# Wheel Bearings



## knauby (Aug 16, 2012)

Are there guidelines, time and/or mileage, for when I should service the wheel bearings on my trailer. Is it as simple as using a grease gun to lubricate them? Thanks


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## MacTeam (Jul 27, 2008)

I do it every spring as part of the new season ritual.

Yes just pop off the centre cap and you'll see a rubber cover in the middle. Use a screwdriver to pop that out and you'll see the grease fitting. Use a good quality axle bearing grease but don't try to pump too much in, you don't want any getting on the brake shoes!

Be sure the rubber cover is seated back in place when you're done.


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## Kapnkirk (Mar 2, 2012)

knauby said:


> Are there guidelines, time and/or mileage, for when I should service the wheel bearings on my trailer. Is it as simple as using a grease gun to lubricate them? Thanks


Kauby

I will tell you what I do, But first I am betting the dexter or whoever axle manufacturer has a pamphlet in your trailers paperwork, next time I'm out there I'll look for mine.

Anyway, I usually give my axels a pump or two of good quality grease, I use Valvoline Durablend, every trip, and then once a year I remove the wheels, take the hubs off
and clean and inspect everything and put new seals in and repack the bearings with new grease, inspect and adjust your brakes while your there, usually takes me a half
day to complete all four, I do this with both my Outback and Boat trailer, my Utility trailer doesn't get the mileage of the other two so it is usually repacked every two years,
I have been performing this preventive maintenance on all my trailers for years now, never had a breakdown or problem, some say I do too much Preventive maintenance but I hate breaking down on the road and its what I do for a living, I'm a mechanic for the USPS and believe in preventive maintenance.

If I can help please let me know. Keith


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## MacTeam (Jul 27, 2008)

Can you tell us in more detail what is required to remove the hubs and replace the seals? Any pics? I've never taken the wheels off my unit.

What to look for/replace in terms of brakes.

Many thanks.


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

MacTeam said:


> Can you tell us in more detail what is required to remove the hubs and replace the seals? Any pics? I've never taken the wheels off my unit.
> 
> What to look for/replace in terms of brakes.
> 
> Many thanks.


Professor Google lead me to the Youtube video showing a bearing repack. RV Bearing







Keep those rubber gloves handy but I must admit I use my bare hands for the repack. Messy but I get to feel the bearing surfaces better.

Drive safe and enjoy the journey.


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## knauby (Aug 16, 2012)

Kapnkirk said:


> Are there guidelines, time and/or mileage, for when I should service the wheel bearings on my trailer. Is it as simple as using a grease gun to lubricate them? Thanks


Kauby

I will tell you what I do, But first I am betting the dexter or whoever axle manufacturer has a pamphlet in your trailers paperwork, next time I'm out there I'll look for mine.

Anyway, I usually give my axels a pump or two of good quality grease, I use Valvoline Durablend, every trip, and then once a year I remove the wheels, take the hubs off
and clean and inspect everything and put new seals in and repack the bearings with new grease, inspect and adjust your brakes while your there, usually takes me a half
day to complete all four, I do this with both my Outback and Boat trailer, my Utility trailer doesn't get the mileage of the other two so it is usually repacked every two years,
I have been performing this preventive maintenance on all my trailers for years now, never had a breakdown or problem, some say I do too much Preventive maintenance but I hate breaking down on the road and its what I do for a living, I'm a mechanic for the USPS and believe in preventive maintenance.

If I can help please let me know. Keith
[/quote]

Keith, thanks for the information. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the amount of information that came with my trailer. I've been through the owners manual a couple of times and they have supplied such limited information. I don't know if the dealer forgot to supply me some paperwork or not.

While I"m not a mechanic, I am a capable "handyman" and try to do my own PM if possible. Without good guidelines I'm kinda lost.


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

Woodalls

"Woodalls RV Owners Handbook: The Complete, Illustrated Guide to Preventive Maintenance" is one source of solid information on RV maintenance. I actually think that the Outbackers forum is an exceptional way to learn how to do things and when to do them. Travel trailer handbooks are pretty much useless. The manufacturers books are good for specific fixes. I found a lot of links for Woodalls and also many other TT forums.










The biggest thing I have found that hinders my efforts.... I don't always know the right question to ask or even the question in the first place.







Sounds like life to me!


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## Kapnkirk (Mar 2, 2012)

MacTeam said:


> Can you tell us in more detail what is required to remove the hubs and replace the seals? Any pics? I've never taken the wheels off my unit.
> 
> What to look for/replace in terms of brakes.
> 
> Many thanks.


I would rather just invite you over to show you, or come over and help you out, for a mechanic it is VERY EASY but very hard to explain, I looked at U-Tube and followed Ledecks link but to be perfectly honest I did not find anyone that I would recommend, usually you can find a good example on Utube but I didn't this time, each one I looked at had bad examples or poor practices I can't recommend. I was thinking next time I do my TT or my sons I will have him video and post it the way it should be done. But I am not due till June next year on my Outback and my Sons we just did cause he just purchased it used and I helped him get it up to date.

Let me try and make a easy explanation without the video or pictures, but bare with me If I get long.

1. Gather the tools- Jack to raise trailer, jack stand or wood blocks to support it when raised (no trusting jack completely)
- Lug wrench to remove lug nuts, rubber mallet to remove dust cover, side cutters(dikes) to remove cotter pin
- crescent wrench to loosen nut if necessary(shouldn't be that tight but), seal removal tool or punch and hammer
- Rags, paper towels, something to kneel on, kerosine, grease and seals screwdriver, needle nose pliers, new Grease.
2. Start
- loosen lug nuts about half to one turn, raise axle and place jack stand under axle, I usually leave jack there.
- Remove wheel, use rubber mallet to remove dust cover, or a screwdriver and hammer to get it off, all mine the Mallet works
if you hit one side, turn hub hit again driving away from hub, turn again and hit it and repeat till it works off.
- Remove cotter pin with side cutters/dikes, some trailers have a bendable tab washer but most cotter pin
- Unscrew nut counter clockwise, should be just hand tight.
- Now just pull hub off and you will have a washer/bearing come out from the outer side.
- remove as much grease as possible with the paper towels and avoid getting grease on brake shoes.
- remove grease seal inside of hub, I use a seal removal tool but you can use what ever you have available
I have used a punch to put a hole and pry it out, or a large screwdriver to pry it out, even use a crow bar sometimes,
but any way you do it try and not damage the inner bearing, this is actually the hardest part of the whole op.
- with seal removed now you can get inner bearing out, clean both bearings, nut and washer in the kerosine and
dry with compressed air or rags, clean out the hub with kerosine too but try and not get a lot inside(makes cleaning easier)
- Now inspect the bearings and races inside of hub, shouldn't be any scratches, gouges or discolered metal, a little wear
is normal but probably will be good to repack. Make a note of bearing numbers on bearing just for future reference, I
purchase an extra set to have on hand, you have to make a trip to auto parts store anyway to get a new seal so just get 
5 seals and a set of bearings and you will aways have a spare. Take old seal with you clean and they can get the right one.
3. the Brake
-Now you have new seals, clean bearings, clean hub, now clean the brake assembly, I use compressed air and blow all the
dust off, take caution here it will get dirty, don't want to breath it in, get it on your clean parts, but the compressed air will
make short work of it, and then inspect the break assembly, wear,damage, wiring etc. Check adjustment on install. Clean the
axle spindle with kerosine on a rag and dry with clean rags, be stingy with kerosine, just clean and dry. After clean pump some
new grease through spindle lube fitting to ensure only new grease is in spindle and wipe off all old grease that comes out.

4. Repack
-Okay now finally the repack, take about a 1/2 cup of new grease in left hand palm, and bearing in right and force bearing into
left hand pushing new grease into bearing (this is really easy to do but hard to explain LOL), force bearing thru grease till it
comes up thru bearing then move bearing to new area and repeat till the whole bearing it packed, then turn it over and do
the same until you have it packed with only new grease in it. Repeat for the other bearing and place the two on a clean paper
towell. Now place about a half cup of grease on inner bearing race inside hub and coat the entire race area, be careful to keep
the grease inside the hub, and place the repacked inner bearing into the hub and now install the new seal into hub, I like to use
a large socket the same size as the seal metal portion, but you can use a bolt and hammer, large punch or anything similar, just
drive the new seal into the hub a little at a time and try and not bend the seal, strike the rubber mating surface or otherwise damage it,
takes a little patience and practice but you will get it.
5. Install
- Install Hub with repacked inner bearing and new seal installed onto clean axle spindle and then place another half cup of
grease into outer race area inside hub, install packed outer bearing, clean washer and nut. Screw the nut on till stops, now this is
where you can torque it if wrench available, or do like I do, just tighten by hand, and use crescent wrench or adjustable wrench or
socket and wrench to tighten while turning hub clockwise, then when you are sure it is bottomed out or all the way on the spindle
loosen nut a turn and spin hub then tighten by hand while spinning hub in clockwise direction, hand tight is usually all I do and find
a cotter pin hole that lines up, after you find one place a new cotter pin in and attempt to move the hub in and out to make sure it
is seated all the way in, spin the hub by hand and it should move easily, but not in and out. This is a personal preference thing with
a lot of mechanics, and I'm sure Dexter and the rest have a torque value but I quit torquing a long time ago, when I used to torque
with a torque wrench they always seemed to get too tight, and then on next removal I had trouble either getting it off or a lot of wear.
Now that it is tight and cotter pinned pump some more grease into the lube fitting, just 6-12 pumps to make sure the grease is going
in and you have filled the cavity a little, not necessary to completely fill the hub like I would do for a boat trailer. Install dust cover and plug.

6. Brake
This is where you can adjust brake before you install tire/wheel assembly. I would use the manufacturers instructions if possible. If not
the brake adjustment is another chapter, This got longer than I thought and need to rest the typing hand for a bit.

7. The End
Reinstall the tire/wheel assembly, tighten the lug nuts and torque to the manufacturers torque ( I do use torque wrench here), you will have to let
the wheel/tire assembly down a little to just hit the ground so you can torque to value, then after torque let the jack all the way down. After
about 50 miles retorque the wheels to spec again, especially if aluminum wheels.

That was a lot of typing and I hope it made sense, if I can get a video or pic's together I will someday, but hope this helps, if your ever in or near Jacksonville Florida just give me a holler, I like to help and can show anyone easier than typing it out, its really not that bad a job, just a few tools and a few hours you can do it. If it is too intimidating look for a good RV dealer and ask questions and get references, not all dealers are the same, saw one charge a friend $300 for a repack and all they did was take the dust cover off and pump some grease in, never even took the wheel off the ground, I taught that friend how to do it properly so he would never be taken again, not all dealers practice such low as that but it does happen, ask them exactly what they are gonna do. Only real way is above procedure, and they can't do that for free.

Keith Please excuse some of the spelling, Apple rewrites questionable words like break for brake.


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

This is an exceptional write up. Thanks for taking the time to compile and write it down. However, I disagree with using compressed air to blow the dust off the brake parts. Better to use a liquid spray brake cleaner to avoid throwing asbestos into the air.









Have to change mine here pretty soon. Several long trips under us on the original bearings. I'm pretty anal about putting new grease in before every long trip (I have the easy lube) and checking the wheel temp at every stop. Thus far, I haven't had a single failure, but I know I'm due. Like you, I'd much rather do my maintenance at the house vs. on the side of the road.


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## Kapnkirk (Mar 2, 2012)

Justman

Thanks for the post, and you are very correct about the compressed air, you know I just knew asbestos had been gone, but you were correct, it is still used in some brake shoe products, I stand corrected and appreciate you noting that, I am a USPS building mechanic and we have successfully removed almost all of the asbestos in and around our buildings, I just assumed it wasn't being used any more, but was wrong.

Thanks Again, Keith


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