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Old 11-19-2019, 04:05 PM   #21
JRTJH
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Originally Posted by Astroinfidel View Post
I bought a used 2009 Everest, and the dealer told me that the bearings had just been repacked. I put 20,000 miles on it, and when I took them for a repack in Yuma, the mechanic said they looked fine and didn't need it. Not sure why wheel bearings in cars and pickups are usually good for at the very least 50,000 miles, yet we consider repacking the RV wheel bearings as low as every 5000 miles. Lack of use in the off season maybe? But wouldn't everything stay coated with grease and not corrode even if sitting all winter?

Dean
In addition, the bearing/race "technology" is the same technology that was incorporated on the 1950 Chevrolet B210 sedan. Cars and trucks have advanced "leaps and bounds" since 1950, but with the exception of the metal alloys used, your trailer bearings are essentially the same "high tech engineering" as the front wheel bearings in your grandfather's (or great grandfather's) old Chevy "tudor" with the wool seat covers. Back then, wheelbearings were packed annually or every 12,000 miles and failure rates were much greater than most of us care to remember.

You simply can't compare the wheel bearings on a modern vehicle to the "old type bearings" on a travel trailer.
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Old 11-19-2019, 04:07 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by Astroinfidel View Post
I bought a used 2009 Everest, and the dealer told me that the bearings had just been repacked. I put 20,000 miles on it, and when I took them for a repack in Yuma, the mechanic said they looked fine and didn't need it. Not sure why wheel bearings in cars and pickups are usually good for at the very least 50,000 miles, yet we consider repacking the RV wheel bearings as low as every 5000 miles. Lack of use in the off season maybe? But wouldn't everything stay coated with grease and not corrode even if sitting all winter?

Dean
And again, it's not just the bearings, but the brakes must be looked at too, and with most cars, you can pull the wheel and if drum brakes, the drum without messing with bearings. With these trailers, the only way to inspect the brakes is pulling the drum, and once it's pulled it is prudent to repack the bearings and installed new seals before putting the drums back on.
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Old 11-19-2019, 04:22 PM   #23
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The idea is to do it before the bearings fail. You keep them packed with good clean grease the last longer than the sealed bearings used on most newer vehicles. Repackaging bearings is much cheaper than the potential aftermath of a bearing failure. Have a customer right now that thought packing bearings is a waste. An axle, bearings, seals and a set of brakes later he's bringing his other trailer in to have the bearings packed. Not to mention the insurance claim because the wheel came off and hit a car, luckily no one was hurt.
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Old 11-19-2019, 05:06 PM   #24
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Thanks for the responses to my question. You all make good points.

We bought our new trailer this year and my son right away was considering one for his young family. He was concerned about breaking down out on the road with his family.
My response to him was, that yes, a water pump or A/C unit might break down, but as far as stopping you on the road, a trailer is pretty much bullet proof.
That is as long as the axle and tire maintenance is kept up.

He bought a used Outback and took it right into the shop for axle service, tires, and a complete check-up before hitting the road for a cross country trip.
It makes a vacation better when you're not worrying about those little things.
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Old 11-19-2019, 05:41 PM   #25
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Thanks for the responses to my question. You all make good points.

We bought our new trailer this year and my son right away was considering one for his young family. He was concerned about breaking down out on the road with his family.
My response to him was, that yes, a water pump or A/C unit might break down, but as far as stopping you on the road, a trailer is pretty much bullet proof.
That is as long as the axle and tire maintenance is kept up.

He bought a used Outback and took it right into the shop for axle service, tires, and a complete check-up before hitting the road for a cross country trip.
It makes a vacation better when you're not worrying about those little things.

Good for him! It is so easy to buy an RV and just think it's time to "take off and have fun" without ever thinking of the endless things that have to be done not only to keep things "working" but to keep the owner and others safe.

Bought a Jayco popup from my mom and dad decades ago. It was maybe 3 years old. Told me they it was in tip top shape. I didn't think a thing about it and started taking it to the mountains having a great time (3-4 hrs. one way). About the 3rd/4th time I took it I had a bearing freeze and cut the spindle off the end of the axle. Thankfully I was driving about 5 mph on a back mountain road but it could have happened anywhere...and what if it was a 10k+ trailer? Learned my lesson then and there.
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Old 11-19-2019, 05:45 PM   #26
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A lot of it is peace of mind. Like a oil change you do it before the oil causes a engine failure.
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Old 11-19-2019, 05:48 PM   #27
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Most modern vehicles have sealed ball or roller bearings that are not serviceable. The trailer has conical open cage bearings. The RV bearings are subjected to different loads and stresses such as tire scuffing during tight turning maneuvers.
They have way bigger bearings too.
I remember only packing bearings in my car or truck was when I changed brakes.
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Old 11-19-2019, 05:56 PM   #28
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Marshall,
Before they started using sealed bearings I was routinely getting at least 100,000 miles from the original wheel bearings on my Toyota pickups. And I was not repacking them..didn't know any better in those days. I'd drive them until they disintegrated.
That is true about the sideways loads during tight maneuvers, but 5 or 10 thousand intervals for repack still seems more often than necessary to me. I'll check them again at around 20,000 miles unless they give me a reason to do it sooner.
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Old 11-19-2019, 07:37 PM   #29
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If you are bent on delaying annual maintenance, I would suggest, and this would still apply even if you did do the annual maintenance, having at least one full set of bearings and seal, and grease to keep onboard, just in case you did have a failure on the road. Several years ago, maybe three months after doing my annual inspection and bearing repack, and at the south end of Laredo, TX, we were alerted to a brake problem by a couple guys in a pickup. Upon pulling off the road, we discovered the right rear wheel at an abnormal angle, held on by the plastic fender. I disconnected the truck from the trailer, loosened the lugnuts, and proceeded to raise the trailer with the hydraulic leveling system. As the trailer came up, the tire/wheel/drum assembly fell over onto the sidewalk. The outer bearing had failed, even though it was completely covered in grease. The brakes on the backing plate were trashed, but fortunately the spindle was still good. I called a number of places in the town, but no one had anything to replace the damaged parts. We were back on the road in less than two hours, because I had the bearings, seal, grease, and the tools to replace the bearings and races. Of course no brakes on that wheel, but we weren't stuck in Laredo.
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Old 11-20-2019, 05:51 AM   #30
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I'll just add my thoughts....
I have had 4 wheel drive trucks for 20+ years with sealed front spindles. So, are y'all saying a 2 wheel drive truck has sealed bearings? When and how did that happen??
In my previous life I had responsibility for refinery rotating equipment that included several thousand bearings. If I suggested performing bearing maintenance every year I'm sure I would be sitting around a conference table in a room full of engineers and soon thereafter plotting my future elsewhere.
But...that equipment was designed much more robust than a RV or truck. Bearing life was expected to be 8 years and anything less would trigger a deep dive into why, by me. Besides the heavy duty design our vendor and work practices were best practice and documented. We only used SKF radial bearings and Timken tapered roller bearings. Bearings were required to be kept in their sealed plastic wrap until just before being installed. If mounted on a shaft, the bearing must be covered with a clean shop towel to avoid contamination until it was installed in the equipment. All bearings mounted on shafts had the journal measured with a digital micrometer and recorded before mounted. We never stored bearings out of their shipping box in the open.
All that BS said, if you buy cheap bearings that were just thrown in an open wire bin with 50 more, you half butt clean the spindle and hub, use old dirty grease, hammer the seal in the hub crossways, and over torque the spindle nut; yeah check and repack every year.
But, if you use Timken USA bearings, a good seal (C/R, National, OEM Dexter), and synthetic grease, I could see going 2-5 years depending on mileage.
I carried a complete spare hub with the previous Montana. I need to get spares for the Oshkosh ASAP.
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Old 11-20-2019, 05:53 AM   #31
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If you are bent on delaying annual maintenance, I would suggest, and this would still apply even if you did do the annual maintenance, having at least one full set of bearings and seal, and grease to keep onboard, just in case you did have a failure on the road. Several years ago, maybe three months after doing my annual inspection and bearing repack, and at the south end of Laredo, TX, we were alerted to a brake problem by a couple guys in a pickup. Upon pulling off the road, we discovered the right rear wheel at an abnormal angle, held on by the plastic fender. I disconnected the truck from the trailer, loosened the lugnuts, and proceeded to raise the trailer with the hydraulic leveling system. As the trailer came up, the tire/wheel/drum assembly fell over onto the sidewalk. The outer bearing had failed, even though it was completely covered in grease. The brakes on the backing plate were trashed, but fortunately the spindle was still good. I called a number of places in the town, but no one had anything to replace the damaged parts. We were back on the road in less than two hours, because I had the bearings, seal, grease, and the tools to replace the bearings and races. Of course no brakes on that wheel, but we weren't stuck in Laredo.
Good move with the spares. Having been stuck in Laredo myself, you definitely did good!!
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Old 11-20-2019, 06:44 AM   #32
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I'll just add my thoughts....
I have had 4 wheel drive trucks for 20+ years with sealed front spindles. So, are y'all saying a 2 wheel drive truck has sealed bearings? When and how did that happen??
In my previous life I had responsibility for refinery rotating equipment that included several thousand bearings. If I suggested performing bearing maintenance every year I'm sure I would be sitting around a conference table in a room full of engineers and soon thereafter plotting my future elsewhere.
But...that equipment was designed much more robust than a RV or truck. Bearing life was expected to be 8 years and anything less would trigger a deep dive into why, by me. Besides the heavy duty design our vendor and work practices were best practice and documented. We only used SKF radial bearings and Timken tapered roller bearings. Bearings were required to be kept in their sealed plastic wrap until just before being installed. If mounted on a shaft, the bearing must be covered with a clean shop towel to avoid contamination until it was installed in the equipment. All bearings mounted on shafts had the journal measured with a digital micrometer and recorded before mounted. We never stored bearings out of their shipping box in the open.
All that BS said, if you buy cheap bearings that were just thrown in an open wire bin with 50 more, you half butt clean the spindle and hub, use old dirty grease, hammer the seal in the hub crossways, and over torque the spindle nut; yeah check and repack every year.
But, if you use Timken USA bearings, a good seal (C/R, National, OEM Dexter), and synthetic grease, I could see going 2-5 years depending on mileage.
I carried a complete spare hub with the previous Montana. I need to get spares for the Oshkosh ASAP.
I also did industrial maintenance that was only done when needed or on a scheduled time period, but the RV industry by comparison is tinker toys to erector sets. I think the bearings on the are designed cheap on purpose to create work for dealers.
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Old 11-20-2019, 09:18 AM   #33
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I'll just add my thoughts....
...
But...that equipment was designed much more robust than a RV or truck. ...
All that BS said, if you buy cheap bearings that were just thrown in an open wire bin with 50 more, you half butt clean the spindle and hub, use old dirty grease, hammer the seal in the hub crossways, and over torque the spindle nut; yeah check and repack every year.
But, if you use Timken USA bearings, a good seal (C/R, National, OEM Dexter), and synthetic grease, I could see going 2-5 years depending on mileage.
....
Quote:
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... but the RV industry by comparison is tinker toys to erector sets. I think the bearings on the are designed cheap on purpose to create work for dealers.
Some good information from Brent and Danny in their posts. To add to their comments, IMHO, comparing "low bid RV parts" to "state of the art industrial parts" is not a "fair comparison"....

First, there are some quality RV bearings available on the market, but the majority of RV parts that come "standard as OEM equipment" are typically built in China by the lowest bidder, shipped to manufacturers as a "complete assembly" with little or no supervision/oversight by any RV manufacturer. They (Keystone, FR, GD, etc) buy these parts from the lowest bidder, in bulk, shipped to the assembly line for installation on trailers by "somewhat skilled workers" who are pushed to work faster and want to leave by noon so they can get to their other job.

That, (again, IMHO) puts the RV purchaser at risk of "might not get the best parts, assembled properly and installed per manufacturer's specifications" delivered by a dealership that didn't pull the wheels to check for any problems and then towed by the new owner for a couple of years before even thinking about checking the bearings...…

I am in complete agreement that bearing inspection and maintenance in most industrial settings are "apples to oranges" different than what you'll find under an RV sitting on a dealer's lot, produced by semi-skilled workers with products shipped from China in bulk containers, most of which may (or may not) have been properly assembled and maintained as most would have expected them to be...…

So, at least for me, it all goes back to these three questions:

1. Have you established a baseline by inspecting your bearings? If not, there's no assurance that your bearings even were greased before Keystone installed the complete assembly under your trailer.

2. If you've relied on anyone else to inspect and maintain your bearings, unless they assure you that they've disassembled and inspected/repacked the bearings, then you're back to #1, with no baseline for the bearing condition.

3. (free of charge) If you or anyone has used the EZ Lube system to "pump grease into the bearing space" have you confirmed that grease is not seeping out of the rear seal and contaminating your brake linings?????

Honestly, there's no sweat off anyone else's brow whether you have a failure while towing or not, but if you're unsure of your axle condition, then you might not have done all you could/should to have prevented that failure.
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Old 11-20-2019, 11:25 AM   #34
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Gearhead I appreciate your industrial experience. I also have had a lot (20+ yrs) experience in that arena as well. When I was young I worked for an electrical firm that specialized in power transmission, computer/electromechanical controls etc. I've been in oil refineries, food processing plants, water treatment facilities, elevator towers, and many other large equipment facilities.

In my experience there were very, very few bearings on a "replacement schedule" however unless a sealed bearing was used there were definite "preventive maintenance" schedules that were followed.

In my experiences those bearings that were not sealed were greased or oiled on at regular intervals. Pillow block bearings on shafts would have a zerk fitting and some machinery would have a central lubricating system to carry grease, or oil
(more typical on bronze bearings where shaft runout is critical). Conical bearings commonly found in gearboxes, and roller bearings found in gearboxes and other power/transmission devices are typically lubricated by the oil in the gearbox. This is the only commonality I can think of between industrial and automotive uses. Rear axle bearings are typically lubricated by the oil in the rear axle. So enough on comparing horses and zebras.

There's a lot of rhetoric about why rv manufacturers use cheap China born bearings on this, and many other camping forums. Of course cost and profit is #1 by I think it goes deeper. My thoughts may be way off base but here they are. On this forum it appears that there are a high percentage of "full timers" and folks that travel thousands of miles yearly. I don't have any hard numbers but my guess is that statistically this is not the "norm" for travel trailers. When I walk around campgrounds I see mainly tags and dealer stickers from <50 miles away. When talking with fellow campers I typically hear "we like it here because it's close". Makes sense that the "weekend warriors" want to spend their limited time camping and not driving. I've passed a lot of storage lots full with RVs, and camped in many campgrounds with growing numbers of "seasonal sites".

Given the numbers of campers that move relatively short distances I can understand why a manufacturer wouldn't invest money in a suspension beyond "minimal" components as they aren't building a box trailer designed to be dragged a million + miles per year.

I have repacked more wheel bearings on the front of vehicles that I care to recount but here's the difference. From what I'm reading some folks think that the MAIN purpose is to replace the grease. Going back in time, cars and 2 wd trucks had drum brakes on all corners. The only way to inspect the shoes, springs, hydraulics is to remove the drum/hum from the spindle exposing the bearings in the hub and the grease in the hub and spindle to the brake dust and debris. After inspecting/replacing the brake components it's only prudent to clean everything and apply new grease.

The manufacturer is going to recommend a schedule for inspection by miles and time. They do not know haw many miles you will tow per year and I doubt most users don't unless they "think about it" and take a "guess". I've seen posts on this forum where failed brake parts are evident after very few miles. The only way to know is with a visual inspection. In my thinking a "yearly" inspection makes sense because "you don't know what you don't know".
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Old 11-20-2019, 01:06 PM   #35
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Wheel bearing maintenance schedule

The old adage is "Trust not ,, want not" Always take them apart and check them.
Three, THREE, times I have seen New axles and the bearings went after -5 k. I remove and wash, and repack our bearings every year.

A buddy purchased a trailer here in Oregon, drove to Newport Beach, Virginia ,, bearings took our Both axles in one trip. We had a gathering of 13 units from all over the states. One guy says his brakes felt funny,, New trailer, 2500 miles on it.. Luckily there was a car parts store 80 miles away on a Saturday that had the bearings. Mine was only 1.5 years old and "like new" took it on a small trip to Denver.. yeah, Portland to Boise, the bearings were gone and $$$$ plus.
Now what is it?

"Trust not ,, want not" Not Yadday yadda, not to worry before 5k,,

Good luck if you do not check them after you buy. I know some do great maintenance, and after so many years I cannot afford to slack off on safety and really that is what is all about isn't it.
Take care all and be safe.
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Old 11-20-2019, 01:19 PM   #36
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If I wanted to replace the OEM bearings with "good" ones, where does one go to find them?
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Old 11-20-2019, 01:46 PM   #37
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There are a number of online sources for Timken bearings, but most local auto parts stores like AutoZone or NAPA can order them. Many would likely have them in stock.

That said, some Timken bearings are now being made in China. I bought my last Timken bearings (special order) at NAPA and 1 of the 8 bearings was stamped "CHINA". We sent it back and ordered that one again. It came in with no marking, not USA or CHINA, so who knows where it was made, but at least it's not stamped CHINA...
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Old 11-20-2019, 02:21 PM   #38
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Hard to find bearings made on the us. The best and most consistent have been timken and skf. Napa premium bearings are now made by Fag and only time will tell if they're any good
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Old 11-20-2019, 04:42 PM   #39
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If I wanted to replace the OEM bearings with "good" ones, where does one go to find them?
Do a search for bearing house. Based on the location listed in your profile, several popped up. Baker Bearing appears to handle all the higher quality brands.
Ask for Timken bearings. Bring in your seal as well.
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Old 11-20-2019, 04:48 PM   #40
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There are a number of online sources for Timken bearings, but most local auto parts stores like AutoZone or NAPA can order them. Many would likely have them in stock.

That said, some Timken bearings are now being made in China. I bought my last Timken bearings (special order) at NAPA and 1 of the 8 bearings was stamped "CHINA". We sent it back and ordered that one again. It came in with no marking, not USA or CHINA, so who knows where it was made, but at least it's not stamped CHINA...
Go straight to a bearing dealer. You’ll get better price and knowledge and you won’t have to special order anything.
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