Just tossing this out to all you dexter axle nev-r-lube owners,on the way home from Florida (our first winter south) about 50 miles south of Atlanta on I-75 the right rear tire on our Daydreamer blew. The bearings in the hub failed and caused a lot of colateral damage. It took Dexter almost a week to deliver the parts(it would have taken longer had i not started rattling some cages) so we could get back home,after having to replace a new tire,rim,rotor,brake lines,hub and bearings all amounting to $1500 US plus spend a week locked inside a towing company's compound (I would like to add that LRC Towing of Griffin Georgia treated us like long-lost family)needless to say we weren't too happy! Before leaving Florida i did my usual tire checks,air pressure,visual inspection and checked for exessive slop in the hub,all seemed good and after inspecting the other three hubs on the fiver' it was the one that failed and we only have about 25.000 miles on our rig and Dexter claims these nev-r-lube hubs are good for 100.000 miles! When i called Dexter i was immediatly reminded that nev-r-lube hubs are only guranteed for 5 years or 100.0000 miles so aside from a minor discount on parts they would do nothing about it. Well i bought three new bearing sets which i'll install myself and from now on i'll be keeping a far better eye on these so-called Nev-R-Lube p.o.s hubs!!
07' Dodge 3500 6 speed Cummins Diesel Dually/6.7L Bully-Chipped /
Exhst Brake/07' Cedar Creek 37CDTSD Daydreamer fiver
Mallard @ Frau Blücher
Red Green:
Now lets Bow your heads for the men's prayer.
I am a man, but I can change.
If I have to, I guess...
This all makes me feel confident......NOT.
I have approx. 50k miles on my 8 yr. old Mobile Suite with Never-Lube hubs. Had them looked at several years ago and they were fine according to a reliable RV servicing shop.
How much grease do you think you've pumped into those hubs over the years? I wonder where it all goes?
I've never trusted the 'never lube' hubs for long term duty without ever inspecting them from time to time...
Had them on a boat trailer long time ago.. My Dad would put a couple of pumps into them before heading back out on the road after a days launch/retrieval from the water. Once a year, we'd pull the hubs to clean and inspect.. Worked great for all the years we had that boat.
I don't have the "never lube" hubs, but they are Dexter axles/hubs/bearings and I pull them once a year to check the brakes.. Since it's all apart, I inspect and re-grease for the coming camping season.
Wish you the best moving forward.
Mitch
*Anything I post is for entertainment purposes only and what usually works for me.. Your Mileage May Vary..
mitch150 wrote: How much grease do you think you've pumped into those hubs over the years? I wonder where it all goes?
I've never trusted the 'never lube' hubs for long term duty without ever inspecting them from time to time...
Had them on a boat trailer long time ago.. My Dad would put a couple of pumps into them before heading back out on the road after a days launch/retrieval from the water. Once a year, we'd pull the hubs to clean and inspect.. Worked great for all the years we had that boat.
I don't have the "never lube" hubs, but they are Dexter axles/hubs/bearings and I pull them once a year to check the brakes.. Since it's all apart, I inspect and re-grease for the coming camping season.
Wish you the best moving forward.
Mitch
You are off-base....on the failure to service comments...
The bearings involved are a sealed metric size unit that periodic greasing is not possible. You check for run-out (play) and seal damage.
Failure under highway speeds is ugly as the OP found.
To the OP, I had this exact thing happen to me but I had AAA put the TT on a huge flatbed and took it home so I could do the repairs myself. These are designed to be neverlube, because you can't repack a sealed bearing. My bearings were more than 5 yrs old and had <40K on them. Unit bearings are an easy way to go but not as strong IMHO. I will always replace them before 5 years now. Funny, I had same bearing as you go out that is right rear. Dexter parts are hard to find out west as they have no warehouse west of the Mississippi. The cartridge unit bearings are not that easy to find and probably have to ordered from Dexter. Kind of a pain to R&R the bearings every 5 years but no repacking, just a quick jack up and wheel shake test. I now carry an extra brake drum with bearing pressed in as a spare. Remember, the bearings have to pressed out and in with a press, another pain.
Jack in Alaska wrote: This all makes me feel confident......NOT.
I have approx. 50k miles on my 8 yr. old Mobile Suite with Never-Lube hubs. Had them looked at several years ago and they were fine according to a reliable RV servicing shop.
My hubs were inspected the previous year by our local Cedar Creek " reliable RV servicing shop" as well! I'll never trust those Dexter hubs any farther than i can throw my truck,they really should lose their right to call them 100.000 mile hubs!
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