Wheel Bearing question

[Davidg]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

1 i don't think grease expansion plays a part in this and have never had issue with such . temps should not get to hot and if they do you may have other issues .
2 on grease compatibility don't think there's an issue there either
this is all imo

You may be correct and I've spent some time thinking about the expansion thing over the years. I carry a high quality infrared thermometer with me. Whenever I stop, I'll shoot the tires, and wheels close to the hubs, mostly to see if any one wheel/tire is hotter than the others. When we have left the house on cool days of around 40 degrees F, and then drive through a few hills and stop, the tire temps will be in the 125 F range, and the hubs a few degrees warmer. Now those temps are not worrisome to me, but it is a 300% increase in temp. I should probably check to see what the coefficient of expansion is for wheel bearing grease, but it's probably pretty low, so I tend to agree with your statement, but I'm still a little more comfortable by not packing the hub cavity full. Given the right temps, grease will flow.

As to grease compatibility, I've never had an issue, but when I pull hubs to repack, I'll remove all of the old grease and discard. Especially on vehicles. I have a Scag zero turn lawnmower and they strongly state to not mix grease for the blade spindles, but those things are spinning around 18,000 rpm which is a little faster than vehicle wheels...lol Does anyone know the rpm of a 16" trailer tire at 65 mph?

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Davidg

...Does anyone know the rpm of a 16" trailer tire at 65 mph?

Need tire size and then it can be calculated.

[The Big Toe]

[northstar1960]

a 225/75/16 will go 712 revs per miles . you can get this info at tire rack
now on the heat thing i'll wager that weather it's 40 out or 80 out the temp will stay right at about your 125 . so your 300% increase is a bit over board . otherwise at 80 ambient temp you'd have hubs running at 240 . and we know that's not the case . when ever i tow my hubs have never been anything but warm to the touch

[Davidg]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

a 225/75/16 will go 712 revs per miles . you can get this info at tire rack
now on the heat thing i'll wager that weather it's 40 out or 80 out the temp will stay right at about your 125 . so your 300% increase is a bit over board . otherwise at 80 ambient temp you'd have hubs running at 240 . and we know that's not the case . when ever i tow my hubs have never been anything but warm to the touch

Valid point, and I agree. Because even when the ambient is in the 80's or 90's, my tire/hub temps are still only around 135 +/-. I don't think I've ever seen them over 137.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by mx411

Any advice on greasing the wheel bearings would be appreciated. I have a 2016 29HFS i purchased back in october. I remember reading something about it northstar posted but cant find it. Something about spinning the wheels as you add the grease slowly. Thanks

Unless you have a problem there is no need to grease the wheel bearings of a 2016 for a couple years after purchase of the trailer unless you pull it all over the country.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Unless you have a problem there is no need to grease the wheel bearings of a 2016 for a couple years after purchase of the trailer unless you pull it all over the country.

I disagree, the factory is remiss at lubrication of the wheel bearings. I'd pull them and re-pack before going very far, like over 100 miles. ()

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

I disagree, the factory is remiss at lubrication of the wheel bearings. I'd pull them and re-pack before going very far, like over 100 miles. ()

We can agree to disagree.......More people that have never repacked bearings cause more harm than good by improperly repacking them and /or plain not knowing how to do it. Just my opinion . Seen it all too many times.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

We can agree to disagree.......More people that have never repacked bearings cause more harm than good by improperly repacking them and /or plain not knowing how to do it. Just my opinion . Seen it all too many times.

The 2 FR trailers I bought new were lucky to have enough grease in them to make it from the dealer's lot. Was lucky they made it from Goshen to Concord. They certainly were not lubed per Dexter manual even coming from the Dexter factory direct to FR. Just my own experience. Better be safe than sorry with a burnt spindle in the middle of nowhere. A couple of tubes of Red N Tacky is much cheaper than a new axle.

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

I disagree, the factory is remiss at lubrication of the wheel bearings. I'd pull them and re-pack before going very far, like over 100 miles. ()

Agreed . they not only miss lubrication but never set the bearings . seems the dealers are supposed to do that but i know they don't

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Unless you have a problem there is no need to grease the wheel bearings of a 2016 for a couple years after purchase of the trailer unless you pull it all over the country.

I would have to disagree also . none of this gets done correctly not at LCI , Or Dexter and most diffidently not at the factory , seems they only come with a bit of pre assembly lube . otherwise it wouldn't take two cartridges of grease to fill them

[Davidg]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

I would have to disagree also . none of this gets done correctly not at LCI , Or Dexter and most diffidently not at the factory , seems they only come with a bit of pre assembly lube . otherwise it wouldn't take two cartridges of grease to fill them

Awe come'on now....we all know that the dealers will see to it these things are taken care of. Because we all know the dealers are more interested in our product satisfaction than their bank accounts..right?