Grease for wet bolts

[ependydad]

Ok, I bought a little mini grease gun and a 3 pack of grease. The 2 things that I’m aware of that I need to grease with some regularity is my hitch and the wet bolts on my shackles.

I’m thinking I’d use the green grease tube in this case given the writing on it. Any thoughts?

I believe it’s a Dexter equalizer + leafs and LCI hangers.

[ependydad]

Now that it’s daytime, hopefully someone has input.

[MillMitch]

I'm curious, what are you greasing on the leafs and hangers?

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by MillMitch

I'm curious, what are you greasing on the leafs and hangers?

The bolts through the shackles (I think I have those terms right) are greaseable. It helps to keep from wallowing out the holes.

You can see the grease zerk in the pictures.

At least, that's what I've read and been told. On my old rig, I had many miles and 5 years on it when I broke leaf spring. The auto tech grabbed the whole thing and shook it back and forth. He said that was a result of not greasing them and suggested that I get that all replaced and start greasing it regularly. I replaced it ALL with a new rig. But now need to start greasing it.

[Jeffjeeptj]

Yes, use the green tubes of grease. Write down what grease it is, so when the second gets used, you can get the same type of grease.
I always think I will keep it straight, but, there are different greases and grease bases/formulas.

Also, keep the grease in a location where it will not get hot and have the oils separate from the base.

[myredracer]

I use Dexter wheel bearing grease. I just repacked our wheel bearings and used the same grease on the wet bolts. Use any brand of the correct RV wheel bearing grease or NLGI Standard No 2 automotive grease like the green tubes. The recommended procedure is to jack the frame up to relieve pressure on the bolts so more of the grease will flow around between the bolt and bushing.

If you haven't done this yet, some find that they can't grease to go in. If you find this, there is a hole on the bolts that is supposed to be horizontal which could be one reason in addition to not lifting the frame up.

Greasing wet bolts is easy. Repacking wheel bearings is time consuming and MESSY but needs to get done. (I refuse to use the zerks on the axles.)

[ependydad]

Thanks everyone. I’ll keep the photo of the greases on my Flickr site (22k photos and counting). So I’ll have it for future reference.

I wouldn’t have jacked the rig up to do this, so thanks for that tidbit of info.

And yes, I paid to have the bearings repacked. I didn’t want to tackle that myself. At least, not without a babysitter.

[tcrossan]

How often do youall grease wet bolts and repack wheel bearings? I was told by a trailer manufacturer that the grease can't get out unless a seal is "blown" or the axles are submerged in water. I'm in agreement with the submerged part but no so about the rest of his rant. I have no standard for wet bolts.

[myredracer]

Originally Posted by tcrossan

How often do youall grease wet bolts and repack wheel bearings? I was told by a trailer manufacturer that the grease can't get out unless a seal is "blown" or the axles are submerged in water. I'm in agreement with the submerged part but no so about the rest of his rant. I have no standard for wet bolts.

Besides putting in too much or not enough grease via the zerks, if you don't pull the drums off you won't be inspecting the brakes or bearings. When I just pulled all 4 of our drums off on our 2014 TT, to my shock, I found one drum was badly scored and had to be replaced. The shoes on that drum were in bad shape too and needed replacing. The shoes on the opposite end of the same axle also had bad shoes. It turned out, it cost almost as much as much for new shoes as it did for complete backing plate assemblies so now have new shoes + magnets. Magnets and the magnet surface on drums can wear out too.

And when I went to wire up the new magnets, I discovered the factory splices were really BAD like these two for ex. They used only 18 ga. wire too. So I redid all the splices and installed all new #12 ga. wire.

Had I just pumped grease into the axles, I would have never known how bad the brakes and wiring were. How good are anyone's brake shoes, drums and splices if you never check them out?

I have an inexpensive hand packing gizmo for packing bearings and you use a grease gun on it. Since I have a grease gun in hand anyway, it's a no brainer to do the wet bolts at the same time with it.

[ependydad]

Wheel bearings, I’ve heard yearly or 10,000 miles. Don’t know if that’s standard. But it’s going to be my goal on this rig.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by tcrossan

How often do youall grease wet bolts and repack wheel bearings? I was told by a trailer manufacturer that the grease can't get out unless a seal is "blown" or the axles are submerged in water. I'm in agreement with the submerged part but no so about the rest of his rant. I have no standard for wet bolts.

Many years ago I worked with a tribologist (expert in wear and lubrication). He explained to me the difference between situations where the grease is retained (ball bearings, roller bearings, sleeve bearings like these "wet bolts") and situations where the grease is pushed out of the wear spots--he called it "scrubbing."

If you've ever had a situation like squeaking leaf springs, where you drove a grease wedge between the leaves and injected grease with a grease gun, you will understand this. Each time the vehicle bounces and the arced spring leaves flex against each other, some grease is scraped off by the ends of each leaf and is no longer available to lubricate the touching surfaces.

It always surprises me that trailer bearings need frequent lubrication since the wheel bearings of automobiles frequently are not relubricated over the vehicle's lifetime.

Larry

[Jim34RL]

Wet bolts need to be greased a minimum of 5,000 miles. I grease my wet bolts at least three times a year once in the spring and two more times during the season. I do have my trailer supported by the level up system when I grease the trailer,but the tires are on the ground.
For my needs and I have done this for 10 years is to repackage the wheels bearings ever other year. I also let my dealer do the repacking of the wheel bearings.

[mgas]

I have the same suspension you have on my creek. There are several different types of grease and a couple of them are not compatible if mixed. Assuming Dexter uses there own grease, I looked up Dexter grease and it is lithium based. So is the Lucas grease you posted, so I used Lucas on my bearings as well as wet bolts because I didn't want to keep two different types of grease.

I said assumed above because I did not check with Dexter, but have to believe they use the same stuff they sell.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Jim34RL

Wet bolts need to be greased a minimum of 5,000 miles. I grease my wet bolts at least three times a year once in the spring and two more times during the season. I do have my trailer supported by the level up system when I grease the trailer,but the tires are on the ground.
For my needs and I have done this for 10 years is to repackage the wheels bearings ever other year. I also let my dealer do the repacking of the wheel bearings.

Thanks, Jim.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by mgas

I have the same suspension you have on my creek. There are several different types of grease and a couple of them are not compatible if mixed. Assuming Dexter uses there own grease, I looked up Dexter grease and it is lithium based. So is the Lucas grease you posted, so I used Lucas on my bearings as well as wet bolts because I didn't want to keep two different types of grease.

I said assumed above because I did not check with Dexter, but have to believe they use the same stuff they sell.

I have sent them an email. I’ll post back with what they say.

[Comanchecreek]

I use the Lucas products you have pictured. I use the Green for suspension, ball joints, etc. I use the Red and Tacky for wheel bearings, and high speed high heat situations. You can use either on the suspension stuff, but I don't recommend mixing them, but I only use the Red and Tacky on the wheel bearings. You definitely need to be careful about mixing there. I wish I had greaseable shackle bolts. I may retro fit in the future if I can find them for my Crusader. I had them wear out and break on my Montana years ago.