Wheel bearing maintenance - mileage or time?

[Mikendebbie]

I had my bearings greased about a year ago.
I have towed the unit ~7000 miles since.
Is there a rule of thumb for maintenance...every year regardless of miles?
My 7000 miles is probably on the low side I think...just curious.

[jimcol]

I'm certainly not an authority but I'll share what I do. If over 10,000 miles in a year I have them serviced. If not 10k I'll have them serviced at the end of the next year. I only do it then so I can have the brakes inspected and adjusted. If I wasn't already paying to have the drums pulled to inspect the brakes I probably wouldn't have the bearings packed but every 30k miles maybe even more. Having already gone to the expense of pulling the drums it just makes sense to service the bearings at that time. Let the opinions roll!

[richfaa]

We usually have it done every two years at the fall rally in Goshen. We have slacked off on our miles traveled per year so we may have to re evaluate. It spite of that we had a wheel Bearing disintegrate while on the road a couple of years ago so you never know.

[Texan]

There usually are a lot of opinions as to when to do the bearings and inspect brakes. I think it has more to do with miles than time. I had been doing the service myself every year but i am now going to every 2 years as i have never had a dry bearing on account i don't over grease and blow out the back seal. I usually travel 5 to 6 thousand miles per year so going 10 to 12 thousand miles before service is plenty . I feel certain if the job is done right then you could go even further but i am satisfied with every other year. Those that are just weekenders may go longer as the grease isn't going anywhere if you don't over do it and blow out the rear seal. It's been said many times by others as well as myself the inspection of the brakes are just as important as the bearings but if i pull the wheel then i do the whole job on account pulling the wheel is the hardest part of the job.

[Charlie 3931fb]

I like to play it safe with wheel bearings. I will take my down about every 12 to 16 months. We travel about 9000 miles a year. I just don't want to have a problem on the side of a busy highway. And this is just me....

[ChuckS]

I do mine annually.. we rarely see more than 5K miles a year but it isn’t a big job and I do the work myself.

YMMV

From Dexter axle service manual.... every 12 months or 12K miles