Oil on rim....should I be concerned

[nellie1289]

Halfway into our trip this weekend and as I was setting up trailer I noticed a little oil on the left front rim of my cougar. I tried to take some pics. It looks like there was some on the inside rim too. I took the best pics I could. I wiped it clean and when I got home tonight I saw it had returned. The other side of coach has no such issues. Should I be concerned ? I was thinking I maybe picked something up from road but am not sure. Wheel rolls fine and no noises.

[rjsurfer]

It might be worthwhile to pull that wheel off to see exactly where it's coming from. Remember these axles are notorious for leaking grease seals.

If it's the seals and the shoes are lightly wet with grease you can clean them off with brake cleaner, if badly soaked get new shoes or swapout the wheel assemblies. Over the last ten years pollution and environmental concerns have neutered most degreasers making it impossible to clean deeply soiled brake shoe material.

Every time you take the drums off swap the seal by the way.

Ron W.

[FlyingChief]

As rjsurfer said, I would put my money on a leaking grease seal.

[mcintoshs]

I would say the dust cap fell off,
there doesn't seem to be any oil on the back side.

[nellie1289]

Thanks for the replies so far, so it looks like consensus is something is leaking, I am past my 1 year warranty but have 5 year warranty so I guess I should take this thing in for repairs? I hate going to the dealer, they hold the damn thing forever.

[slow]

I suggest you pop the small cap at the center of the decorative wheel hub cover and check if your dust cap has worked loose as mcintoshs suggested may be the problem. If a seal was leaking, more evidence would be visible on the brake assembly and inside of the wheel IMO.

The fix may be very simple and a DIYer.

[Dave W]

Buy some 10-36 seals - etrailer have them for about 4 bucks for two in a package vs the ridiculous Dexter or NAPA price. I've found that they are every bit as good on 2 different 5ers so far - zero leaks. But I do inspect and hand pack the bearings yearly (~12,000 miles), never using the E-Z Lube zerks that may blow out the seal.

https://www.etrailer.com/Seals-for-T...cc-onlyreviews

As far as your extended warranty - I wouldn't take any RV back to a dealer for him to stick in his back yard until you harassed him often enough to do that low/no pay job when I could do it in a couple hours and very few dollars with only a couple hand tools.

[mike95776]

Ron, I need some advise.... I bought a new Springdale 2x axle and have about 500 miles on it... The brakes were not working well and took it in to Camping World... They tell me that the bearing seals leaked and they want to "Clean" the magnets and pads and reinstall them under warranty.... I have worked on cars and we never would do this... we always replaced brakes if we got grease on them... your advise?

[chuckster57]

$250.00 is a very fair price, that's what we charge. There is a growing number of RV owners that have no interest in doing anything other than camping. We have done double or triple the number of axle services we did last year.

[vampress_me]

Another idea that goes along with a suggestion already posted is a local car repair shop that you trust. I don't know if it's because we live in a small town or I'm just lucky, but last week the mechanic I take our vehicles to for work did our 5er bearings. I had asked if he would do this type of work on a trailer and he said they would do it no problem.

So, $200 and two hours later the camper had repacked bearings, adjusted brakes, and one brake wiring re-attached that had mysteriously lost its wire nuts sometime in the past summer. My father gave me the stink eye when he heard that part since I grew up in his tractor repair shop and should know to check all that. I'm still not sure how the loose wiring got past me when I'd check everything over... And for me, the $200 was well worth it, there are many other things I will do and like to do, repacking bearings is not one of them.

[nellie1289]

SO further information they ended up replacing the brakes on the side with the blown grease seal too and since my trailer is just past one year they covered it under warranty. They also insisted on replacing the brakes on the other side even though they were at 85%. I was not going to argue with them since they covered it but they said the bearing pack from the factory looked "highly suspect". So I am glad I just have a reputable dealer at least willing to stand by the product. I don't have the time or the knowledge to do it myself, don't own a jack, and think of the jobs I'm creating for some fine American to help me out!

[nellie1289]

and yet another update:

Took a trip to southern California this last week, and guess what happened, looks like I blew another grease seal 1 week after the full repair and repack and new brakes all the way around.. Cant wait to see what happens this time around with the dealer. Stay tuned

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by nellie1289

and yet another update:

Took a trip to southern California this last week, and guess what happened, looks like I blew another grease seal 1 week after the full repair and repack and new brakes all the way around.. Cant wait to see what happens this time around with the dealer. Stay tuned

Is this "grease seal" in the same location (same side/same axle) as the one that you had problems with last time?

[Outback 325BH]

For those of us that wrench on our rigs, cost is only part of it. For me, knowing it got done right is 90% of it.

It may consume my time, however I am not hauling my rig to the dealer all the time either.


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[flybouy]

I'm not Ron but I can tell you that you cannot clean oil or grease from a brake surface and reuse it. At least I'm not aware of any chemical or process that's acceptable to do that.

[chuckster57]

You can clean the drum and magnets, you’ll never get the shoes clean. If it’s warranty, they should replace the entire backing plate assembly.

[gearhead]

I'd be looking at what caused the seals to leak. Have a discussion with them about taking a close look at the seal areas on the spindle. Wouldn't be the first time there was weld splatter on the seal area.

[mike95776]

Thanks for all of the great advise. Keystone is going to replace all of the seals. backing plates brakes and magnets.... I asked about what could have cause the problem and got nothing.... I agree that something has to be wrong with the spindles...

[chuckster57]

If the axles are LCI, there was an ongoing issue with seals.

[flybouy]

Maybe someone at the dealership saw the zerk fitting and decided to practice using a pneumatic grease gun on it. After they correct it I'd recommend keeping a close eye on it. Good to hear they agreed to do the repair correctly.