Axle Bearing & Seal Maintenance

[rideandfly]

With about 10,000 miles since the last bearing inspection/lube. Decided to replace the seals, clean/pack bearings, and inspect hubs/brakes.

I like to secure the hitch with my trailer mover or connect to the TV.



Block the other wheel:



Use a piece of wood between the jack & CampLite frame while jacking:



Drum brake pads didn't have too much wear. Checked where seal contacts axle to be sure a groove is not worn into axle that will cause the seal to leak.



Removed seal, cleaned hub, repacked bearings & installed new seal:







Seals from E-trailer have Dexter stamped on them:



Inspect ST tires & check DOT manufacturers date code, 9th week 2014. I personally don't like to run my tires past 5 years on the date code:



Pump several shots of grease into hub assembly before installing wheel. Placed a jack stand under the axle trailing arm in case the trailer slipped off of the jack. It's possible to bend the axle if it is jacked on.

[Merlin]

Thanks, nice write up and photos. If I could find the "Like" button on that post, I'd use it!

[rideandfly]

Thanks!

Gave the Frontier a 30,000 mile service and found the differential pinion shaft seal leaking. It's still under warranty, so the Nissan dealer installed a new seal today under warranty!!!!   

[PEIslander]

That pic with the grease looks like you are one of those faith healing surgeons! You can make serious money with that skill!

[rideandfly]

That pic with the grease looks like you are one of those faith healing surgeons! You can make serious money with that skill!

Yep, learn "many" skills working on stuff! 

[Merlin]

What's the weight limit on your trailer-mover? And what brand/model? I've got 5 trailers and I've needed one of those more and more each year (according to my back).

[rideandfly]

It's a Harbor Freight mover with 1 7/8" ball with a tongue capacity of 600lbs.  Been using it on level concrete. CampLite is 2000lbs with a tongue weight of 300lbs.

http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-heavy-duty-trailer-dolly-69898.html

[gbpack]

Having just gotten home from a very long trip, we now have 10,000 miles on our 21BHS (not bad considering the trailer is only 15 months old!). We have the Dexter Torflex axles that have the quick-lube or EZ Lube capability. Will doing that (putting grease through the bearings with a grease gun) be sufficient to take care of our wheel maintenance needs at this time or do we need to take it apart and inspect the bearings?

[Merlin]

Under 2 conditions, I would say just lube and go. Condition 1 is that there is no grease leaking from the rear seal or the front seal on to the hub. Grease leaking means a worn seal that should be replaced and that requires disassembly. Condition 2 is the bearings have no play when the tire is off the ground and you try to push/pull the wheel while holding it first at 9 and 3 and then at 12 and 6. If there is any play, you will probably also notice it in a "roughness" when spinning the wheel while off the ground. If a bearing is bad, it's not only a disassembly, but time for new bearings.

Most likely all is well and you can just shoot it full of grease (until you see fresh grease come out) and hit the road for another 10,000 miles. Dexter recommends lubing every 12,000 miles, so you're ahead of the curve!

[gbpack]

Thanks Merlin. Will check them as you suggest and then grease them if everything seems OK. Appreciate the quick response!

[Merlin]

I'm cleaning and re-packing the wheel bearings as well as checking/adjusting the brakes on my  double axle 16TBS. The trailer has the Dexter EZ Lube hubs and torsion suspension axles. The trailer is 4 years old and has a little over 15,000 miles on it. I used the grease fitting in the hub to add grease once about 2 years ago. The EZ Lube hub gets grease into the bearings when using the grease fitting, so long as the rear seal is in good shape. I use Valvoline full synthetic grease and I buy all my trailer maintenance parts from etrailer.com

I was very impressed with the condition of the seals, bearings, grease, and brakes on the right side. This morning, when pulling the hubs on the left side, I discovered blown grease seals and an awful mess in the hubs and brakes. I just sent in a large order to etrailer for new brakes. I decided to go all-in with new self-adjusting brakes on all 4 wheels. I had to put in all new parts for 2 wheels anyway, so I'm doing all 4 new  I'll re-post when I get everything in and working correctly. I'll include a few pics since I'm doing the brakes.

In the meantime, I strongly recommend not going beyond the Dexter Axle recommended service of 12,000 miles or one year for checking the seals and brakes.

As a side note the Dexter axle has a sticky substance on the grease seal where it seats in the hub. That makes it VERY difficult to remove. Before you tackle the job yourself, have at least one spare inner bearing on hand because you may very well damage the bearing when removing the seal (and I speak from personal experience, damaging all 4 inner bearings in removal  ).

[nhlakes]

Good info 


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[Merlin]

Here are photos of the continuing work on brakes/bearings. The first one shows the mess of grease in the brake mechanism I removed, along with the new one ready to install. I realize it's hard to see grease contamination of the brake shoes in the photo, but it's bad. The second photo shows the axle ready for the new brake mechanism (the axle is heavily greased to protect it; all that will be wiped off prior to installing the brake drum and bearings. The third photo shows the part number for 10" Dexter self-adjusting brakes on a 3500 lb axle.

[regnaDkciN]

starting that now for 4 wheels on my 2012 16 DBS.  Likely, need some bearing work on left front wheel (it runs hotter than the other 3).