Packing Wheel Bearings, DIY?

[olderthandirt]

I recently had my LE2 wheel bearings repacked by a local RV repair shop. The technician let me know that while the bearings and seals were in great shape, the grease itself was beginning to turn black. My LE2 had slightly less than 6k miles of use - all from 2016, when they were repacked. For those folks who are recent Ollie owners, Oliver's recommendation to repack every 6k seems very solid.

[Mike and Carol]

Interesting.  We picked up last May and have done about 12,000 miles since.  Getting ready to do another 4,ooo starting next week through June.  I'll get mine repacked as soon as we return.  Mike

[rideandfly]

Repacked bearings & installed new seals last week. Probably have about 12,000 miles on the Ollie, so far. The brakes were in good shape, bearings & races/cups were in good condition, and original seals were not leaking.

 

Towed the Ollie about 1000 miles this week without any issues.

[DavidS]

This may be a dumb question, but why should I worry about re-packing wheel bearings?  I have owned cars for 45 yeaers and I never recall needing work on wheel bearings on a car.  Are trailer wheels different or under greater stress or carry greater weight?

 

Thamks.

[ScubaRx]

The wheel bearings on modern passenger vehicles are sealed and completely different from the ones in our trailers.  These are like the bearings of automobiles and trucks of the 50's and earlier.  They have to be repacked  periodically.  Somebody stated that Oliver suggests every 6000 miles.  I'm not sure where that figure came from, but if I follow it, I'll probably have to repack my bearings about twice during this next trip!!!!  I believe a lot of the data for bearing care is taken from the boat trailer industry where it is really necessary to routinely inspect and service your bearings due to their regular immersion in water, with salt being the most caustic.  I would like to try to repack mine once a year but I just got around to it about a month ago when I placed new bearings during my new disc brake install.  The old bearings were 3 years old but still looked fine. (That doesn't mean they necessarily were.)

[bugeyedriver]

Never Lube Bearings? Not....So....Fast....Moosebreath.

 

I spoke to the Dexter Axle guru at the Ollie rally and inquired about the newfangled "Never Lube" bearing products on the market. He stated the "Never Lube" concept is for those folks with trailers who may take them out several times a year to a campground relatively close home. In this case, their need for maintenance would be very minimal, virtually making it a never-lube proposition.

 

After asking him how that would apply to a guy like me, who takes his trailer out for 10,000 to 15,000 miles a year, he said that, in all honesty, the never lube bearings still need inspections and might need a major repair/replacement somewhere around 40,000 miles.

 

So I figure I'll stick with my ten year old protocol of getting them inspected and repacked or replaced annually before I head out on a big wander.

 

How about you?

 

 

[rideandfly]

This link shows how to identify which Dexter axle you have installed on Ollie:

 

http://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/light-duty-axle-identificationed9a809d2ba463c18d7aff64007a4014.pdf?sfvrsn=0

 

Called Dexter with axle lot serial number on Ollie, they emailed a PDF build list document for Oliver with component descriptions and part numbers.

[Rumline]

Never Lube Bearings? Not….So….Fast….Moosebreath.

I spoke to the Dexter Axle guru at the Ollie rally and inquired about the newfangled “Never Lube” bearing products on the market.

Sounds like the "lifetime fill" transmission fluid in my Jeep. The dealer won't change it, saying it's "good for life".  :: rolls eyes ::  Yeah, good for the life of the transmission.  Thankfully, ZF, the manufacturer of the transmission, doesn't toe the FCA marketing line and says the fluid should be changed every 75k miles.