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Old 01-12-2018, 06:36 PM   #1
Vic B
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Question Grease

When leaving the dealership with a 2018 Montana I was advised that every 500 miles I should add two small shots of grease to the bearings. Does this seem overkill or normal Operation.
 
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Old 01-12-2018, 07:41 PM   #2
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Overkill for sure.
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Old 01-12-2018, 08:13 PM   #3
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Don't do it. First, the bearings should have come packed from Dexter, and they do not fill the hub cavity with grease, so you could put two shots of grease every day for weeks before you filled the cavity and finally pushed enough grease in to reach the outer bearing. Secondly, once filled, if the grease seal has any defect in it, you seriously risk pushing grease past the seal onto the brake shoes. Download the Dexter manual, and read the pages 55 thru 58 for the lubrication procedure if you use that system. It also says at the top of page 55 that using the E-Z-Lube system still requires you to inspect the bearings and brakes as they describe in their schedule. Hand packing every 12,000 miles or 12 months is for some, not needed, but it is cheap insurance to make sure your brakes and bearings are in good shape.

http://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defau....pdf?sfvrsn=26
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Old 01-13-2018, 03:57 AM   #4
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Is there a manual Bob does not have a PDF for?
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Old 01-13-2018, 05:20 AM   #5
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I can't even begin to imagine why anyone would tell you that! DON'T DO IT!
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Old 01-13-2018, 07:16 AM   #6
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Proper bearing lubrication, seals and adjustment are important. I always handpack and check the old fashioned way by hand, messy but easy to do. Spot-on advice from Rohrmann.
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Old 01-13-2018, 08:41 AM   #7
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While our HC has 6K axles, found that Dexter did NOT do a good job packing those low end Chinese bearings. One was chipped and grooved and another turning color after less then 2000 miles including delivery miles to the dealer. The bearings were all replaced by US made Timkens and are inspected and hand packed yearly with a Dexter recommended grease. The E-Z Lube feature zerks have never been used and best left as a boat trailer axle convenience.

Dig into the Dexter site and you will find a lengthy bearing maintenance write up. Their recommendation for bearing inspection and service is 12000 miles or 12 months. The 12 months is a bit conservative but the 12000 miles is what the automotive service interval was through the 1980s on rear wheel drive vehicles and is, IMHO, still valid.
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Old 01-13-2018, 10:12 AM   #8
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The EZ lube axles have been controversial for years. Some use and like them. Some have used them and got grease on the bearings. Some have never used them and never will.

If you look at the http://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/...-z-lube-system video you can see that the grease is ported to the back side of the inner bearing, thru that bearing, thru the hub cavity, thru the outer bearing, and out the front of the hub. So an occasional pump is not going to do anything for the outer bearing.

If you do use the system, read up on it and do it correctly.
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Old 01-13-2018, 02:28 PM   #9
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For those of us to remember rear wheel drive, you packed the front wheel bearings around 30k miles when you did a front brake job. Not every 12k...
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Old 01-13-2018, 05:02 PM   #10
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I uaed the ez lube zerk. Ruined my brake shoes after 10 k miles. Now I do a manual pack every 12 k miles. Also inspect brake shoes etc. This 500 miles is not what a sane person would suggest. Must be advise from a dealer.
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Old 01-13-2018, 11:15 PM   #11
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Amen to the 12k maintence. The real clue is making sure the bearings are properly packed and nuts properly tighten. Extra grease between bearings holds heat.
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Old 01-14-2018, 08:53 AM   #12
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This stuff is great. One of the main reasons we went with a 5th wheel instead of a Diesel Pusher is the fact there just isn't much that can go wrong with a 5th wheel that would keep you from at least getting it home. When you get down too it there are only a handful of components that can leave you on the side of the road. The bearings are certainly one of them but that is a whole lot better than an entire drive train (not to mention getting a big class A towed)!!


While I am capable of greasing and replacing the bearings myself I will likely let a shop I trust do it for me. And the first time it is done I will have them check for the brand of the bearing. If they are the cheap bearings then you can bet they will be replaced with high grade bearings and a spare set added to my parts collection......
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Old 01-14-2018, 10:17 AM   #13
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I am getting to the point where I just can't handle pulling the tires. Would love to be able to do it like when I was younger. Also now adays I can afford to have the shop do the work.

I do beleave hand packing is the way to go. And I will be getting that done before we leave for a cross country trip in September. By then we will have about 12,000 to 15,000 on the rig and it will be 4 years old. Pack and or replace the barrings and replace the grease seals, check the brakes and have new Sailun's put on.
Total cost probably arround $1,000. That should hold it for another 30,000 miles or 5 years whatever comes first.

There is absolutely no reason the be packing the barrings every 12 months for the vast majority of fifth wheel owners. I am not full time but I am long time, in it 7 months a year. Again mine is 4 years old and I don't beleave I have more than 15,000 miles, that's an average of 3,750 miles a year. Even at 20,000 that's 5,000 a year. I check the hubs for temperature every time we stop. That will tell you if something bad is going on.

If you have the time and energy to do it every 12 months and it makes you feel better then God bless you and have at it. But my dad and grandfather always said if it ain't broke don't mess with it because you just may brake it.
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Old 01-14-2018, 12:31 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtlakejim View Post
This stuff is great. One of the main reasons we went with a 5th wheel instead of a Diesel Pusher is the fact there just isn't much that can go wrong with a 5th wheel that would keep you from at least getting it home. When you get down too it there are only a handful of components that can leave you on the side of the road. The bearings are certainly one of them but that is a whole lot better than an entire drive train (not to mention getting a big class A towed)!!


While I am capable of greasing and replacing the bearings myself I will likely let a shop I trust do it for me. And the first time it is done I will have them check for the brand of the bearing. If they are the cheap bearings then you can bet they will be replaced with high grade bearings and a spare set added to my parts collection......
I credit a salesman at the Red Neck Trailer Supply store south of Fresno, CA a number of years ago for saving us from being stranded in Laredo, TX a couple years ago. I was in the store, purchasing 4 backing plate brake assemblies, seals, and several other parts to replace all the brakes due to grease contamination from using the E-Z-Lube 'brake greasing system'. I asked him if there was anything I should be carrying with us on the rig as we traveled. He went over to a display rack and picked out a package with a set of bearings with races, a seal, and a cotter key.

We were heading south just about to clear Laredo when a couple guys flagged us from a truck and said our brakes smelled bad. Turned out our outer bearing on one of the curb side wheels had failed. Brakes were trashed, seal bore was trashed, and of course the outer bearing was gone, even though it was still covered in grease. No one in town had a drum or brake assembly, so I just drove out the races, installed new ones, cut off the brake parts, greased the new bearings, and installed the drum back on the spindle, which was not damaged except for a small gouge in the tapered part. I was not able to install a seal, but we got to where we were going and then back up to Odessa fine, where we had parts ordered from Dexter delivered. So, even though you may not be able to do the work, even just having a complete set of bearings, races, and a can of grease would be prudent.
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Old 01-14-2018, 06:09 PM   #15
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I agree, don't do it. Bearings must be maintained, but they should be done the right way.
On my old fiver I asked the service place to "repack the bearings". When he saw those zerks fittings he just pumped grease into them and walked away. Wasn't long before I had no brakes on the trailer at all! Tore them apart myself and found three of the grease seals had been blown out and grease all through the brakes. Had to replace the brake shoes and magnets, and used a dozen cans of brake clean to get the grease out of the drums.
Follow Dexters recommended service advice. Manually remove the brakes drums and bearings, clean and INSPECT each bearing, then manually repack them. They say every 12 months or 12K miles. Personally, I never get 12K miles a year and I do mine every other year. Whatever you do, don't used those zerks fittings.
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Old 01-15-2018, 03:57 AM   #16
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Hi

I have been using the EZ Lube system for 9 years and 100,000 miles and haven’t replaced a bearing yet. The only time I have had the hubs off was to replace brake shoes and found no grease contamination and didn’t change the seals.

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Old 01-15-2018, 06:06 AM   #17
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Weren't EZZ lube hubs really invented for use on boat trailers where they were in and out of the water constantly? I know they come on everything now days, but I have always thought that encouraged everyone to sit down and start pumping grease into them just because they were there, and not really understanding them.
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Old 01-15-2018, 09:32 AM   #18
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Like Phil, I have only used the EZ Lube system to grease my bearings. And never a problem with the brakes.

Living in Texas and regularly traveling in hot weather (as high as 108) there has never been a problem with the axles heating due to too much grease. And I check for heat at every stop.

But I would not encourage anyone to use that system without fully understanding how to do it correctly.
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Old 01-25-2018, 06:52 PM   #19
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Like previously said, the older cars front wheel bearings would only need repacking at around 30-40k miles or so, usually during a brake job. IMHO any one repacking there bearings every year is wasting there time and money. The OP posted that he was told to put 2 pumps of grease in, I believe before every trip.

I want everyone reading this to out to you garage and pump 2 squirts of grease from there guns onto something. It anit much, is it. This practice, be it unorthodox, is not bad advice, just not necessary if the bearing were packed correctly in the first place.

I have had EZ lube axles on all my trailers and every spring I pump upwards of 30-40 pumps in each wheel ( wheels off the ground and spinning while doing so) have never had an issue.

I must say my current trailer has disc brakes, so there is no chance of getting grease on the pads since I can see the back sides of the seals
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Old 01-26-2018, 09:59 AM   #20
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We have been putting 10-12000 miles a year on the fiver and I have our local shop pull the wheels to check the bearings and brakes every year. So far, they have repacked the bearings about every third year. Brakes have not needed anything, but I like to keep an eye on them.
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