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Old 11-25-2017, 10:14 PM   #1
Freeheel4life
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Bearing service

I'm sure this one has been done before but...

Anyone have a service interval for bearing repack in terms of miles between service?? Who is servicing regularly?? Who doesn t ever?? Anyone experience bearing/hub failures??

I'm guessing we towed around 1500 miles last winter. Mostly on packed snow and ice and bare and wet pavement. No salt but lots of that de-icing chemical spray that definitely took it's toll on front leveling jacks and tongue frame rails, seems to have eaten away at black factory paint quite quickly and now have the dreaded rust up front after one winter of towing. Wondering how other running gear will hold up and ideas for preventative maintenance considering it will experience many of the same effects this winter.
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Old 11-26-2017, 04:30 AM   #2
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Dexter has a pretty good write up on bearings, including grease product recommendations, that you have to 'dig' out of their website. It is somewhat conservative. Mileage is 12,000 with a 12 month interval, whichever comes first. Of course not all folks do that and are lucky. If it's the first time, my suggestion is that you don't wait but do it now, especially since Dexter has been using suspect (crappy!!) Chinese made bearings that have failed for one reason or another way before their time. Those of us that were concerned or had a failure have changed to a well known brand, mostly Timken. You will need seals - mine have been the inexpensive ones from etrailer which have been 100% good for my use over the past two 5ers.

That chemical caused rust - you have no other choice but to get under, power wash the residue off, wire brush or sand blast the powdery rust off then use some rust converter and/or encapsulatior , which today's Home Depot bought Rust-o-Leum isn't these days.

Good luck
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Old 11-26-2017, 08:44 AM   #3
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How do you know what size bearings and seals to buy without taking it apart first?


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Old 11-26-2017, 10:20 AM   #4
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Bearing pack and brake adjust are part of our spring start up ritual. Keeps things simple for the simple minded
We average around 6 to 8k miles per season.
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Old 11-26-2017, 10:33 AM   #5
Freeheel4life
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave W View Post
Dexter has a pretty good write up on bearings, including grease product recommendations, that you have to 'dig' out of their website. It is somewhat conservative. Mileage is 12,000 with a 12 month interval, whichever comes first. Of course not all folks do that and are lucky. If it's the first time, my suggestion is that you don't wait but do it now, especially since Dexter has been using suspect (crappy!!) Chinese made bearings that have failed for one reason or another way before their time. Those of us that were concerned or had a failure have changed to a well known brand, mostly Timken. You will need seals - mine have been the inexpensive ones from etrailer which have been 100% good for my use over the past two 5ers.

That chemical caused rust - you have no other choice but to get under, power wash the residue off, wire brush or sand blast the powdery rust off then use some rust converter and/or encapsulatior , which today's Home Depot bought Rust-o-Leum isn't these days.

Good luck
Thank you for the info. Are all keystones products Dexter bearings? Has anyone converted to UFP?? I'm used to these as they are on the bulk of boat trailers we service these days. Their Vault product is incredible.

I think you rust solution is my answer for now. Ideally would would like to shotblast the front tongue and have it sprayed with bedliner. As a mechanic everything is on a budget though so may not happen until next year.
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Old 11-26-2017, 10:42 AM   #6
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How do you know what size bearings and seals to buy without taking it apart first?


2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW
It depends on the suspension. 5200/6000/7000 etc. Again Dexter bearing info will tell you with at least 90 plus percent chance of being correct. Lighter axles will also be included.

As far as finding which axles/suspension you have, it's on the sticker, LHS near the front of your RV. This is the bearing chart - use the industry standard part rather then the Dexter :
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Old 11-26-2017, 10:52 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Freeheel4life View Post
Thank you for the info. Are all keystones products Dexter bearings? r.
Dexter/AL-KO and Lippert are all under the same big umbrella (Lippert/LCI) now and as far as I know, all TT suspension but independent suspension systems is a Dexter or derivative.

Not sure you want to shot blast. Sand blast, using media such as Black Diamond or Starblast or even sand will work just fine and for a lot less money
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Old 11-26-2017, 11:02 AM   #8
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Thank you for the info Dave!
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Old 11-26-2017, 03:13 PM   #9
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So far I have done 2 bearing repacks. The last one was because I was replacing brakes, so what the heck. I bet we don't have 8,000 miles on a almost 4 year old trailer. Bearings themselves looked good both times.
If re-packing every year makes you feel good, go for it. I'm from a rotating equipment/turbo machinery background and bearings had better not need inspecting every year. If so, they ain't big enough or something is bad wrong.
I used the recommended Mobil1 synthetic grease. It's runny and since I'm out of warranty I will probably use something else next time.
I also have a spare set of bearings and a seal buried in grease in a Tupperware bowl under Funk and Wagnells porch too.
Dexter bought out UPF/Vault, why they haven't put them on RV's is unbelievable to me. I have them on my tandem axle boat trailer that is in salt water service and no issues. I bet the Vault hubs are on 90% of new boats on the Texas coast. What a bunch of dummies.
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Old 11-26-2017, 03:59 PM   #10
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Unless there is an unusual amount of miles each year, servicing wheel bearings each year is overkill. Do them when the trailer is new, because the factory can do a lousy initial job of greasing them properly. Inspect the grease and seals, and don’t use the zerk fitting on the axle stub to grease them. Use a quality NLGI-2 grease, like Texas Refinery Corp. 880 C&C (found on Amazon). I replaced my seals during the initial inspection process.

When I replace the four year old tires in the spring, I will do the bearings and seals the second time. There just isn’t enough miles on the last repack to justify doing the service any sooner.

I wouldn’t remove the rust on the frame. Use a rust converter each year. Less grief and less damage to adjacent parts if you happen to sandblast (bad idea).

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=smi_w...ag=googhydr-20
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Old 11-26-2017, 04:09 PM   #11
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Dexter bought out UPF/Vault, why they haven't put them on RV's is unbelievable to me. I have them on my tandem axle boat trailer that is in salt water service and no issues. I bet the Vault hubs are on 90% of new boats on the Texas coast. What a bunch of dummies.
Boatmate trailers have run nothing but the vaults for a while and I love them. The older UFP buddy bearings had a very low failure rate but have seen it happen on boat trailers. Have yet to see a single vault fail. Have seen one (out of literally hundreds) where the outer seal started slinging some grease, otherwise zero problems. Pretty awesome for a sealed unit. May explore what it would take to make the switch.

Mostly wanting to service as I really don't want to have a bearing failure as I am regularly towing in the snow and most turnouts get plowed in and shoulders usually have large snow burms. Had a tire go last year and basically shredded it because there was nowhere to pull off. Luckily didn't take out that wire harness under the slide or damage anything else.
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Old 11-26-2017, 04:15 PM   #12
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Good point desert. I probably won't do it every year, but we did buy used from a dealer. I know how our boat dealership works, and not every trade in get a the treatment it deserves because sales give a high trade number to make numbers work when owner steps into a new model. Then service manager ends up getting pressured to put as little as possible into the trade so that sales remains profitable. Basically the old lipstick on a pig thing...
Don't think that's the case with our unit, but trying to tick off all the maintenance boxes as this thing is nothing like my old trailer and want it to last us a long time.

Thank you for the link to the rust converter. Never seen a product like that. Does it just stop the oxidation process??
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Old 11-26-2017, 05:09 PM   #13
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Good point desert. I probably won't do it every year, but we did buy used from a dealer. I know how our boat dealership works, and not every trade in get a the treatment it deserves because sales give a high trade number to make numbers work when owner steps into a new model. Then service manager ends up getting pressured to put as little as possible into the trade so that sales remains profitable. Basically the old lipstick on a pig thing...
Don't think that's the case with our unit, but trying to tick off all the maintenance boxes as this thing is nothing like my old trailer and want it to last us a long time.

Thank you for the link to the rust converter. Never seen a product like that. Does it just stop the oxidation process??
It kills/stops the rust process. It can be painted over with a rust preventive paint or left alone for another application the following season. Actually much more effective than a sand blast and overcoating with something like bed liner. If you aren’t careful, the rust will resume beneath the coating. When you notice it, it might be too late.
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Old 11-27-2017, 10:50 AM   #14
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For those that have replaced with Timken, do you replace the race along with the bearing?

With the tow from the factory, I have about 12,000 miles on the initial bearings. I'm thinking about replacing with Timken in the spring. Currently I carry a backup Timken set (packed in a tupperware).
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Old 11-27-2017, 11:55 AM   #15
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We have a 2014 Alpine with 7K Dexter axles.. I pull the wheels off each spring and blow out the brake dust and rough up the shoes with light sandpaper.. I am still running stock bearings and races plus seals that it came with.. I hand pack and I’ve not seen anything yet on inner or outer races/bearings to warrant replacement. I average about 5K mikes a year towing.


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Old 11-27-2017, 11:55 AM   #16
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Yes, you should replace the race at the same time.
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Old 11-27-2017, 01:50 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by mfifield01 View Post
For those that have replaced with Timken, do you replace the race along with the bearing?

With the tow from the factory, I have about 12,000 miles on the initial bearings. I'm thinking about replacing with Timken in the spring. Currently I carry a backup Timken set (packed in a tupperware).
Make sure the replacement is a USA Timken, not a chinese Timken.
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Old 11-27-2017, 01:53 PM   #18
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Make sure the replacement is a USA Timken, not a chinese Timken.
The backup set I bought off of Amazon says USA.
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Old 02-01-2018, 11:20 AM   #19
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Any suggestions for grease that can be found locally?

On my boat, the local trailer place recommended Mystik No. 2. I might still have it in my grease gun, but wanted to see if there's a better recommendation. My preference is to pick up a couple of tubes locally (Advance, Autozone, O'reilly, etc.).
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Old 02-01-2018, 06:33 PM   #20
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The backup set I bought off of Amazon says USA.


What part number bearings did you buy?


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