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Old 09-12-2018, 03:20 PM   #1
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Grease gun dexter ez lube axle

OK so I am trying to use a grease gun, Performance tools W54204, on my Dexter EZ lube axle. It doesn't seem to click on to the zerk. When I pump the grease it appears to not enter the axle, but instead go around the zerk. What am I doing wrong?
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Old 09-12-2018, 03:24 PM   #2
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Push harder.
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Old 09-12-2018, 03:26 PM   #3
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LOL Like how hard? Will I feel it click and hold? Also, how will it detach?
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Old 09-12-2018, 03:44 PM   #4
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LOL Like how hard? Will I feel it click and hold? Also, how will it detach?
You will feel it click. Bend it down to unhook it.
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Old 09-12-2018, 03:49 PM   #5
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I'm not familiar with your grease gun but I've used a lot of different ones on my farm equipment and vehicles over the years. Sometimes they are a bear to push on a zerk, especially when new. Just make sure it's lined up and push until it clicks on. When they are that tight, they might take some serious wiggling and pulling to get off as well.

That being said, that's not the best way to grease axle bearings (in my opinion). For one thing, I have heard of lots of people putting an entire tube of grease into one spindle (and I've seen some people recommend doing it that way). That is completely filling that spindle cavity with grease which can cause overheating. The best way is to raise the wheel off the ground, remove the wheel, hub and bearings. Clean the bearings of old grease and re-pack them with fresh grease by hand. It only takes a little while and once a year is usually plenty, even if you travel a lot.

Make sure you seat the bearings and snug the spindle nut properly when putting it all back together. I tighten the nut until barely tight and then back off an eighth of a turn.
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:11 PM   #6
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I'm not familiar with your grease gun but I've used a lot of different ones on my farm equipment and vehicles over the years. Sometimes they are a bear to push on a zerk, especially when new. Just make sure it's lined up and push until it clicks on. When they are that tight, they might take some serious wiggling and pulling to get off as well.

That being said, that's not the best way to grease axle bearings (in my opinion). For one thing, I have heard of lots of people putting an entire tube of grease into one spindle (and I've seen some people recommend doing it that way). That is completely filling that spindle cavity with grease which can cause overheating. The best way is to raise the wheel off the ground, remove the wheel, hub and bearings. Clean the bearings of old grease and re-pack them with fresh grease by hand. It only takes a little while and once a year is usually plenty, even if you travel a lot.

Make sure you seat the bearings and snug the spindle nut properly when putting it all back together. I tighten the nut until barely tight and then back off an eighth of a turn.

Can't say i've ever heard that filling the entire cavity causes over heating . if the cavity stays empty it won't take long for the grease in the bearing to be spun out and bearing failure will be close behind . using the zerks between full packing of bearings is fine but you need to jack up the wheel and spin it while putting in grease .
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:13 PM   #7
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Some couplings require a lot of pressure to get them to click on the zerk, so as said above, push harder!
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:19 PM   #8
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Some grease guns have a coupling type connection that requires you to pull back on the connection to get it to go on or off.
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:21 PM   #9
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Can't say i've ever heard that filling the entire cavity causes over heating . if the cavity stays empty it won't take long for the grease in the bearing to be spun out and bearing failure will be close behind . using the zerks between full packing of bearings is fine but you need to jack up the wheel and spin it while putting in grease .
An overpacked grease cavity "may" overheat. Saw this plenty of times over the years when someone thought that "more grease" would cool down a bearing that was trending too warm.

Absolutely not true that bearing grease will spin out of bearings in a cavity that is not full. If they were prone to that, they would leave the factory full. There are many thousands of trailers on the road with only a factory pack of grease in the bearings that never get another shot.
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:32 PM   #10
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Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I wasn't pushing it on hard enough.
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Old 09-12-2018, 04:40 PM   #11
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An overpacked grease cavity "may" overheat. Saw this plenty of times over the years when someone thought that "more grease" would cool down a bearing that was trending too warm.

Absolutely not true that bearing grease will spin out of bearings in a cavity that is not full. If they were prone to that, they would leave the factory full. There are many thousands of trailers on the road with only a factory pack of grease in the bearings that never get another shot.
Like a said never heard of it never experienced it . I have replaced burned up bearing on units that were less the a couple months old . guess the factory grease didn't work out so well . on new units that are done correctly they are full of grease . i will agree to disagree with you
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Old 09-12-2018, 05:09 PM   #12
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An overpacked grease cavity "may" overheat. Saw this plenty of times over the years when someone thought that "more grease" would cool down a bearing that was trending too warm.

Absolutely not true that bearing grease will spin out of bearings in a cavity that is not full. If they were prone to that, they would leave the factory full. There are many thousands of trailers on the road with only a factory pack of grease in the bearings that never get another shot.

I don't think I can agree with saying a full hub of grease will cause overheating either... I'd like to see some documented evidence on that claim. You are correct that a fully packed bearing *may* overheat, but it won't be because there is too much grease... unless the bearing is running at extremely high speeds-- like 10,000+rpm. That is an entirely different situation than what we have with wheel bearings on any street legal road vehicle, and under those conditions, NLGI 1 or 2 lithium grease likely would not be the specified lubricant.



In your example of adding more grease to a hot bearing, I would speculate that the bearing probably was hot in the first place because (1.) it was adjusted/set too tight; or (2.) it was about to fail (for numerous possible reasons).



I've been around too much machinery that uses fully grease packed bearings/spindles to agree with your argument, sorry.
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Old 09-12-2018, 05:11 PM   #13
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Tapered roller bearings in an automotive/trailer application will not overheat if the hub is filled with grease. The same bearings are rated for much higher RPMs than a trailer would ever see. In a high RPM environment like rollers in a factory, that might be an issue. On a trailer, will never happen. The max RPM of a 14" trailer tire is around 800 RPM @ 60MPH. That is WAY less than what those bearings are designed for.

99% of the heat that a hub experiences is not caused by the friction of the bearings but the heat of both brakes and the heat of the tires themselves dissipating into the hub.

For boat trailers, hubs that use Bearing Buddys are full of grease by design.
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Old 09-12-2018, 09:13 PM   #14
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To get additional grease to the outside bearing will only happen when the cavity is filled, thus usually defeating the seal causing greasy brakes. E Z Lube is not the way to go. Remove and repack about every 10,000 miles with quality grease and a new seal.
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Old 09-12-2018, 10:01 PM   #15
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I'd suggest not using the "Not so EZ … EZ Lube". Just hand pack every couple of years unless you put a boat load of miles on your unit. Thousands of trailer brake hubs roll down the road each day without a full hub cavity of grease … and they will roll down the road tomorrow and so on. Research the EZ lube option … you'll find a few loyal users, but you'll find at least 10 not so happy owners for each of the loyal followers. Ask a tech at any RV dealership what the top 5 issues he sees come across his daily routine. I guarantee grease soaked brakes cause by EZ lube users will be in those top 5.
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Old 09-12-2018, 10:03 PM   #16
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I have never seen bearings "sling" grease out of the bearing. The race prevents that from happening.

OTOH, I've never seen any harm from filling a hub with grease - as long as grease was pressed into the cage and onto the rollers. And there's not extra pressure on the rear seal.

I prefer to just pack the bearings by hand and put a grease film on the races. I also put a light film on the spindle and inside of the hub to prevent corrosion. I do not enjoy cleaning out a hub full of old grease.

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Old 09-12-2018, 10:07 PM   #17
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The key to successfully greasing EZ Lube axles without blowing the seals is to use a manual grease gun, and pump the grease in S-L-O-W-L-Y. If you pump fast, pressure builds between the seal and the inside bearing, and with the seal being the weakest link, it gets hydraulically pushed out of the hub, or the seal lip lifts and allows the grease to escape. You have to pump slowly and give the grease time to pass through the inside (and outside, once the hub is filled with grease) bearings without building too much pressure and pushing the seal out.


I also have to admit, that I've NEVER jacked up an axle to spin the wheel while adding grease... I just don't see where that is necessary, and haven't had any bearing problems on any of my trailers whatsoever.



I've got 4 trailers now with the camper with EZ Lube axles, for a total of 7 EZ Lube axles, and haven't had a seal blow out yet in over 10 years since I got the first trailer with the EZ Lube axles.
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Old 09-13-2018, 11:17 AM   #18
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another case of engineer's who design the ez lube not knowing what there doing . cause if you use it you will fill the cavity and cause problems . NOT .lol
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Old 09-13-2018, 11:25 AM   #19
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another case of engineer's who design the ez lube not knowing what there doing . cause if you use it you will fill the cavity and cause problems . NOT .lol
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Old 09-13-2018, 11:34 AM   #20
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