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Old 10-06-2018, 09:10 PM   #1
Kenw
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Axle Maintenance FYI

To all,
This is an FYI
After reading many many posts here on axle maintenance I finally got into performing mine. I have a 2017 Montana HC 370 BR, 7000# axles with the e-z lube system, 18 months old now, approximately 4200 miles on the axles, stickered weight 11850 pounds, axles produced March 2, 2017. I did not use the e-z lube system and opted to pull the hubs, clean everything, replace the bearings with Timken and replace the grease seals. The grease in the hubs was red in color. Here is what I found...

Hubs 1-3 Everything was good, not a lot of grease and virtually none in the cavity between the bearings, no scaring but one small brown mark the size of my thumb nail in one of the outer bearings.

Hub#4 The front bearing had very very little grease in it. I could see through every cavity of the bearing as it didn't have any grease in it and a small brown mark in the interior race. The rear bearing troubled me! The amount of grease was OK but it was black in color and it seamed to have very small (shiney)particulates of metal in it. When I say black I mean black! There was a little wear on the bearing but if I were not replacing them I would have put it back in.

Dexter needs to put more grease in these assemblies and Keystone needs to tell their supplier to add more grease. Gee, Dexter/Keystone must be saving 50 cents per axle by providing the minimum amount of grease possible.

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Old 10-06-2018, 09:14 PM   #2
coachgrowl
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Part numbers for bearings please. Thanks in advance.
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Old 10-06-2018, 09:41 PM   #3
Montana Man
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I have the same axles and they were undergreased as well.
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Old 10-06-2018, 11:27 PM   #4
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Also, when replacing the bearings, the races must be replaced too. This is the Timken link to their catalog with a description of servicing these bearings starting on page 62 https://www.timken.com/wp-content/up...81.pdf#page=58
There does not need to be any grease in the hub, only at the bearings. There is a very good video on the Timken site that explains the adjustment of these bearings. Go to this link, http://www.timken.com/engineering-to...nds-on-videos/ and view the video titled
'Proper Tapered Roller Bearing Installation in the Hub Assembly"


For the 7,000 Dexter axle with the 12" X 2" brake drum assembly, and E-Z Lube design, the parts are:


Inner bearing- 25580
Inner race- 25520
Outer bearing- 14125A
Outer race- 14276
Wheel seal- 010-036-00, also known as 10-36, 3.376" OD X 2.25" ID double lip for E-Z lube





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Old 10-07-2018, 07:35 AM   #5
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Sounds like Dexter has done a complete Flip-Flop. For years many of us had totally grease covered Brake shoes because of over greasing that was found because of poor braking or at the first time the hubs were pulled.
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Old 10-07-2018, 01:53 PM   #6
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That's the reason I had the dealer re-pack the bearings when I bought the trailer- I don't trust the manufactor to do whats right
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Old 10-08-2018, 03:10 PM   #7
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Quote:
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That's the reason I had the dealer re-pack the bearings when I bought the trailer- I don't trust the manufactor to do whats right

Doesn't matter who you have do it, you had better know where the person lives that did it as there's absolutely no telling if they have a clue as to what they're doing. I do mine myself.
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Old 10-17-2018, 05:17 PM   #8
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Angry Axle Maintenance

We Have a 2017 3791RD. I too decided to do my first years maintenance on the axles. I did use the EZ lube system. What I found was, when I added the red axle grease with my grease gun, it took 115 pumps to get old grease out the front of the discharge area. There must have been absolutely no grease inside the housing. I added 3- 1/2 tubes of grease in 4 hubs. I'm sure it only had enough grease on the bearing to keep it from rusting when it was in a box being shipped to Dexter for assembly. I agree, It would cost them 50 cents, and possibly another 15 seconds to use their air powered grease gun and fill the housing properly. This in turn would keep us, the customer, happy, making us to demand that the next new RV we purchase would have Dexter axles under it. As it stands, I don't think they care one bit about us. Why would you go through the process to build a quality product, only to have it all screwed up by the last person to touch it?
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Old 10-17-2018, 05:53 PM   #9
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Like I said, the grease only needs to be on the bearings. Grease inside the hubs does nothing, and if the hub is completely full, there is a real possibility that a seal will fail and grease will get on the brake shoes. A good packing of the bearings, either by hand or with a mechanical packer, them a small amount added at the races is all the grease needed. If the hub is full of grease, it is an extremely messy job pulling a drum off to inspect the brakes, and all that perfectly good, unused grease inside the center of the hub is trashed, along with a lot of rags used to clean up the mess.
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Old 10-17-2018, 06:08 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by rohrmann View Post
Like I said, the grease only needs to be on the bearings. Grease inside the hubs does nothing, and if the hub is completely full, there is a real possibility that a seal will fail and grease will get on the brake shoes. A good packing of the bearings, either by hand or with a mechanical packer, them a small amount added at the races is all the grease needed. If the hub is full of grease, it is an extremely messy job pulling a drum off to inspect the brakes, and all that perfectly good, unused grease inside the center of the hub is trashed, along with a lot of rags used to clean up the mess.
I think you hit the nail right on the head.
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Old 05-15-2019, 04:21 PM   #11
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I know I'm reviving an old thread, but I'm debating whether to do this myself or just have the shop do it since it'll be there getting the AC serviced. I've done plenty of wheel bearings in the past so I'm not worried about the job, just debating if it's worth the hassle of doing it myself or paying them $120 an axle (x2=240) to do it.

I read rohrmann's post with the part #'s for the bearings/seals. Am I right to assume that all 2008 3400's came with the 7K axle since it's gross is around 14K?

And do you guys put Permatex sealer on the rim of the seal? I've never done that before but reading Dexter's manual I see that it says to do so.
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Old 05-15-2019, 04:58 PM   #12
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Dave,

Up to you to decide. I am more comfortable knowing what my brakes look like and taking a good look at the bearings which means I do it myself. If you have someone that you trust, nothing wrong with having them do it.
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Old 05-15-2019, 11:12 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daveinaz View Post
I know I'm reviving an old thread, but I'm debating whether to do this myself or just have the shop do it since it'll be there getting the AC serviced. I've done plenty of wheel bearings in the past so I'm not worried about the job, just debating if it's worth the hassle of doing it myself or paying them $120 an axle (x2=240) to do it.

I read rohrmann's post with the part #'s for the bearings/seals. Am I right to assume that all 2008 3400's came with the 7K axle since it's gross is around 14K?

And do you guys put Permatex sealer on the rim of the seal? I've never done that before but reading Dexter's manual I see that it says to do so.

I have never put any sealer on the outside of the seal and have never had grease come out of the seal at that point. Also, these seals are tough enough to remove without any other material on them. I also read that suggestion and just ignored it. We have the hydraulic leveling and I use that to raise the rig when servicing the bearings and brakes. Without that system, you will need to be careful lifting the rig without doing any damage.
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Old 05-16-2019, 07:08 AM   #14
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Doing your wheel bearing inspection and lube is a fairly easy though dirty job. It also takes a bit of time, especially if your 5er, like ours, doesn't have self leveling.



I buy the seals on line from etrailer usually or one source on ebay and they work as well as the overpriced but identical Dexter seals


I have been using Dexter recommended Mystick JT6 grease but will be changing to Valvoline synthetic as that Mystick grease seems to get too runny, separating, even in direct sun on a 60* day.


I use a bunch of Harbor Freight nitrile gloves (the 5mil are a bit too thin, but real cheap) and at least a roll of paper towels. The bearings are usually cleaned with kerosene or diesel fuel then blown dry. A bearing packer has been used but there seems to be way more waste then the hand pack method so have put that packing gadget away.


The total cost to do our 6000# axles is about 10 bucks for 4 seals and a half can of 12 dollar grease or about 6. Soooo, 10+6+1(roll of towels)+2(nitrile gloves) =~19 dollars. Quite a savings - and the Scottish part of my heritage (you know, deep pockets, short arms) loves that.
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Old 05-16-2019, 08:45 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rohrmann View Post
I have never put any sealer on the outside of the seal and have never had grease come out of the seal at that point. Also, these seals are tough enough to remove without any other material on them. I also read that suggestion and just ignored it. We have the hydraulic leveling and I use that to raise the rig when servicing the bearings and brakes. Without that system, you will need to be careful lifting the rig without doing any damage.
I took my neighbors SOB 40' bumper pull to the shop for pre-trip inspection - this unit was 4 years old and had 150 miles after purchase. It was going to be moved from East Texas to Phoenix. The shop said 3 hubs(greasable) had grease soaked brakes and the 4th was rusty. My shop hand packs for $135 for all four and makes sure brake are properly adjusted … I can't do it for that and for another $7.00 have the mandatory state inspection done.
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Old 05-21-2019, 10:30 AM   #16
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Well, I just didn't want to mess with it and had the shop do it. They allowed me to go in and look at the pulled hubs, the spindles, and backing plates. The tech said that they were in very good shape. No grease on backing plates or brakes. No issues other than old grease in the bearings. I know the trailer had probably less than 3k miles on the bearings but I was worried that since it had sat there for 3 years or so that there'd be some rust or pitting on the spindles but all looked good so I'm relieved.

And it does seem to brake better since they put it all back together -- less grabbing it seems. I'm guessing the shoes may have been a little out of adjustment. Whatever it was, braking is smoother now.

I certainly feel better knowing that everything's squared away there. That's one of the major reasons we went with the 5er this time instead of a motorhome. When we would park our motorhome for extended periods, there was the whole drivetrain to worry about. But on a trailer, it seems to me, that the only thing you have to worry about are tires, wheel bearings, and brakes. Much easier than maintaining the entire drivetrain on a motorhome!
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Old 06-22-2020, 05:53 PM   #17
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Bent Axel on 2017 Montana Legacy

I noticed I have a upward bend in my rear axel I heard this is normal my tires are wearing ok just looks very odd any thoughts?

Thanks

John
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Old 06-22-2020, 06:04 PM   #18
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jstadler ... see response in you new post. "Montana Rear Dexter Axel Bent upward"
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Old 10-01-2020, 12:31 PM   #19
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Just a hint, did you check the bearings to insure they were tight enough?
Yo never know.
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Old 10-02-2020, 05:01 AM   #20
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Just another $.02 worth...I did my bearing maintenance a little early at 10 months and found on one wheel that the wires for the brake magnet had been twisted and torn apart. The brake mechanism was completely destroyed and I replaced the entire assembly. Dexter was kind enough to cover the parts. If I had used the EZ Lube system, I would never have known there was a problem.
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