wheel bearings

[Woodworker]

My 2018 3811ms has grease zerks on all 4 wheels and I grease the bearings at least twice a year.
Do I need to repack the bearings by hand also? How often?
I don't have a owners manual, so I don't know which is best.

[K0LCB]

I think it’s probably better to clean, inspect and then repack bearings. JMHO

[jcurtis934]

I trusted the old setup on my monte and never had an issue, but the Chinese bearing put in by keystone did have some bearing surface flaws. I now have the I.S. system with Timken bearings so I will do the cleaning and new grease every 18 months since we sit 6 months and travel the other 6 months, but stay put at least 2 weeks or longer at each stop. Everything I have read says yearly, but I believe that is overkill. Personal decision by all.

[Dave W]

Dexter says in their manual which now is hard to find on the 'net that you should disassemble. inspect the brakes and bearings plus clean and do a repack every 12 monts (a Deter CYA) or every 12,000 miles which is what the auto manufacturers did before the days of current sealed asseblies. I do ours every spring, regardless of time or miles

[MARK A]

Unless you're pumping a whole tube of grease into the hub, you're not getting any to the bearings yet. I pull inspect and re-pack. Every couple years should do unless you're a high miler.



Mark

[rohrmann]

Pulling the drums allows you to inspect the brakes as well as the bearings. I, earlier this year, performed my annual service on the bearings and, not expecting any issues, found one of the four brake assemblies failed, shown in the photo below.
When our rig was only six months old, I used the zerks to grease the bearings, following the instructions in the Dexter manual to the letter, https://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defa....pdf?sfvrsn=42.
Six months later I decided to pull the drum/hub assemblies and found three of the four with grease covered brake shoes. $500 later for new backing plate brake assemblies and cost to have the drums turned, the rig was ready for travel. I have never used the zerk fittings since to grease the bearings. A couple of years ago I had a Dexter installed bearing fail, and a short time later I upgraded the bearings to USA Timkens. Keystone does not do anything with the bearings on these rigs as the axles are fully assembled by Dexter and then the complete axles are installed on the frame.
We had the drum brakes on this rig upgraded to discs while at the Western Region Rally at Coos Bay, OR, so drum brakes are not going to be an issue for us anymore. I also paid extra to have Timken bearings installed with the discs instead of the Chinese bearings that would have been installed.

[mazboy]

if you can do it, just do it once a year. you can check everything at that time.