Re-packing my bearings

[SRD]

I plan on re-packing the bearings on my camper before going on vacation this summer. I would like to buy replacement inner seals prior to starting the job. How do I find out the size or type of inner seal? I know I can remove and take to the auto part store, but would rather have the seals prior to starting the job.

We have a 2012 3100RL Montana.
Thanks for your help.

Steve

[Bruce Lenhardt]

I repacked mine this spring. Went to a trailer repair shop with my old ones. I have an SOB but most of these units use Dexter axels. They stated that Dexter sometimes use different hubs and thus different size seals. There is not much difference in the inside diameter of the different seals-so they might look like they fit but not be right. Might be better to just take them in to a shop.

[dieselguy]

My 2011 3150 with 6000# axles uses these seals ... should be the same as yours.
http://www.etrailer.com/p-RG06-070.html

[WaltBennett]

See if you've got EZ-Lube bearings first. If you do, you do not need to pull a wheel (and replace any seals) IF you grease them according to Dexter's instructions.

[dieselguy]

You can use the EZ lube option in between a real wheel bearing service, but I wouldn't rely on simply pumping in new grease every so often. You really need to pull a wheel and look inside at brakes and such every other year depending on miles pulled. If your 2012 fiver hasn't ever had the wheels removed and the bearings removed, cleaned, and repacked ... now's the time.

[1retired06]

The Lippert brochure that should have come with your unit lists bearings, seals, etc by axle tag.

[SRD]

Thanks folks. I guess I should have said the camper is new to us as of Sept. 2014 and I have not pulled the wheels yet (although we only had one trip in it during Christmas to New Years). Had the tires changed out to 614s when we first bought the camper and the brakes looked fine. I'm going to pull the wheels and inspect the bearings and repack them. There are a couple of RV stores in Melbourne and they stock inner grease seals so I'm going to take the grease seal in when I pull the bearings to match it up. I figure it will give me peace of mind when we go on vacation in July.
Thanks again,
Steve

[rohrmann]

The easiest thing to do to get the proper part numbers for your axle and brakes is, crawl under the rig and get the numbers off the axle tube, and then call Dexter at (260) 636-5311 or (260) 636-2195. They can look up your axle and tell you everything about it as it was shipped from their factory. They will give you any part number you want, seals. bearings, etc. Very nice people to work with.

[Phil P]

Hi

I have been using the EZ Lube system for 80,000 miles and haven’t had any problems. I do once year pomp enough grease in to get a lot out of the hub to see if there is any metal in them. I also use a thermometer to check the hub temps at the first stop and every fuel stop. As long as the temps don’t start to rise you will be ok.

One thing I have found the temps on the sunny side of the trailer is commonly 20 to 50 degrees higher than the shady side.

Phil P

[dieselguy]

Just saying ... if you have an endless supply of money get your info from Dexter go ahead and buy from Dexter ... if you don't there are several outlets that are way cheaper with adequate quality replacement parts. Wheel seals on our fivers are either 2.125" id by 3.376" od for spindles prior to EZ lube and 2.250" id by 3.376" od for most any 6-7K EZ lube spindles. I've used the ones from ETrailer or just plain ole National seals for a long time. They've always kept the grease on the right side of the seal with no issue. Most anything is made in China nowdays anyways. It may say assembled in USA, but the parts more than likely came from China.

[SRD]

Thanks for all of the input. since it's new to us I am going to pull the bearings to inspect (peace of mind) and repack. I'll get the grease seal replacements locally.
Thanks
Steve

[rohrmann]

You will most likely be getting the 10-36 seals. If you go to this Dexter site page, and select the 5500-7000 lbs listing under Product Information, it will open up a section of their catalog that has everything you will need, bearings, seals, and all the hardware, including brakes, all of which you can easily cross reference to locally available parts. If you have to replace a bearing, I would suggest getting the very best, as I believe my bearing failure earlier this year was partly due to a low quality bearing I purchased from a local trailer supply. http://www.dexteraxle.com/literature1

[jfaberna]

quote:Originally posted by Phil P

Hi

I have been using the EZ Lube system for 80,000 miles and haven’t had any problems. I do once year pomp enough grease in to get a lot out of the hub to see if there is any metal in them. I also use a thermometer to check the hub temps at the first stop and every fuel stop. As long as the temps don’t start to rise you will be ok.

One thing I have found the temps on the sunny side of the trailer is commonly 20 to 50 degrees higher than the shady side.

Phil P

Phil, I have an EZ-Lube question. The Youtube videos I've seen show the grease flowing out around the grease gun until only the clean new grease flows out. Do you just scrap off the excess and put the rubber plug in? or do you remove the excess. My RV dealer just lubed it for me and he cleaned the excess out behind the rubber plug so you can see the hardware.

[dieselguy]

Phil P ... I'll not debate our EZ lube stances, but just for conversation ... I'd hope you have pulled a hub or two in 80,000 miles of travel to check things. I'd guess you're a whisper away from the steel backings on the brake shoes. 80K miles is quite a bit for electric trailer brakes.

[Phil P]

Ifaberna

I clean enough grease from the hub and just inside so the rubber plug doesn’t get grease on it. The rubber plugs go bad if they get grease contamination.

dieselguy

I had one of the brake application arms that have the magnets on them hang up at about 50,000 miles. It had over heated the brake shoes seriously even though I caught it before going any further than to the street from the diesel pump at a truck stop. So I removed all hubs, replaced all brake shoes and lubed the brake application arms with anti-seize.

I did not remove the inner bearings and seals or pack the outer bearings. The grease was clean and didn’t have any metal in so I didn’t see the need to disturb them.

I grew up in a heavy equipment shop and worked with my father in the building moving business for 10 years before getting in to the aviation business. I have always gotten hundreds of thousands of miles out of my wheel bearings between services but I average 20,000 miles a year on all of my motorized vehicles and 15,000 miles a year on my towed vehicles.

The Montana is the first vehicle I have had that provided a way to lubricate the wheel bearing without removing them. I do the EZ-Lube once a year and pump enough grease thru the system to determine there is no metal in the grease.

I am a firm believer in the idea that when the unit is used a lot the bearings are better left alone. The unit that sits 50 weeks a year and then is used hard for 2 weeks has a very high risk of wheel bearing problems and I do recommend the annual inspection of the bearings before and within a month of the 2 week trip.

Just one last note, I looked at the paperwork on a new EXmark zero turn radius mower a week or so ago and they have a big note at the beginning of the maintenance section stating NOT to shorten the lubrication and oil / hydraulic fluid check and change time because of the likely hood of contaminating the oil/ hydraulic fluid by opening the system more times than they thought was necessary.

Phil P

[jimc]

Good information from all these posts. At the Goshen Rally last fall, the Dexter rep gave a great presentation on this topic. They recommend annually repacking the bearings. I do mine every other year & use the EZ-Lube in off years. The Dexter rep was clear on when using EZ-Lube you have to rotate the wheels while pumping grease, otherwise it only gets to one spot. They also went to red grease because it looks better. I always use red because if you have abnormal wear, dirt, other contamination you can see it in the red grease but not in the black. I put about 15k miles/year on our rig.

[1retired06]

I will continue to do it the old fashioned way, and repack by hand.

[Gradified]

Regarding original post. You want to determine if your seal is 2.125 or 2.250 ID. Hub assembly, bearings, cones are the same but you need to know that ID to get the right seal. Etrailer has a seal cross reference, just search for it under the Seals and Bearings section. Mine was a 7k Axle with the Dexter 8-219 hub, a common configuration. They used a Timken 442109 seal and Etrailer noted a National 442109 which crossed to Etrailer # GS-2250. The 2.250 ID. A little homework and you'll have the right seal and won't contaminate your brakes.