Wheel lube?

[Dave10]

Easy Lube is nothing but a marketing ply. It was designed for boat trailers by filling the hub cavity with grease to minimize water intrusion. Unfortunately, there is not only a danger of seal failure that will grease the brake shoes, but there is another danger of contaminated grease from brake dust and other foreign particles to make their way to the outer bearing. Then there is a problem of excessive grease to mitigate lubrication of the bearings. Timken has a great white paper explaining how too much grease is detrimental.

Also if Easylube this was great engineering innovation the automotive industry would incorporate it to cut service expenses.

Again these is no substitute for packing the ol' fashion way using appropriate grease...

[ChuckS]

And if Dexter or Lippert really believed in the EZ lube system why do the brand new assemblies come from them with hand packed bearings... there is no grease in the cavity of the hub so for anyone to say they used EZ lube during assembly is just a lie. Boat trailers with bearing buddies are one thing... they typically don’t get towed anywhere near the average yearly distance an RV does...

Take the time to at least yank off those hubs once a year. Cheers

[BB_TX]

Originally Posted by BB_TX

Did I mention controversial?

Oh, yeah. I did.

[Dave10]

good maintenance practice is not controversial :-)

[ChuckV1]

Talking about grease, how many of you have checked your spring/suspension bushings lately... You might grease the heck out of your wheel bearings but seems like no one ever checks their suspension bushings even thought they may have the grease zerts, even worse if the don't have bushings that can't be greased ...


Safe Travels

[beeje]

Although I do not have the lengthy towing experience of some here, I have towed 3 different trailers since 2006 (all had the ez lube) and have NEVER once removed a wheel to check of repack bearings. Owned each for around 4 years and towed each around 15k miles . Never had a bearing or grease on brake lining issue. I just lube them up real good twice a year.

If you are old enough, just think back to the days when you did a brake job on disc brakes when you had to remove the rotors to have them turned. You would repack the bearings then. But that was every 3 years and 30-40k miles or so. You did not remove them every year and repack the bearing then, did you ? I know I did not. I started out as a auto mechanic and to this day do ALL of my own mechanical work on all my campers/cars/trucks/lawn equipment etc.

IMHO repacking every year is a complete waste of time and $$ unless you are towing the unit a lot, like 25k a year.

[ChuckS]

Comparing auto wheel bearings to RV fifth wheels is not the same.. yes the newer autos have sealed bearings that last maybe 30 to 50K at best in most cases on the front end..

And yes I’ve been wrenching for over 50 years so I’ve seen a thing or two.. nothing wrong with new concepts and change..

EZ lube bearings are a good concept “if they work”.

And you still can’t see what the condition is of the brake pads and hardware.

Your auto tires are removed every 3 to 5 K for rotation and balance..I’d hope someone is having a look see at the disc brake pads and rotors..

And if the mechanic doing to rotation is worth his salt he will do a vertical and side to side yank test to verify the sealed front bearings are in good shape...

I’ve had two fail on my 2007 truck...

Everyone can do as they wish... But I like to travel on lesser traveled roads and I do so knowing my wheel bearings and brakes will work.. and I carry one spare set with simple tools to replace a bearing set should one fail..

[ChuckS]

Classic example of EZ lube system that didn’t work... and note the newness of this assembly.. You can’t see this unless you remove the wheel hub..

[Creeker]

Originally Posted by beeje

IMHO repacking every year is a complete waste of time and $$ unless you are towing the unit a lot, like 25k a year.

I completely 100% agree. No way will I waste the time and energy to repack bearings every single year. Simply not needed.

[beeje]

That pic could also be to result of an over zelus person just pumping WAY to much grease in without the wheel off the ground and spinning, like you are supposed to do it. Or someone who does it WAY to much, like before each outing.