Packing the wheel bearings?

[Pete S]

Umm... Think about this... You drive your car-truck-van for 50-75000 miles and never pack front wheel bearings.... You could put 20-30,000 miles safely on a properly greased set of trailer bearings... The only EXCEPTION in my mind is a boat trailer where every time you take boat out the bearing get dunked... It this case its prudent to do it at beginning of boating season ( use water resistant wheel bearing grease for boat treilers)...

Dale

I'm with Dale on this one. You don't change the bearings on your car every year, why would you do it on your trailer??? Bearings last a long time, especially if you keep them smothered in grease. On my boat trailer I pump 3 or 4 squirts of grease into the hubs through the bearing buddies every time I take off on a journey. I check the hub-nut tension from time to time but rarely pull things apart. That is on my BOAT TRAILER!

The last time I pulled the hub off the boat trailer it had been on about 5 years. It was about 1/3 full of grease, no sign of water. Trust me, if you have a hub full of grease and the seal starts to leak you'll know because grease is everywhere. Watch for grease blobs on the inside of your wheels that tell you your seal is starting to fail.

You have a 2010 LG trailer? I'd say (personal opinion) if your hubs didn't come with grease fittings put on a set of bearing buddies. Pump in a few pumps of grease every time you use the trailer (if you try to pump in a bunch of grease all at once you'll blow the seal). Check the adjustment on the hub-nut once or twice a year (if it changes dramatically do a full service of the hub including new bearings/seals). If you are mainly driving paved roads (and you do what I recommend above) I can see no reason why you can't plan on 5 or more years from your bearings.

But hey, you know what they say about opinions...

[the other side]

Well I took the tear today to get the wheel bearings repacked.
The bad news- They hit me up for $86.00. I thought I heard the girl wrong. I asked her to repeat herself.
The good news- The guy did it outside of the garage so I could watch. Not only was I allowed to watch but he talked and walked me through it and answered questions as he went. Also, he said I have a grease pin (I thought he called it). He said the same thing as you Dale, just pump a couple of squirts of grease.
I don't feel comfortable doing it yet though. I think I should watch it done one more time, or have someone that knows what they are doing to supervise me while I do it for the first time. What was confusing to me was he kept flipping the wheel over and I got confused as to what was going where and where stuff came from. Plus I was trying to keep an eye on what he was using (as far as tools). But, I surely don't wanna pay $86.00 ever again for that!!! ($86.00 for that and the education/instruction was worth it though... once).

[Shadow Catcher]

The difference between the bearings in your car and those on your trailer are likely to be very great. As with most things now days there are bearings and there are bearings.
I will not get into it but even with automobiles and darn near everything else, most/many companies make them only as good as they have to be, not as good as they can be.
Roller bearing grades are expressed as an Roller Bearing Engineers Committee (RBEC) number, the higher the number the better.
For the engineering types or in my case have to know everything about something types.
http://etidweb.tamu.edu/ftp/ENTC463/Not ... arings.pdf
Folks you get what you pay for and more importantly for those that are knowledgeable what you know to ask for.
I know the number/identification of bearings from the Dexter axle L44610/L44649 and from that I can find bearings with a higher RBEC number.
Good seals i.e. from Bearing Buddy which use a stainless steel sleeve attached to the axle shaft which provides a soother and rust free and harder sealing interface as well as using a good synthetic grease or if you use oil hubs as I will gear oil.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

I repacked my bearings a couple weeks ago. Pounded the rear bearings and seals out from the inside, and reused them. Also, these two bearings came out of the same hub. After a thorough cleaning and close inspection, I lubed them up and put them right back in.



I put 450 miles on the trailer last weekend. Checked the seals and felt the hubs for heat whenever I stopped somewhere. So far so good.

Some people frown upon the method that I used to remove the rear bearings and seals, and also then reusing the seals. Many people would have also replaced that discolored bearing. On that day, I didn't have the money to go get either, and I was leaving for a gathering the following day.

I honestly feel that when done carefully, the seals can be removed and reused. Is this THE BEST way? No. Will it guarantee failures of epic proportion? No.

Since then, I did go get 2 new bearings and also ordered 2 new seals online. I have them in my possession, but I dont intend on tearing apart the hubs again right away. As far as I'm concerned they are fine for now.

My $0.01.


P.S. I'll let everyone know the day that I'm sitting along the highway changing out the failed bearing

[azmotoman]

An old 'Trucker's Tip': Some tractor/trailer rigs I have driven, ran pyrometers on each axle, or wheel hub, to monitor the temperature of the bearings. One tip I learned through the years was to mix the high temp grease with STP oil treatment (75% grease - 25% STP). The bearings run cooler, stay cleaner and last longer.