Repacking Wheel Bearings

[phoenixbound]

How often should the CTC wheel bearings be repacked? I have had a trip to Phoenix and back plus a roundtrip to Sturgis. A total of about 5,000 miles so far.

[tony.latham]

How often should the CTC wheel bearings be repacked? I have had a trip to Phoenix and back plus a roundtrip to Sturgis. A total of about 5,000 miles so far.

You'll get a lot of opinions on greasing axles. I've got a Dexter axle with their E-Z Lube system so I give them several pumps of new grease each spring. Part of getting pumped for camping season. But here's a question that's been floated on this forum before: When was the last time you greased the bearings on your tow vehicle?

I think most vehicles today have sealed bearings so that's a somewhat of a moot point. But for trucks and cars that don't, I think it's the practice to repack those bearings when the brakes need replacing.

Perhaps others will chime in.



Tony

[McDave]

Pull a wheel off and remove the hub grease cap if there is one. You may have the EZlube set up as well. If so, just put your grease gun on the zerk and pump it till you see clean grease coming out the back side. I only take about 5-6 big trips a year, so I just do it every time before I leave along with checking the air pressure and lug nuts. There was a sticker on the door that that said how to do it and how often. I would think that 5000miles its probably due. At least once a year for sure.

McDave

[hankaye]

phoenixbound, Howdy;

How often should the CTC wheel bearings be repacked? I have had a trip to Phoenix and back plus a roundtrip to Sturgis. A total of about 5,000 miles so far.

If it has you thinking about it it's time. Then it won't bother you till the next time.

hank

[Tigris99]

all modern vehicle have sealed bearings. Nothing uses those types of bearings anymore.

As for trailer repacking, ez lube adapters are for boat trailers to keep water out (means using marine grease). It can cause more issues for the sake of convenience on bearings using regular grease because regular axle grease degrades in water rapidly. Letting water in past the seal because using that cap pushes grease through the seal also damaging it. The reason why it was never available on vehicles that use the same bearing design. Not opinion, fact there.

Especially just pushing more grease in every year and hoping for the best. Along with most of the contaminants that get in there stay in there.

All of that makes people ignore the hub seals which turns into burned up bearings, races and such one day going down the road.

If you want to use those caps, need to use proper marine grease.

As for when to repack, that depends on the grease used and how well they were packed to start with.

If it's a trailer you bought and never packed them yourself, do it immediately because grease packing at the factory is often poorly done with cheap grease. Beyond that if done with good synthetic grease and done PROPERLY a couple years worth of regular use isnt a problem in light weight trailer purposes. There is an entire procedure for packing and installing that type of bearings, not done right you will have issues. Those that have bearing problems and all that dont do it correctly, that's why and the only reason why they fail.

Make sure before leaving for a long trip you inspect for movement in the wheel (jacking up axle so tires arent touching the ground). if there is any the bearings need to be taken out, cleaned and repacked and properly reinstalled.

Once a year pull the caps (if you do serious miles) and check the condition of the grease.

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[tony.latham]

all modern vehicle have sealed bearings. Nothing uses those types of bearings anymore.

As for trailer repacking, ez lube adapters are for boat trailers to keep water out (means using marine grease). It can cause more issues for the sake of convenience on bearings using regular grease because regular axle grease degrades in water rapidly. Letting water in past the seal because using that cap pushes grease through the seal also damaging it. The reason why it was never available on vehicles that use the same bearing design. Not opinion, fact there.

Especially just pushing more grease in every year and hoping for the best. Along with most of the contaminants that get in there stay in there.

All of that makes people ignore the hub seals which turns into burned up bearings, races and such one day going down the road.

If you want to use those caps, need to use proper marine grease.

As for when to repack, that depends on the grease used and how well they were packed to start with.

If it's a trailer you bought and never packed them yourself, do it immediately because grease packing at the factory is often poorly done with cheap grease. Beyond that if done with good synthetic grease and done PROPERLY a couple years worth of regular use isnt a problem in light weight trailer purposes. There is an entire procedure for packing and installing that type of bearings, not done right you will have issues. Those that have bearing problems and all that dont do it correctly, that's why and the only reason why they fail.

Make sure before leaving for a long trip you inspect for movement in the wheel (jacking up axle so tires arent touching the ground). if there is any the bearings need to be taken out, cleaned and repacked and properly reinstalled.

Once a year pull the caps (if you do serious miles) and check the condition of the grease.

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I think you are referring to Bearing Buddys.

The Dexter E-Z Lube system is manufactured into the axle. You purge the old grease out with them.





T

[McDave]

Tony's got it right. EZlube is the correct system for our trailers. And they work, not opinion, fact. As far as vehicle wheel bearings, of the nine vehicles I own only the Harley has sealed bearings. So when I do the brakes on one I repack or replace the wheel bearings.
"Bearing Buddies" are not the same as EZlube and probably not appropriate for these trailers. They are intended for boat trailers but used correctly they will extend the life of those bearings by removing water taken in during launching and take out ops.

McDave

This is the sticker that was on the door.

[beachguy005]

The spec sheet on mine has it listed as 12 months or 12k miles. I have E-Z Lube type so I've been re-packing them about twice a year.

[swoody126]

How often should the CTC wheel bearings be repacked? I have had a trip to Phoenix and back plus a roundtrip to Sturgis. A total of about 5,000 miles so far.

prior to each "major" adventure/trip and at the beginning of each season is the time to CHECK the status of your bearings

jack the tire off the ground and spin it as fast as you can by hand

place your ear close to the hub and listen for rough/growling noises

those noises indicate more than lubrication is needed and the hub assembly needs to be pulled and have the races n bearings replaced w/ properly greased parts

when i hear no noises i lube the bearings via either BEARING BUDDIES or EZ-LUBE spindles that i have on all my trailers(boat, cargo, utility, travel, farm...) by the prescribed methods

axles w/ common dust caps that have no means of greasing have to have their bearings cleaned and re-packed by hand usually annually or prior to said major adventure/trip

my experience with BEARING BUDDIES & EZ-LUBE axles has been quite favorable(time & money saving w/o parts replacement for extended service)

when using these lubricating aides make sure to follow the factory instructions to prevent any seal issues

there are many NAY SAYERS when it comes to the use of these lubrication aids and their problems stem from not understanding how the aids work AND not following factory instructions

above mentioned concerns about using MARINE GREASE stem from old "wive's tales" IMHO

MARINE GREASE is also what is used for SEVERE OFF ROAD DUTY

i have, for many years, been using MARINE/OFF ROAD GREASE(the blue stuff i get @ Tractor Supply) in all(farm, truck, auto, Jeep, trailer, m/c, 4-wheeler...) my grease guns w/ no lubrication related failures dating way back into the last century

¿ have i stirred the pot sufficiently ?

sw

[Tigris99]

yes I was getting bearing buddies and ez-lube confused. I completely forgot about ez-lube. Kicking myself in the ass for completely forgetting about those too, should have gone that route on my current build. I only use marine grease on trailers mainly because I hate working with axle grease and I have AMS Marine Grease on hand at all times for my bicycles (literally the best grease available for any bearings on a bicycle and cheaper than any bicycle stuff)

As for the marine grease "wives tails", far from it. I've worked in the automotive and marine industries much of my life. Marine grease is 10x better than normal axle grease in any situation that isnt properly sealed. But it does NOT deal with the heat from heavy loads which makes it bad for permanent use in vehicles. Upside is that the good stuff has half the drag on the bearings that automotive grease does. We swear by AMS Marine grease in cycling and many here use it on trailer bearings (besides boats) because of living in the rust belt.

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