E-Z Lube wheel bearing maintenance

[Bruce Lenhardt]

I was reading a thread in a different forum about the E-Z Lube system and the concenus seems to be that they are not to be trusted. Too easy to push grease past the inner seal. Some believe they were designed for boat trailers but are not too great for our type of use.

What is your experience and/or thoughts on the subject??? I have about 7000 miles on my less than one year old Monty and probably need to do something soon.

[HamRad]

Some of us do use the E-Z grease process but most folks may not. It is very easy to put too much grease in. If you only do one or two shots you're probably OK. As you indicated, however, it is often overdone by folks.

Personally I don't use them. At least once a year or year and half I'll pull the wheels and clean and repack the bearings. Actually my brother is the mechanic; I mostly just "supervise". But I know for sure that the job is done.

HamRad

[TLightning]

They were designed for use on boat trailers...to be submerged. I put a couple of shots of grease in each wheel annually.

[ols1932]

I had them on our rig when new. I put too much grease in. Being an old farm boy, when greasing machinery we always put enough grease in until we saw grease being pushed out. I didn't use that philosophy with my E-Z Lube bearings, but I did use the thought that if one pump was good, two was better, then why not three. I blew out the seals.
When I had my suspension changed to Individual Suspension by MOR/ryde in 2003, I was told not to have the E-Z Lube put on the new axles. The reason given was that Dexter didn't recommend it. When I asked why they put them on the new rigs, the answer was, "Because you'll buy them." All in all, I don't recommend them. As someone else said, they're designed for boat trailers and the like where the wheels go down into the water.

Orv

[H. John Kohl]

As stated you can EASILY blow grease out the back or inner seal. If done then you ruin your brakes. If you use it DO NOT USE A POWER or AIR POWERED GREASE GUN. Use a hand grease gun and pump very slowly. I also rotate the wheel while applying grease to make it easier to move through the system.
Good luck,

[JimF]

I took mine in to a dealer for a wheel bearing repack and watched the service guy use a power lubepump until he saw grease. I then went and got the service manager who had him pull the wheel, wash the mess up, put on new brakes and hand pack. Then the guy was fired.. They are for boat trailers and since I have determined that a 3400 is not a boat I have them pulled and hand packed.

[Okie Guy]

The dealer I purchased from said not to use those zerks. He said have the bearings repacked every year by hand, not grease gun. I trust him since he knew I was not going to drive 1000 miles for a service call.

[sreigle]

Actually, these are not the same as the kind used on boat trailers. I had those on my boat trailers. The grease in them stays strictly (supposedly) within the cap and is intended to keep water out of the bearings.

The grease in the ez lubes follows a route through the bearing itself.

If you push too much grease through the ez lubes they will in fact push out the seal, allowing grease into the brake linings area. People tend to think if a little is good then more must be better. It aint so in this case.

Since 2002, I have followed the advice our selling dealer's service manager has given me repeatedly: One squirt, once per year, no matter how many miles I put on the rig. I've done that and had him check and repack the bearing every other year and have had zero problems with the bearings and the ez lubes. Works for me.

This link shows the grease path throught the ez lube: http://www.dexteraxle.com/e_z_lube_system

This animation is from the Al-Ko axle site but the principle is the same:

[fulltimedreamer]

I have followed Steve's advice on our 2003 Mountaineer and have had no problems using the grease zerks. We've averaged about 4000 miles per year. Thus far the wheels and brakes have not required additional service. I'm more concerned with the spring hangers. I think its time to change those.

[billhoover]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Actually, these are not the same as the kind used on boat trailers.

Maybe not, but they must be very close, the manual says, "The E-Z Lube feature is designed to allow immersion in water."

I pump in two pumps of grease every 5k to 6k, or annually.

[DL N K]

Here's the answer I received from Dexter in response to a similar question a couple of years back.

"The E-Z Lube feature was originally intended for boat trailer use. The idea is to fill the hub cavity with grease to prevent water from getting in and if water does get in you can purge it out by pumping in more grease. The E-Z Lube feature was selected by trailer builders and sold as a maintenance reducing feature. But as you have determined, you still need to do a brake inspection annually so you can just inspect the bearings at that time.
I think repacking the bearings annually by hand would be better because you reduce the chance of forcing grease past the grease seal"

This is from a product engineer at Dexter....Good enough for me.

[richfaa]

we take it to the dealer once a year and let them pull the wheels, check the brakes and re pack the bearings.

[noneck]

The other product is called Bearing Buddy which has a spring loaded front end. Same purpose to resist water entry into the hub cavity by filling it with grease. The spring device allows the user to monitor for partial deflection and avoid over pressurizing as filling cavity will depress the spring and the user can stop pumping when partial movement is seen before fully compressing it.

I don't use 'em on my Monty...I do the manual disassembly, clean, inspection, repack by hand, and reassemble.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by billhoover

Maybe not, but they must be very close, the manual says, "The E-Z Lube feature is designed to allow immersion in water."

I pump in two pumps of grease every 5k to 6k, or annually.

Bill, the animation in my post shows the ez lubes do fill the hub with grease, effectively serving the same as the boat trailer grease hub addons. However, that animation also shows the grease flows through the bearings. The bearing buddies for boat trailers do not do that. So bearing buddies will not duplicate the function of the ez-lubes even though the ez-lubes duplicate the function of the bearing buddies. If that makes any sense.

If you think about it, why would Dexter or Keystone spend money to add something that's sole purpose is to allow immersion of the hubs in water? How many fifthwheel owners are going to do that?

[stimpy123]

All this information seems to indicate that I should either hand pack the bearings every year or 12000 miles or pump one pump cycle of grease into the ez lube axles on my 2009 3605. The question I have is concerning the type of grease. While still a hot rodder, I found that the training I received for axle bearing service, indicated that a special wheel bearing grease was to be used, and that chassis lube would not be appropriate. I've not looked yet at the local RV dealer to see if wheel bearing grease comes in a hand pump device or not. Any suggestions would be helpful as I have about 10k on our 09 model since late May.
Steve

[bsmeaton]

Because I have no idea now what grease is in the hub from the factory, I figure I'll do more harm pumping in too much grease or an incompatible grease. I've decided to just let them go as is and not mess with them.

How many folks have ever lost the bearing or spindle? I've never heard of it, yet I hear of blowouts all the time.

I have bearing buddies on my boat and it's going in for its FIRST repack in 13 years, mainly because the DW overheated the brakes and thinned the grease. Otherwise I still don't think I would have had to worry about it.

I think grease has improved significantly since the old days when you packed the front wheel bearings on your car every brake job. This Sta-Lube lithium is probably similar to what is in the truck bearings and car bearings and probably never needs repacked anymore.

[Mudchief]

Brad, I have never had the bearings re packed on any trailer, motor home or vehicle that I have owned. I am like you I don't know anyone that has had a problem. However when it comes to tires that is a different story. I think the bearings are like the 3 month 3K mile oil changes.

[noneck]

Ok...according to the Montana Manual;

Wheel Bearing Lubrication

Wheel bearings should be repacked every 6000 miles or every 6 months. Every time the wheel hub is removed, the wheel bearings must be adjusted. Turn the hub slowly to seat the bearings while tightening the spindle nut until the hub will no longer turn. Loosen the spindle nut so it may be turned by hand. Tighten nut finger tight then loosen to first hub slot allowing alignment. Install cotter pin.
The spindle nut and hub should be free to move with the cotter pin being the only restraint.
Prepare bearings by cleaning with solvent to remove the old grease. Repack by pressing fresh bearing grease into bearing roller area. Repack bearings more often if subject to extremely wet conditions. If trailer has not been used for more than 2 months, the wheel bearings should be inspected and repacked if necessary.
Repack bearings using a high temperature, automotive type wheel bearing grease produced by a reputable manufacturer. The soap type should be polyurea, lithium complex or equivalent. Use a NLGI Grade 2 product with a minimum dropping point of 440F.

[richfaa]

Last spring I felt I did not have very much brake on the 3400. Took it to our dealer and when the wheels were pulled we found 3 of the 4 seals blown and the brakes well lubricated with grease,,I had no brakes. The dealer felt that the hubs had been over greased at the factory as we had never touched them.The 3400 was just over 1 year old at the time. They installed better everything ,under warranty) I would strongly suggest that at least after the frst year have them checked. We have ours pulled and checked every year.

[ols1932]

When talking to a Dexter Rep, I was told to have my wheel bearings repacked annually or every 12,000 miles. Since I ruined my seals when I had the E-Z Lube feature when I bought our unit new, I've adhered to that advice. It's worked for us. Sometimes we get good advice from manufacturers.

Orv