Wheel Covers Uncovered

[lakewood90]

After recently returning from a 6500 mile trip in our Sunseeker 3010DS, I decided to take off the TST 507 Flow through sensors as part of the winter storage process and also to install new sensor batteries. These sensors can be installed and removed without removal of the wheel covers.

I decided to remove the wheel covers to make the process easier and the photo attached was what I found under the right front wheel cover. The MH is in now for replacement of the wheel bearing and thankfully, it is still under warranty, as it only has 9800 miles total on the odometer. I might add that I had removed the wheel covers prior to the trip to install the sensors and there was no sign of leakage.

The lesson for me is to remove the wheel covers more often and especially before and after trips. If I had not removed them, I would not have seen the problem until the bearings completely failed on the road somewhere.

[RamblerGuy]

That's an interesting failure. I've never seen grease coming past the dust cap. I've even seen bearings run for a long time with no dust cap and no grease escaped from the hub.

Please get a good description of the failure mode from the dealer and post it.

[lakewood90]

Got the Sunseeker back today and dealer couldn't explain it either. They thoroughly checked everything and couldn't find a source for the substance. I'm fine with that because the last thing I wanted was to have them replace a wheel bearing. They advised checking that wheel often to see if it happened again, and I had already decided to do that in the future. I hope the dealer is right and won't have any more problems.

[clutchd]

Did somebody put grease or oil on the threads of the studs or on the nuts? We see that alot at work, it's a normal thing when a little too much oil is used. Mainly done up here in the salt climate so the rim doesn't rust to the hub

[lakewood90]

To my knowledge, no one has had the opportunity to put oil or grease on the threads of this wheel. The source remains a mystery for now. Except for the factory, no one had ever serviced the wheels/tires on the MH. I picked it up at my dealer last November. That is the only wheel that had the problem.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll just keep a real close eye on it for the time being and will report it if it happens again. Hopefully, I won't have to do that.