Today was the day!

[csevel]

Today was the day I got to do the fun messy job of replacing the China Bomb wheel bearings/seals on the ILOVHER on over to USA made Timkens.  This was quite the all day project as we also changed out the shocks and lubed the EZ Flex suspension.  We beat the rain by a mere ten minutes!  My only experience prior to this, was replacing entire preloaded hubs and manual brakes on my Casita which was easy compared to this.  After figuring out the best way to jack the side of the trailer up. (Yes, we used multiple floor jacks, and safety jacks stands, chocks and wood cribbing all while being attached to my truck)  All I can say is, Thank God my son was here to teach me and to remove the seals in those hubs!  (His father owns an excavating company so he knows a bit about trailers/brakes) There is no way on Gods green earth I would have been able to remove them by myself.  We had a puller and they would not budge.   I think they were permatex'd in there.   He somehow was able to use his strength, ingenuity and multiple tools to get them out without scoring.  Here are some observations and or questions we had:

1.  My son thinks that the shocks look too large for the application.  We used the exact replacement that Oliver uses (Monroe 555025) He says they're nearly all the way compressed with the way the suspension sits and that is why potentially two of them were blown.   His opinion is that they'd do more if they were just a bit smaller.  I have no idea or opinion but it was the one job I was able to complete by myself so I'm good with it.

2.  It was quite the surprise to see that the axle spindle did not have the Dexter EZ lube feature.  My understanding is that this was not an option on an LE2 in 2017?   I did not know this and bought new grease caps with the rubber insert.   As much as I learned today, this was sort of disconcerting.  Even my Casita had EZ lube axle and it was a 2007.   I greased my bearings every year and it made it easy.  All those great suspension features like shocks and a EZ Flex but no way to easily grease bearings??  What gives?  I sort of dread doing this again.

3.  What's with grease guns?  OMG..I wanted to throw and shoot them with a real rifle like skeet.  I used two separate guns and they both were being unruly and messy.  I could have bought stock today in rubber gloves and shop towels! LOL

4.  Bearing grease packer seemed like a great idea.  Who knew you'd have to use all 200# of human body weight to press down in order for the thing to squeeze grease into the bearings?

4.  I took the advice on the forum and replaced a few zerks with 90s and 45s and used plastic cap covers but OMG.. crawling under the trailer is not for the faint of heart or my elderly bones!  I think I want/need a creeper.

5.  Thank God for Harbor Freight!  I now have all kinds of fun new cheap tools, like impact driver and a torque wrench which I properly learned how to use!  I now can afford to go to the Rally.

6.  The Nev-r-Adjust Brakes  looked good but I think I'm going to go with manual brakes next time.  I don't feel confident about what I learned about them today and how they actually DO need adjustment.  We greased the important parts with a good brake grease.  At least we didn't find any loose parts. springs or worn pads floating about.

7.  Found four cracked lug nuts.  Son says the sheath on the outside is cracked and I should consider solid replacements.   Any recommendations?

8.  Beer never tasted so good.

Thank you for all of the forum help I've received, without you guys, I'd be dead in the water.

See y'all safely at the Rally !

 

 

[Frank C]

I found several lug nuts with the cracked stainless clad cover (see pic) when I did my wheel bearing service recently.  So I replaced all of my lug nuts with Gorilla lug nuts from Summit Racing.   So far they’ve worked great.  

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gor-41187htb

 

[MobileJoy]

There is more info on replacement lug nuts in this thread:

 

[Mike and Carol]

It’s a messy job!  A creeper is an essential tool for us elderly mechanics.  I need to check my lug nuts when I pick up the trailer for the rally next week.  Mike

[topgun2]

10 hours ago, csevel said:

2.  It was quite the surprise to see that the axle spindle did not have the Dexter EZ lube feature.  My understanding is that this was not an option on an LE2 in 2017?   I did not know this and bought new grease caps with the rubber insert.   As much as I learned today, this was sort of disconcerting.  Even my Casita had EZ lube axle and it was a 2007.   I greased my bearings every year and it made it easy.  All those great suspension features like shocks and a EZ Flex but no way to easily grease bearings??  What gives?  I sort of dread doing this again.

There are a bunch of "pro's and con's" concerning the EZ Lube feature.  Bottom line is - yes - there is no easy way to properly grease bearings and that certainly includes the EZ Lube.  Once you know how to do the job - it really isn't very difficult.  BUT - it is always very messy! 

10 hours ago, csevel said:

4.  I took the advice on the forum and replaced a few zerks with 90s and 45s and used plastic cap covers but OMG.. crawling under the trailer is not for the faint of heart or my elderly bones!  I think I want/need a creeper.

One can grease those zerks without jacking up the camper at all - at least if one is your size 😇.  It is a little tight and you have to learn to move like a snake, but, knowing that the camper isn't going to fall on you helps a bunch with the "peace of mind".

10 hours ago, csevel said:

4.  Bearing grease packer seemed like a great idea.  Who knew you'd have to use all 200# of human body weight to press down in order for the thing to squeeze grease into the bearings?

No easy way of getting the grease COMPLETELY in and around all of those little bearings.  I still use the tried and true hand packing method.  Once you get past the idea of how long its going to take to get your hands degreased, its not so bad.  Besides, for the next day or so your hands will be soooooo soft and smooth (assuming that you're not wearing gloves).

10 hours ago, csevel said:

8.  Beer never tasted so good.

Yep!

I've always felt that now that you know how these things work and how the job is supposed to be done you are in a much better position to know when and/or if things are not "right" - " the way that they should be".  Knowledge is a great thing - it is a shame that sometimes it is so difficult/messy to earn/learn.  You should take great pride in the fact that you tackled this job and now "know".  In the immortal words of "Ice", "you (Topgun) can be my wingman anytime".

Bill

[johnwen]

Hi Csevel,

You remind me of me, lol.  I seem to use every tool I own to get a project done.  I might as well empty my tool bag on a blanket next to me, it saves a lot of up and down time 🙂 Hope to see you at the rally, safe travels.

[Rivernerd]

9 hours ago, csevel said:

3.  What's with grease guns?  OMG..I wanted to throw and shoot them with a real rifle like skeet.  I used two separate guns and they both were being unruly and messy.  I could have bought stock today in rubber gloves and shop towels! LOL

I found grease guns messy and frustrating too, until I bought a Lock-N-Lube spring-loaded grease gun tip.  Expensive, but worth it for me when greasing about 30 zerks on my small tractor.

https://locknlube.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgcmI1PjK9wIVTsLCBB1yzA0JEAAYASAAEgJIGPD_BwE

 

[connor77]

Good for you for tackling this work!  I will swap out the bearings on my trailer in the not too distant future and you (and FrankC) have inspired me 🙂

I dislike most of the grease guns in the marketplace so I did a bunch of research and bought this kit.  It's a really well made gun (made in Germany, not China) and doesn't leak.  The only disadvantage to LubeShuttle is you must buy their grease but it is very high quality and they have a full synthetic (KH150) if you want to avoid a lithium based grease.  I bought some of the LubeShuttle empty tubes and filled them up with Red Line CV2 grease.  That was fun.  🙄

https://store.advancedenginetech.com/collections/greasing-kits/products/lube-shuttle®-travel-trailer-greasing-kit

I also recommend getting a longer hose (30") from LocknLube so that your grease gun isn't dangling in the air if you need both hands to put the coupler on the zerk.  As RiverNerd mentioned, get the LocknLube coupler.  You'll never go back to a conventional one after using the locknlube product even with the 45's and 90's you've installed. 

I got a few of the accessories from this page and the 30" hose.

https://locknlube.com/collections/greasing-accessories

You may want to consider a good creeper if you're going to continue to work on your trailer yourself.

https://www.griotsgarage.com/cadillac-of-creepers/?sku=38912&code=PPCPLG&adlclid=ADL-9f22e23e-58b7-4742-aea5-e4b8f85474d2

Safe travels to the rally!

 

[Landrover]

4 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

I found grease guns messy and frustrating too, until I bought a Lock-N-Lube spring-loaded grease gun tip.  Expensive, but worth it for me when greasing about 30 zerks on my small tractor.

https://locknlube.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgcmI1PjK9wIVTsLCBB1yzA0JEAAYASAAEgJIGPD_BwE

 

I’ll add to that lock n lube  another expensive tool  dewalt battery operated greese gun matching the two on your first use. No more 🤬🤯🥵 worth every penny. 

[Imelda]

Congrats to you for taking on something this complex. I try to do most of the repairs and maintenance myself  but I couldn't crease wheel bearings. Fortunately I live in North Texas Horse Country with lots of trailer here so there are some good reputable places I can bring my Oliver to for service like this. 

[jdmmtx]

On 5/7/2022 at 12:43 PM, Imelda said:

Congrats to you for taking on something this complex. I try to do most of the repairs and maintenance myself  but I couldn't crease wheel bearings. Fortunately I live in North Texas Horse Country with lots of trailer here so there are some good reputable places I can bring my Oliver to for service like this. 

Imelda, is there someone you've used that you would recommend? We are also in N TX.

[Geronimo John]

CSE

Congrats on the new knowlledge you have gained.   Some RoF (Retired Ole Fart) tips:  

Do any under trailer work or axle work only with your Ollie attached to your TV.   Just make sure no body drives off with you under it. 

Some of us raise our OEII's high and then jack stand/crib them.  Doing so allow you more space under.

However, when you have your OEII so elevated and attached, grease the zerks when the tires are off and you are doing the wheel bearings.  No need for creepers and creeking joints from under trailer efforts.

 I also use a bucket to sit on and that saves even more soreness.

GJ

[Imelda]

On 9/21/2022 at 1:46 PM, jdmmtx said:

Imelda, is there someone you've used that you would recommend? We are also in N TX.

Sorry for my late response. I haven't been on the forum for a while. I try to do most of the repairs myself but I am lucky that I have horse friends with horse trailers living close to me that are really good at doing trailer maintain and DIYs so I have been getting them to do the hard manual stuff like the greasing wheel bearings etc. for me. I have heard some horror stories about using the RV repair places in I35 north of Denton with long wait times and shoddy work.