Wheel bearing R &R

[BackofBeyond 221]

Like many Oliver owners, and forum lurkers - I repack my own wheel bearings, grease the chassis, and anything else that needs doing. Recently I did my wheel bearings, Dexter has a decent video on the topic if your so inclined, and I ended up replacing both sets on the left side of my Oliver. Once I clean them really well  - I do a close inspection to ensure they are good to go back on. I found some indication of damage - these are the bigger  inside bearings. 

If you look opposite the black dot- between the black lines you can see what I'm referring to. You cant see it, but where the indention is on the top side between the rollers is a polished spot, indicating it rubbed on the bearing race.  I'm not sure if they were manufactured this way, or if damaged during assembly.

I put new Timken's in their place. 

So perhaps some of the failings we have read about may have come about from this sort of longer term wear. These had 13K miles on them, the bearing cups/races looked fine.

Hope this is of interest to ya'll. 

RB

Edited March 13 by BackofBeyond
complee

[Geronimo John 37]

I have averaged about 8500 trailer miles for each of the past two years.  I do my own R&R as well and use the synthetic lubricant that John D. recommended a year or two ago.  My original bearings look good, and I just replaced the seals with Timken made (National) ones.  I have a spare set of bearings and seals on board just in case.  They were purchased from an authorized Timken distributor.  They were not inexpensive.....

All that said, at what mileage or age point is a bearing change recommended "just because"?

Thanks,

[John E Davies 476]

5 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

I have averaged about 8500 trailer miles for each of the past two years.  I do my own R&R as well and use the synthetic lubricant that John D. recommended a year or two ago.  My original bearings look good, and I just replaced the seals with Timken made (National) ones.  I have a spare set of bearings and seals on board just in case.  They were purchased from an authorized Timken distributor.  They were not inexpensive.....

All that said, at what mileage or age point is a bearing change recommended "just because"?

Thanks,

There is no guidance on a replacement interval. It is a judgement call by the tech or owner who does the job. I personally would want to trash the original cheaply made bearings by 15,000 miles. Mine are OEM and have been repacked once, and in my mind are are due now (12,000 miles). I have Timkens and good seals ready to go.

Once you have high quality parts installed, I would let them go indefinitely with regular visual inspection and lubing at about a 10k interval. I think it is really important to watch for signs of distress - play and overheating, grease leakage, funny noises - and be ready to act right away in case there is trouble. Having a seal leak and screw up one brake will ruin a trip. The brake may lock up, making it impossible to tow the trailer without adjusting the controller really low. Which makes it dangerous if your TV has marginal brakes.

Disc brakes have huge advantages over drum brakes in so many ways. The biggest one IMHO is that a failed seal will just dump grease outside the hub, not all over the brake mechanism. Once you contaminate one drum brake, they must be replaced in pairs. What a stupid design.....

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

Edited April 26 by John E Davies

[Geronimo John 37]

John D.

Very well said.  

Mahalo!