What is an average $$ to pay for a bearing repack?

[mlh]

I have found in 35 years of business sometimes you make mare money by charging less. You stay busy.
Lynwood

[bigred715]

For $50 they must have used the Dexter lube points and pumped grease in until new grease came out. They could not have taken the wheels off and hand packed them for $50. Don't buy that. Here in Oregon, the dealer and Camping World want about $199 plus seals.

[AZ Traveler]

3000 miles seems early to repack bearings although a year is about right to grease your wet bolts. Be careful if using the ez lube for the bearings, it is easy to get too much in and have them leak past the seals into the drums and ruin your brakes.

[ranch560]

I just had my bearings repacked, new seals, disc brakes inspected, tires rotated, independent suspension lubed for $185 w/tax in Ellensburg, Wa last Monday. With a not-so-good back, this is well worth the money. That piece of mind is PRICELESS!

[Good Life]

Originally Posted by nosticks

Harbor Freight has a really slick bearing packer. I bought one. Even the mobile RV repair guys use them.
http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing...ker-69027.html

Link is no good!

[dfb]

Originally Posted by WeBeFulltime

IF they REALLY did it!

I watched him do it..about 8 years ago. I thought good deal. I don't like packing by hand..
It's not that hard...jack it up, remove wheel, remove axle cap, pull cotter pin, pull hub off. Remove sal, remove bearings , wash in gas( what I do, check races and bearings, grease, install seal, put on axle, tighten castle nut, back nut off, installpin, install cap, shell, WHAMO..done

[beeje]

I don't understand the yearly packing thing. Remember back when your cars front wheel bearings had to be be repacked. It was done 2 0r 3 times in in the life of the car. I have owned 3 campers so far since 2006 and have never repacked any of there bearings. Granted, the used one I bought 2 years ago, I had them repack before I took delivery. It has disc brakes & ez lube axles & you can see the back side of the seals. I add 30-40 pumps of grease in the spring to each one and check for bearing play.

[Charli]

We put about 5000 miles on the trailer each year and have the bearings replaced, brakes and suspension checked each year after our return from our Snowbird trip. Overkill?
Does give me some peace of mind.

[1retired06]

Originally Posted by mlh

I have found in 35 years of business sometimes you make mare money by charging less. You stay busy.
Lynwood

Absolutely agree with charging less and making it up in volume sales. Lower prices are great, but that lower price still has to cover your costs, ie overhead, materials, labor, etc, and provide some percentage of profit. I would sometimes choose to work at cost, but with the objective of getting in the door with a customer for potential future work where there would be a profit.

PS: Last month I used the fabricated cable connector you sent me long long ago and it was a godsend for us.. Thanks again for your generosity.

[Recumbent]

Never had repacking done, but it was and is certainly the best way to maintain the Montana. Back in 2014 and before I did do the EZ Lube process of spinning the wheel while slowly hand pumping, and it worked for me for near 50K miles and I constantly monitored the effectiveness of all 4 brakes, but we have since upgraded our present Montana with MorRyde Independent Suspension and Disc Brakes. What great upgrades the IS and Disc brakes are.

[mlh]

Mike I'm sorry you had to use one of the ends but I'm glad you had it. You have them for the same reason a bore hog has tits, just in case.
Lynwood
Let me know which one you used so I can send l can send a replacement.

[1retired06]

Thanks for the offer. As soon as I used yours, I went on line and thru Amazon got a cable repair kit BAL now sells for my parts box so we are good to go. I could not take advantage of your generosity a second time particulary after the numbers you sent out to forum members on your dime!

[beeje]

I do agree with a repacking maybe within 5-10k miles after purchase of a new unit just to make sure they are packed correctly since we all know the manufacturers will scrimp on anything they can.

After that barring any curbing etc. you should be good to go for 50k or so without worry.

[twindman]

Not knowing anything about repacking, I take it to a local dealer that I trust. I think they used to charge $50 a wheel, but got bought out by Paul Evert and now it is $60 if memory serves me. I do it every year, but maybe I should stretch it out a bit. But I also have them rotate tires and check brakes. Since I never know if brake setting on truck is where it should be, I like someone to inspect them.

[rohrmann]

According to the Dexter manual, they recommend repacking the bearings every 12,000 miles, at which time you also inspect the brakes. The bearing service also has you replace the seals and the bearings are adjusted. The manual also recommends lubing the wet bolts every 3,000 miles.

http://www.dexterpartsonline.com/fil...e%20Manual.pdf

[mlh]

Thanks rohrmann. These are the folks that should know.
Lynwood

[WaltBennett]

I've followed the Dexter recommendations and video yearly (we tend to do over 8k miles per year travel) since we got our 2010 five years back. Just squirting grease in until it starts coming back isn't the end of it. You're supposed to keep pumping until what's coming out is new grease. Then you've replaced all the old.

My back also isn't in the greatest of shape, but I picked up a HF continuous flow air grease gun a year back and it's made my life wonderful again! Put my air compressor pressure down to about 60 lbs and only tap the trigger a few times per wheel revolution so I don't over pressure the seals. I can do a wheel in about fifteen minutes (as long as I've a bucket for the paper towels & old grease handy). Also is a wonder on the wet bolts.

This last spring, I spent more time jacking and moving things about than actually greasing things. Did everything in about three hours including putting stuff away.

[jcurtis934]

As I had posted this spring, my bearings were toast at four years old, underside of each spindle was blue that I figure was due to first couple of months towing before I greased all four myself and there was no grease in the ez lub cavity from factory. Next time I do it, spring 2019, I will put all new bearings in again just to be safe. New 8k axles with disc brakes are on my wish list if I can sneak it by the boss.

[beeje]

Previous owner of my 3455sa did me several big favors shortly before they traded it in. They spent the $$ to add Kodiac disc brakes / 6 point level up /all led lighting / built in EMS / goodyear g614s. They probably spent upwards of 15k.