does not become a yearly requirement.....


----------



## Japam (Nov 11, 2009)

Workmanship wwould be my guess rather than quality of materials. If the spindle nuts are tightend too much it compresses the tapered outer bearings into the outer race and results in high friction at the outer and inner bearings resulting heat breakdown of the grease and bearing failure. I should think this would be covered under workmanship within your waranty period, provided the bearings were never serviced by anyone prior to this event. Hope this helps you.


----------



## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I had my axles and brakes serviced for the first time last fall (about a year ago). I estimated that we had approximately 10,000 miles on the trailer over a four year period, so it was due. The independent service center that I took the trailer to said that all four wheel bearings looked very good, so they simply cleaned and repacked all four. No grease leaking out - and I give the hubs a couple squirts of grease at the beginning of each season. All four brakes were worn evenly, but they were still in good shape. They just cleaned everything up and made a couple of mechanical adjustments.

And as a side note, the original "Duro" tires on my trailer are still in good shape after five seasons. No checking or cracking on the sidewalls or in the tread. I have to say that I've had very good luck with Duro tires on this trailer and on two sets (in 8 years) on my previous trailer. I do, however, keep my tires off the ground and on wooden boards during the winter months and I keep the tires covered all year long, when I'm not camping or towing.

Mike


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

mommy2boyz said:


> OK I'm sure I'm not going to get the terminology exactly right here, but we just dropped off our new-ish 250RS to be inspected/serviced just in time before our 1-year warranty was up, and they told us that our bearings were shot and have to be replaced. My husband didn't understand why they would be in such bad shape after less than a year of ownership with only about 10 trips out...the service guy is saying that it probably has something to do with the poor quality coming from the manufacturer. We're hoping this does not become a yearly requirement.....


If this is not warranty then odds are it is a scam for easy money. Dexter does a good job on new build and to have all four be bad would be against all odds. Did mine this summer and all were in great shape after 15,000 miles. I replaced only the seals, repacked the bearings and did another 7,000 miles this year.

Had they said one was bad or even two I could almost believe them but four, no way.


----------

