Bearing Maintenance

[Ren]

Well, after 3 years of ownership, I have never done this. So I got brave a few weeks ago and started tooling up for pulling the tires and hubs to inspect the brakes and grease the bearings on the 5er. I watched a ton of youtube vids and read, and read, and read some more then I ran across dexters directions on seating the bearings. They state to spin the hubs while torquing so you dont get a flat spot in one of the bearing or races, they want you to torque to 50 ft lbs, then stop spinning ( do not spin anymore) then loosen the nut, then make it finger tight. Then put on the nut keeper or cotter key. Those directions seemed to work great for me!

Seal puller.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Seal and Race driver set. I did have to use the flat side NOT the lip side for the races and seal.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Race punch. This one has an oval end on it to help punch out the race, you dont have to hold it at such an angle that it may catch the inside of the hub. Anything to make life a little easier!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and the six dollar bearing packer from advanced auto that hooks to your grease gun.. and a heavy duty floor jack... and jack stands...ugg... and rags!!

That and some Lucas bearing grease, I made sure it was Lithium based. It is thier "Marine" stuff with EP modifiers... all the stuff listed on the dexter site. It probably didnt matter because I ended up replacing the bearings anyhow. On the first hub I pulled off, One of the bearings looked like it got hot and the inner BIG bearing felt notchy. It looks like the dealer had added grease using the zerk as it seemed there were two different greases in the hub and bearings.

Some grease also got past the rear seal and it was pretty evident that someone went overboard on the greasing. I cleaned the pads and drum with very liberal amounts of brake cleaner and rags. They were also waaaayyy out of adjustment as well. The brakes did have alot of pad left on them, around a quarter inch, and the magnet looked good as well, so I am guessing that they were not adjusted correctly from the factory.

The grease also seemed pretty worn out, ie.. it would pretty much run right through your fingers instead of being nice and pasty.

So even though Im sore, and I only did two hubs this weekend, Im glad I did it! Ill have to get my motivation back up to knock out the other two this weekend.

I'm just trying not to be "That Guy" on the side of the road! Anyways... maybe this post will help someone else, all the tools listed worked like a charm!

[8.1al]

Sounds like you did your homework and it paid off with a job well done. It has been my experience that once a brake shoe is contaminated with grease you can't really clean it up as the grease soaks into the lining.

[Irlpguy]

Wheel bearing re-packing and brake inspection cannot be over emphasized and should be done once a year.

I have been doing some electrical work on my grown daughters 3 horse, living quarters horse trailer. When she admitted the bearings had never been done in 4 years I insisted she have them done. Well you guessed it I was asked to do the job and here is what I found.

All brake pads were worn beyond their lifespan, bearings were in decent condition but lacking in grease and one wheel had no brake lining left on the pad, the following pictures are worth a thousand words.

What remained of the brake lining when this hub was pulled.



Brake pads worn to paper thin in area's they were contacting the hub.



Damage to drum/hub requiring replacement.



I am awaiting 4 - complete brake assemblies, 1 - new hub/drum and all new wheel bearings and seals. I insisted on replacing all of the bearings as I will not do a half a$$ed job.

In my opinion had the wheel bearings been checked/re-packed annually they would still be ok. The brake issue would most likely have been caught and replacing a drum would not be necessary.

All this because a $300.00 annual repack had not been done.

While this is not a Montana the trailer uses Dexter Torflex axles and has G614 tires mounted on steel rims and when new cost as much as a lot of Montana's. My point is check your bearings/brakes annually.

I am too old for this sort of thing, do our kids never grow up and learn responsibility.

To the OP, good on ya, it is a big job and to this point I have spent 8 hrs but am ready for the new parts and re-assembly.

[Ren]

quote:Originally posted by 8.1al

Sounds like you did your homework and it paid off with a job well done. It has been my experience that once a brake shoe is contaminated with grease you can't really clean it up as the grease soaks into the lining.

I wondered this as well.....Sigh...now you have me pondering replacement.

At the time, I was thinking if grease was slung everywhere in there, I probably would replace it. The only evidence that the grease got past the seal was a few streaks on the seal itself.

Good luck on the horse trailer! With tools I think my job costs 300 bucks. Im replacing all of the bearings and seals with a cost of 130 bucks. New bearings and new grease, Im pretty happy!

Im not going to let it go this long again, that grease that was in there was spent, but I was scared to use the zerk... so I waited until I had the time (nerve) to pull it all apart. It actually was not that bad!

Thanks for the pat on the back guys!

[rohrmann]

It's nice to have all the fancy tools, but really all that is needed is a Lisle 56750 Seal Puller, less than $10 and a brass bearing punch, which is just a brass rod, maybe 12 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Use the puller, which is similar to the Lisle 56650, just isn't adjustable, to remove the seals, and the brass rod and a hammer to remove and re-install bearing races. A glob of grease in the hand and a few minutes to pack a bearing, the proper sized socket to tighten the bearing nut, and you are in business. Just nice to have the tools to do the work on the road, but don't need to pack all the extra weight carrying the extra stuff you will never use.