Hot Hub - Need Advice-

CA

Capebuild

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2021
Posts
775
Hello. I took my trailer out for a test run and felt the wheel hubs afterwards. The passenger side hub was very hot to the touch (could not keep my hand on it). The driver's side was slightly warm, but nothing like the other side. I have a dexter axle with electric brakes. I did adjust the brakes yesterday and both tires spin (when jack up off floor) with a slight drag (adjusted as per Dexter instructions). Both hubs seem to have plenty of grease and the grease doesn't look at all old. Did give both some new grease via EZ Lube fittings. Any suggestions what to look for? Thanks.
John
 
Hey mate, have you checked the bearing retainer nut torque? Essentially, they assemble the hub and bearings on the axle, tighten the retainer nut to quite a high torque to seat the bearing cups (Aussies call them the inner races) on the shaft properly. At that point the bearing is way too tight for proper operation, and there is a procedure for backing it off to the correct operating clearance after setting the races in place.
I would back the brakes off and recheck the bearing tensions, then adjust the brakes.
If you have the time and inclination to do it, you can also take the hub right off, and manually spin the bearing in the outer race, feeling for any grinding/roughness at all. If the bearing doesn't feel perfectly smooth, it's had its day. But I'd start with just adjusting the tension on the bearings unless the axle is old and has had a lot of exposure to moisture.
Read this sheet, to see what I mean about adjustment. Pages 2 and 3.
https://www.dextergroup.com/user_area/c ... nSheet.pdf

Apologies for stating the obvious if you've already done this.
 
I'd pull the hub, and replace the bearings, and ensure there's no damage on the stub.

Bearings and seals are cheap.

Tony
 
Thanks for the reply, Mick. I am wondering if the castle nut is too tight. I will remove the wheel tomorrow and check more in depth. I took the rig out for a ride before without the brake controller attached (so no trailer braking) and there was considerably less heat than with it hooked up. So this leads me to believe it has to do something with the brakes. I backed off/ adjusted the brake pads a bit, but still hot to the touch when test driven. Need to remove the wheel and get a better view of the open hub.. hopefully that will reveal something. But thanks for posting that Dexter info sheet.
John
 
tony.latham":1vwikt0z said:
I'd pull the hub, and replace the bearings, and ensure there's no damage on the stub.

Bearings and seals are cheap.

Tony
Click to expand...

Thanks Tony. Cross posted with my reply to Mick. Yes... may replace the bearings after I inspect them and see what shape they're in.
John
 
Just a follow up. Solved the issue. Hopefully maybe this will help others. A couple of things I did. Pulled the tire and inspected the hub and bearings. Bearings looked fine. Applied some grease to the moving parts of the braking components that moved (probably not a cause of the problem, but since I had the hub apart, why not). I think maybe a big part of the overheating hub was that the brake pad was expanded too much and maybe too close to the hub inner surface. Backed off the pad using the adjuster spline. The other thing I did was to lower the power on the Tekonsha brake controller so it applied a bit less power to the brake magnet when brakes are applied. It was at 8.6 and lowered it to 7. I just took it out for a test drive. The brakes work and when I returned I felt both hubs and there was no heat to speak of on either hub.
One thing I've learned from all this is to check the hubs when traveling at every rest break. The other thing, having electric brakes on the trailer do make a noticeable difference when it comes to slowing down and/or stopping.
Thanks again for the help.
John
 
Too much grease can be as bad as not enough, churning
"Churning in grease, particularly in lubricated bearings, refers to the initial phase of bearing operation where the lubricant is actively stirred and displaced by the rolling elements. This process can lead to heat generation, grease degradation, and potential bearing failures if not managed properly."
I just had our done, removal cleaning and hand packing with synthetic grease.
 
This is an example of how adding layers of safety systems can actually result in an unanticipated unsafe condition.
The braking system is meant to promote safety but ended up causing problems.

A classic example of this was the Value Jet crash, many years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ValuJet_Flight_592, that was caused by improperly stored spent oxygen canisters. These were part of the planes emergency oxygen system intended to make passengers safer but instead killed all of them.
 
tomhawk":1n2g0jjp said:
A classic example of this was the Value Jet crash, many years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ValuJet_Flight_592, that was caused by improperly stored spent oxygen canisters. These were part of the planes emergency oxygen system intended to make passengers safer but instead killed all of them.
Click to expand...

I was in Atlanta that morning, taking a Value Jet flight home to Kansas City (after successfully defending my PhD dissertation and presenting highlights at an electrical engineering conference). Knew something was very wrong when they had security at the gate where Flight 592 was supposed to dock, and they were escorting an obviously distraught man out. Looking at the news later, I suspect he had two sons on that flight. Horrible to imagine what that man went through.

On my flight, I remember changing seats because there was some sort of cold water dripping on me. The stewardess assured me it wasn't a threat to flight. I hadn't heard of Value Jet's problems before, and my dissertation advisor recommended it as a much lower cost airline than the others. The next day I pointedly told him I wouldn't take that airline again, and he shouldn't, and suggested he bring it up to make it a department policy not to. Of course, the airline was grounded and later went out of business.

Funny thing though: A month later, I was at my new job in Los Angeles, assigned to share an office with someone I hadn't yet met. He came in, called his broker, and bought Value Jet stock on the theory it was undervalued and had nowhere to go but up. Ahh, the American spirit!

Tom
 
John, the Dexter/EZ-LUBE spindles n hubs can't be over filled w/ grease

their design is such that the grease going in thru the zerk fitting goes all the way past the inner bearing popping into the hub cavity between the bearing and inner grease seal

w/ the tyre off the ground and the wheel spinning gently as you insert new grease thru the zerk the old grease is forced out to the outside of the outer bearing going thru both bearings on the way thru

there is no pressure inside the hub ... it'z just full of grease

e-z-lube.jpg


bearings that are encased/surrounded with/ grease rarely if ever rust

at the beginning of a season i like to insure the grease is good by forcing enuff grease in thru the zerk that i get nice clean grease coming out around the spindle nut

also i do this to new axles w/ EZ-LUBE spindles so I KNOW what kind of grease is in my hubs

i use marine/boat trailer/off road grease(the blue green stuff) on all my traliers off road toys motorcycles and farm implements

it is considered to be a step above due to it's resistance to dilution by water and even salt water

my latest new axle came w/ these spindles and though "they said" the bearings were greased i changed the stuff that was in there w/ my chosen product

the stock stuff was red and as i pumped new grease thru the zerk the red came out around the spindle nut as i gently spun the wheel

when i got clean blue/green grease coming out i wiped the outer mess away and replaced the cap w/ one that has the rubber insert making future service easier

stock grease coming out.JPG


clean green grease coming out.JPG


once this has been dunn annual checking for unfriendly/groweling noises while spinning w/ the tyre off the ground and topping the cavity off at the beginning of the season if no noises are detected is my MO

my last side of the road bearing issue was in the mid 1970's which i attribute to adopting this system ever since

BON CHANCE

sw
 
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