Bearings packed-frequency

jimmyfulltime · 05-06-2018, 11:52 AM

We have a 36CK2 Cedar Creek, 40 footer. How frequently is it advised to get out wheel bearings greased/packed? I had a tech at Camping World tell me 15,000-20,000 miles.

Can anyone tell me if this is a safe distance to go before repacking?

Jimmy

donniedu · 05-06-2018, 12:17 PM

Generally speaking repack should occur once a year regardless of milage.
But, dont you have ezlube bearings?

NMWildcat · 05-06-2018, 12:22 PM

You will get as many answers as you have responders

I have no idea how many miles we put on our RV , and don't really want to keep track of it! We use our rig frequently, so I do my bearings once a year. Period. While I am at it, I also check the entire suspension, the underneath, and adjust/inspect the brakes. My time and labor is cheap, and I don't have to worry about a failure on the road due to untimely maintenance.

jimmyfulltime · 05-06-2018, 12:34 PM

Thanks ... I'm a little leery because we had a Jayco and they smoked and burned driving home one day after just 5,000 miles. We fulltime, and have been from Texas to Louisiana, to Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. I'm still under 10,000 at this point. It may be a different kind of bearing than what Jayco had that burned on me.

keith52 · 05-06-2018, 12:40 PM

According to Dexter Service Manual, every 12 months or 12,000 miles

dieselguy · 05-06-2018, 01:05 PM

I'd say it depends on your RV lifestyle. If you fulltime and travel a lot ... probably each year. For the rest of us who don't put a whole lot of miles on the RV ... every couple of years or so has worked for us since 1998. As for the infamous "EZ Lube" I as many others flat don't care for the invention. If you ask an RV tec what his top 5 repair jobs are ... replacing brakes due to grease caused by the EZ lube procedure will be amongst them. There have been countless argument for and against it on about any RV forum so I'll just leave this subject at that.

rsdata · 05-06-2018, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Thanks ... I'm a little leery because we had a Jayco and they smoked and burned driving home one day after just 5,000 miles.

Many on here have reported that their bearings either burned up quickly or when they checked new trailer the bearings were dry... perhaps that was your Jayco problem...

I have never packed mine in roughly 12,000 miles in 4 years, but I do pump a little into the EZ-Lube fitting each year (according to the video from Dexter on how to do it correctly) and I have pulled the drums and checked that the axles were adequately greased just now starting my 5th year... I may have been lucky that my new bearings weren't dry, but then again I did put a few pumps of grease in before my first trailer trip.

Crusadernoob · 05-06-2018, 01:32 PM

I was brave and used the EZ-Lube fittings the first year we bought our camper, slowly pumping grease while rotating the wheels on a warm summer day, I would estimate in the 4 years of use we put 10-12k miles on it, maybe even more, 5,200 on one trip. I repacked them by hand earlier this year and had very slight grease seepage on one wheel and all the bearings looked great.

Sahall · 05-06-2018, 03:37 PM

I am curious... I can see repacking the bearings on a newer trailer because you don't know if they came packed correctly, but after that, why so often? 100,000 miles on a TV isn't much these days and they usually never have their bearings repacked.

Just asking...

NMWildcat · 05-06-2018, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sahall

I am curious... I can see repacking the bearings on a newer trailer because you don't know if they came packed correctly, but after that, why so often? 100,000 miles on a TV isn't much these days and they usually never have their bearings repacked.

Just asking...

Completely different bearing setup. Auto bearings are sealed, trailers are not.

Too Tall · 05-16-2018, 12:45 PM

Personal opinion and I know this will generate some flake but here goes.

I've had many, many Easylube trailers and have yet to pull the bearings. A grease gun does a lot better and cleaner job of lubing the bearing than hand packing. I check for wear by jacking it up, rotating it, listen to it like a tire whisperer, grabbing the top of the tire and checking for excessive movement, (a little is ok). I check the rear seal for leakage. I go another year.

IMO, the only reason to pull a wheel is to check the brakes if you do the above once a year.

Just my opinion.

BigLou80 · 05-23-2018, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Too Tall

Personal opinion and I know this will generate some flake but here goes.

I've had many, many Easylube trailers and have yet to pull the bearings. A grease gun does a lot better and cleaner job of lubing the bearing than hand packing. I check for wear by jacking it up, rotating it, listen to it like a tire whisperer, grabbing the top of the tire and checking for excessive movement, (a little is ok). I check the rear seal for leakage. I go another year.

IMO, the only reason to pull a wheel is to check the brakes if you do the above once a year.

Just my opinion.

Agree completelyand that's more or less exactly what I do

Both my tool trailer and my camper have EZ lube axles my tool trailer ( 8000lbs) easily sees 10-15K or more of movement a year ( I wish my camper saw that) and all I do is give it a pump or so of grease twice a year.

keegantimber · 05-23-2018, 08:00 AM

I too have had easy lube axles on trailers for years. And I have used the feature. The only issue I see is the hub needs to be completely full of grease which in my opinion is too much grease. Some grease turns oily and the more grease the more oil too seep past the seal.
When you use a grease gun the new grease enters the back side of the hub at the large bearing. Theoretically one should push the old grease out with the new. Now the old grease is in between the inner bearing and the outer bearing. If this cavity is full of air the air will push grease out of the smaller outer bearing around the grease nipple and washer.
If the cavity was previously packed with new grease, the new grease will be pushed into the outer bearing forcing the old grease out. Depending on how many pumps or times the bearings are serviced, eventually the old grease from the large bearing will be pushed to the smaller outer bearing which brings me back to too much grease in the hub.
Just my humble opinion.

donanddona · 05-23-2018, 08:48 AM

Looking at it from a engineering view point; The size of trailer wheel bearings(WB) vs the weight that they carry. My trailer WB are very small, about half the size of my trucks. My 5r is three time as heavy as my trucks. Lubing the trailer bearing can not be over rated.

Travel distance is important. Monitoring the wheel bearing temp is important. Theirs a lot to be said about open and inspect. Yes, easy lube is a good thing, just spin the tire while injecting the grease and easy does it. I like to replace my bearings every third year but I put about 10k every year.

I helped a friend replace his bearings, brakes, backing plate, and Hub once.

67L48 · 05-23-2018, 08:57 AM

I do mine every 2-3 years. We camp about 5-7 times per year, which puts around 1,200 -1,600 miles on the trailer. For that type of use, I think annually would be overkill.

When I do it, I hand pack the front bearing and I EZ-Lube the rear bearing ... because I can't be bothered with seals and such. Light duty hand grease gun, very slow, warm weather, spinning wheel constantly.

Good luck.

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