Kodiak5er wrote: When you grease the bearings make sure you use a hand grease gun and only give each bearing 4 or 5 pumps so you don't get grease on your brakes by blowing the rear seal out.
I'm wondering. If you only put 4 or 5 pumps in at a time, when do the outer bearings get new grease? Here is how they work. You pump grease in and gamble that the grease goes through the inner bearing into the hub cavity and not past the seal and onto the brakes. No new grease gets to the outer bearing and the hub is slowly being filled with used grease. You travel awhile and shoot in 4 or 5 more pumps. Same thing, same gamble. After maybe 20 iterations of this the hub is packed with grease and some of it reaches the outer bearing. But it is the used grease from 20 iterations ago!! The only way to get new grease to the outer bearing is to purge all the old grease completely through the hub and out the little passageway at the outside of the hub. Should only take about a half tube per hub. Sooooooooooo, do ya feel lucky? Well, do you?
That's the reason I removed my zerk fittings and pack all bearings by hand on all my units.
I have never trusted the easy-lube setup in any bearing situation. They were originally designed for boat trailers. There is another reason to repack by hand, the compatibility issue of new grease to old grease, if you repack by hand you know what grease you are using and you don't have to wonder if the new grease will be OK with the old grease.
You have to pull off all wheels anyway to check your brakes so why not repack the bearings at the same time.
1990 6500 Chevy Kodiak, 8.3L Cummins 450 HP
6sp Allison 3060, 3.70 R/A Home Made Air Ride
2006 Newmar Cypress
Picture of '93 Mountain Aire Story of it's death by fire and explosion
Does anyone know if there is any kind of toutorial online showing how to remove, repack, and replace the bearings? I have the EZ lube also, but it makes sense that is better to do it the old-fashion way. I'm good with DYI, but never done this.
Thanks,
Mark
2008 Jayco Eagle 291RLTS
2008 Ford F-350 Lariat PICS My home town
texasjayco wrote: Does anyone know if there is any kind of toutorial online showing how to remove, repack, and replace the bearings? I have the EZ lube also, but it makes sense that is better to do it the old-fashion way. I'm good with DYI, but never done this.
Thanks,
Mark
How far from Killeen are you? I'd be happy to show you how.
DO NOT GREASE YOUR WHEEL BEARINGS WITH THE WHEEL ZIRK FITTINGS!! There is no way for you to know how much they need, or don't need while injecting it in. I guarantee they most likely don't need any at all and you will end up blowing grease past the seals and throwing it all over your brakes which you will then have to replace. I read some saying no more than 4 to 5 pumps of grease. That's all it took to screw mine up! Been there, done that!
Do yourself a favor, put caps over the hubs, or just forget about those zerk fittings. They're just there as a gimmick. One that ends up costing YOU money in repairs!
Pull your wheels once a year to check the brake shoes. At that time, repack the wheel bearings. They will be fine for the year until you check them the next year.
Tom & Beth
05,Grand Junction 35TMS
99, Dodge 3500 Dually.
texasjayco wrote: Does anyone know if there is any kind of toutorial online showing how to remove, repack, and replace the bearings? I have the EZ lube also, but it makes sense that is better to do it the old-fashion way. I'm good with DYI, but never done this.
Thanks,
Mark
Get yourself one of these, they work great. You fill the bottom cup with the proper grease and then place the bearing on the top section in the correct direction, put the pusher on top and push down. All the old grease is forced out and replaced with new grease.
Couldn't be any easier than that. You will have to get new grease seals for the inner bearing, they are not very expensive. Match up to old seals at your parts place, RV store or some auto parts stores will have them.
I have read numerous responses about over filling the hub and causing the grease seal to leak. It concerned me so I called Dexter and was able to speak with one of their engineers.
He said he had never experienced a leaking seal due to hand pumping grease into the fitting when done properly. He suggested raising the wheel and rotating it while using a hand grease gun and slowly pump until the grease starts to come out the outer wheel bearing.
Has anyone on here actually experienced grease leaking past a seal while using a hand pump grease gun? Anyone?
2007 Dodge RAM 2500 Quad Cab w/6.7 Cummins
2008 Palamino Sabre 31RKTS
Reese 15K Pro Series manual slide
Prodigy
Firestone Air Bags
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Has anyone on here actually experienced grease leaking past a seal while using a hand pump grease gun? Anyone?
Yes, have you read any of the previous posts? btd35 just posted what happened to his. I posted what happened to the seals of the cargo trailer I bought second hand. I also have a boat trailer with EZ lube spindles that has no brakes, so I use the zerk fitting. The grease gets past the seal and all over the inside of the wheel with no problem. Be sure to read the post where I explained just how EZ spindles work. If you want to gamble that the seals will hold be my guest. I also suggest you move to Las Vegas if you enjoy gambling that much.
texasjayco wrote: Does anyone know if there is any kind of toutorial online showing how to remove, repack, and replace the bearings? I have the EZ lube also, but it makes sense that is better to do it the old-fashion way. I'm good with DYI, but never done this.
Thanks,
Mark
Here is a link for packing your bearings that has both text and pictures in it.
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Sooooooooooo, do ya feel lucky? Well, do you?
