EZ Lube questions

[GregoryL]

I just got a 2015 Montana High Country with EZ Lube axles.
How often do you put in grease and how much?
And do you ever have to have bearings repacked and how often?

[mlh]

Don’t use the easy lube. There is too much danger of getting grease on the break liners. Take the wheel off and repack the bearings. As for how often at the most once a year.
Lynwood

[Lee-CI]

Good advice Lynwood gave you. Personally I've never used the EasyLube system and never will. Others have used safely successfully, but I'll always old school hand pack my bearings. That way I'll have the brake drum off to inspect the brake linings and other components at the same time.

[rohrmann]

Used it once, took over a tube of grease per hub, and did it per the instructions. Six months later, brakes were not great so decided to pull the drums. Three of the brakes were totally covered in grease, had to replace all the brake backing plate assemblies and had to have the four drums turned, both the brake surfaces and the armature surfaces (the magnet contact surface). I did the labor, cost was close to $500. Cost to pull drums, inspect the brakes, repack the bearings and install new seals costs less than $40, so can repack and inspect many times for the one cost of greased brakes. Inspecting the brakes is really the important annual service and checking the bearings and doing the repack is secondary.

[Daryles]

I'm with Lynwood.
As for the suspension...
The Dexter Manual says to give the wet bolts a squirt every 3500 miles.

[Lee-CI]

Originally Posted by Daryles

I'm with Lynwood.
As for the suspension...
The Dexter Manual says to give the wet bolts a squirt every 3500 miles.

Darn good advice on greasing the wet bolts! I forgot to mention that line item....

[dieselguy]

My disdain for the EZ lube invention is well documented over the years on the MOC. 3-4 pumps from time to time is just a placebo and does nothing other than make the owner believe he has done some good. Seldom does the manufacturer ship the axles out with a hub full of grease which is the only way this invention was intended to function. It usually takes near a full tube of grease for each wheel hub pumped slowly while turning the tire just to get the wheel hub full. Then you hope you didn’t pump too fast or too hard causing grease to blow past the rear wheel seal. I have always acknowledged the few on the MOC and other RV forums I visit that have had success and swear by the invention ... however I’ve always been stumped by the lack of responses of those people when I ask the following simple question. Why is it not troubling to you that you are in essence pumping the used and dirty grease out of the inner bearing eventually right into the outer bearing?? That’s exactly what the EZ lube invention does.

[rohrmann]

That is very true. Also, if you did not remove the hub and wanted to add grease, you would need to pump enough grease to move the bad grease out again to get the new to the bearings, hoping that the seals hold. Also, what in the world do you do with all that grease in the hub when you do remove the drum to inspect or work on the brakes?

[RMcNeal]

One other argument against the EZ Lube I've heard, is that when the hub is completely full of grease, the heat can build up even more and cause problems.
True or not, this along with the others mentioned make it not worth it.
Even at my age and physical impairment, I can repack all four wheels in a few hours.

[1retired06]

Agree. Pack by hand, brakes can be inspected at the same time.

[432bartman]

EZ lube is just a free ticket to blowing out your rear seal and getting grease on your brakes. I will never use that feature after finding a my brand new rig with a blown out rear seal. I took the time to pack everything by hand.

[Todd & Mary]

Performance trailer Braking told me Dexter discontinued EZ lube because on drum brakes you cannot see the rear seal and a majority of times it was blown out due to pressure of using the system and leaked grease into the brake. Pull them and clean, then inspect, repack and reinstall. Thats my motto!

[wed]

I pac them every other year but if I put a lot of mile I will do it every year

[Greg1780]

I have a 2021 Montana that Keystone just replaced our roof under warranty. So we too our rig in for the roof and I asked them to check the wheel bearings , later I received a call that said the bearings were over packed with grease and the Brakes, Bearings, Backing plate needs to be replaced at a cost of $1600.00. I’ve never greased the bearings and Keystone said they we’re probably OVER PACKED at the factory, go figure.

[Mikelff]

I’m curious as to how much grease people pack into the hub when repacking the bearings. I have the E-Z lube axle’s but don’t use the system for fear of overfilling the hub and blowing out the seals. The bearings are checked and repacked every 10-12 thousand miles. Red and Tacky the only grease for me.

[bigred715]

Greg, I would find another dealership. From what people say on the forum, most trailers have little to no grease from the factory. The dealer probably screwed you out of $1600 and showed you some bad hubs from a different trailer. I don't trust most dealers.

[beeje]

First off I am in no way defending the easy Lube system. I did however use it for five or so years on my current 2011 Montana. I would get each wheel off the ground and pump around 40 pumps of Grease with a hand grease gun while spinning the wheel in every spring. In those five years I never actually repacked the bearings. I had no bearing troubles whatsoever.
One very important factor to mention is my unit has disc brakes on it so I could see that there was no grease getting past that seal. I don't think the seals are any different whether you have drum or disc brakes

[BB_TX]

Like beeje I would not defend EZ Lube nor recommend anyone using it. Too many instances of grease on brakes. BUT. They did work fine for me. I first tried it before all the reports of greased brakes. So I continued.

After 14 years my 2007 only had a little over 20,000 miles on it. So about 1,500 miles per year. Every 3rd year I used the EZ Lube system. I slowly pumped in new grease while continuously turning the wheel. Took a while but eventually the darker colored grease would all be pushed out thru the outer bearing and nothing but new red grease would start coming out. Meaning new grease had been pushed thru the inner bearing and out the outer bearing displacing all the old grease.

After towing it some distance I would check each brake by jacking a wheel, pulling the breakaway switch, and rotating the wheel to see if it locked up. And repeat for each wheel. Then the next time I hooked up, I get moving about 5 mph and manually engage the brake to endure that all wheels locked up on a gravel drive. They would also bring a quick stop but not lock up on pavement. Never a brake problem.

Never a problem for me. And no, a hub full of grease does not cause overheating as I can attest by routinely towing in 100 plus degree Texas weather. Hubs never got more than slightly warm. Normal.

And again no, I never pulled the hubs to check the bearings. And again, they never got more than a normal warm. Lucky? Maybe. We’ll never know.

[tom woodward]

The first year I used the EZ lube I blew out the seals and had to have the brakes and rotors replaced. About $500. This time I read the manual, and watched a couple of YouTube. The trick is to SPIN the wheels while pumping the grease in. Last year I was successful but it did take about a tube+ per wheel.

[Foldbak]

Aside from repacking by hand, I put 1 pump into them once a year. So far no problems. It also depends on the grease you're using. Synthetic lasts longer.