Ultralube System

[RonS]

I did a (past year) search but still do not know if I should repack my bearings or just give the ultralube system a shot once a year. I have about 12K on them now and have not done anything. I called Big Sky customer service but did not get a yes/no answer. What do you do with your bearings with ultralube system??

[BigBlue]

You'll find differing opinions on the answer to your question. My service guys at the dealer tell me no to grease them but to repack the bearins about once a year. The reason for the reluctance to grease them is because it's so easy to blow a seal and wind up with grease on the brakes.
We have about 16K on ours and have had the bearings repacked.

[lightningjack11]

You should consult your Alko Manual If thats the type you have.

I have had good luck lubing my wheels and have not blown my seals yet. I take the wheel off and spin the drum while injecting the grease very very slowly. In other words keep the pressure on the seal low. Also I remove the dust cap and wipe off the excess when done. Sometimes the greese will leak out the dust cap and run down the front of the drum during operation. So I apply a light sealant around the dust cap.

Check your plastic covers for any greese on the inside and clean before re-installing.

Other people have done this and blew their seals. Don't know why. So far so good for me. I think the trick is to apply the greese such to keep the hydraulic pressures low on the seals. That means very very very slowly.

If you prefer to repack make sure you replace the seals.

Last always use a High Temp greese with a minimum dropping point of 440 degrees F. If it does not state this on the tube, don't use it.

[Northstar]

What great info available on this forum. Thanks for the posting. Happyrving.....

[sreigle]

Ron, I don't know what's best and what isn't but can tell you what our dealer told me and my own experience at this (very little). When we took delivery on this Montana the dealer's service manager told me no more than two squirts of grease once per year. When we started fulltiming I figured I should do this more often since we're putting more miles on it. Last July we had the dealer check the brakes after 16 months of fulltiming. The rig had probably 20,000 miles on it at that time. I had put two squirts of grease in the bearings via the zerk exactly twice. The dealer told me I'm putting two much grease in them and reiterated two squirts once per year. He told me this after pulling the drums and bearings to check the brakes. He repacked the brakes with new grease for me at that time. He said the majority of problems with brakes and bearings he sees comes from people putting too much grease in them. Maybe that's why some dealers recommend manual repacking of the bearings??

By the way, he also told me the brake linings were only down about a half but I had the brakes set too aggressively and the linings showed stress cracks from heat. And the magnet was worn down nearly 45 degrees. So I've backed off on the Prodigy a bit.

Again, I don't know what's right or wrong, best or not, but thought I'd pass on what the service manager told me.

[bob n pam]

Boy Howdy, listen to the service manager. We added a "little" squirt (which oozed out the edges) every 5,000 miles (we were advised to do this) and blew our seals out, had grease all over the brakes and had to have mucho dinero work done in Wichita, KS. But, the good thing was the deteriorating shackles were discoverd and replaced. The technician said to add only one or two squirts once a year or every 10,000 miles. You can bet Bob is very careful now.

[jh1802]

I just had my walkthrew on my new mountaineer friday and the service guy also said a squirt or two every year also. He did not recommend anymore than this. On my 1999 Jayco they recommendedthat I repack the bearings every 2 years. I would have the dealer do and he would say they still looked good even though I only had them done every 2 years per his advice.