Greasing wheel bearings

[lindy46]

New to this forum and new to owning a travel trailer. Always had motorhomes before. We bought this 2007 Sprinter in February in Tennessee and been staying in it since then. Getting ready to head back to Michigan, and want to grease the wheel bearings before we leave. I removed the rubber plug from the AL-Ko system and noticed what looks like fresh grease around the perimeter of the front bearing. I went ahead and pumped 10 pumps of grease into the zerk fitting, but see no fresh grease seeping out around the perimeter. Should I keep adding grease or leave it alone?

[SteveC7010]

New to this forum and new to owning a travel trailer. Always had motorhomes before. We bought this 2007 Sprinter in February in Tennessee and been staying in it since then. Getting ready to head back to Michigan, and want to grease the wheel bearings before we leave. I removed the rubber plug from the AL-Ko system and noticed what looks like fresh grease around the perimeter of the front bearing. I went ahead and pumped 10 pumps of grease into the zerk fitting, but see no fresh grease seeping out around the perimeter. Should I keep adding grease or leave it alone?

If you pumped that much grease in, it has to go somewhere. If there is a blown seal inside, the grease may have reached the brake area.

Do yourself a huge favor and get the Al-Ko manual for your axles/brakes/hubs. That way you'll have the answers to most any issue right at your finger tips:
2-7K axles: http://www.al-kousa.com/pdf/ALKO_2kto7k_OM.pdf
8-16K axles: http://www.al-kousa.com/pdf/ALKO_8kto16k_OM.pdf

[SAABDOCTOR]

HI in this case more is not better. first off get the manual downloaded as steve has said. for safety sake i would pull the drums off and see if the grease has gotten on the brakes. you can use a good quality brake cleaner to remove the grease. then if needed repack the bearings by hand and REPLACE the seals. ther has been a good discusstion on packing wheel bearings on this forum. i do use the zerk fitting but every other year I take apsrt the drums clean the bearings check them for wear and repack them. if you do not know how to tighten the bearings when done fallow this. tighten the nut down till it is tight. then back it off ( the bearings are now seated. then run the nut till it just touches the bearing. you should have no free play and no pre load on the bearing if the hole for the cotter pin will not line up back the nut up do not tighten it to align it. then have a cold one..or two:)

[lindy46]

I already have the manual. Here is what it says:

✓Remove the rubber plug from grease cap.
✓Insert grease gun on the grease zerk.
✓Pump until new grease begins to appear.
✓Replace rubber plug.

Not a very detailed description. Since no grease appeared after 10 pumps, I figured I'd better quit. I think I will try to get someone to come out and do the job right, as I'm not at home and don't really have the tools to take the wheels off/apart. I don't want to try towing the trailer, as we are in the mountains and I want to make sure the brakes don't get grease on them.

[SAABDOCTOR]

ah sanity how refreshing!!! I am not insulting anyone here on the forum but some of the customers that have come through the door today :eek: we are dommed. That is a great idea to have some one come out. better safe than broken down.:banghead:

[mhs4771]

The Dexter instructions for use of the EZ Lube hubs involve jacking up the wheel so it will rotate freely, then pump grease into the zerk while continueing to rotate the wheel. If you just pumped 10 pumps into the zerk, very good chance you blew grease past the rear seal and into the inside of the brake drum.

[JRTJH]

I already have the manual. Here is what it says:

✓Remove the rubber plug from grease cap.
✓Insert grease gun on the grease zerk.
✓Pump until new grease begins to appear.
✓Replace rubber plug.

Not a very detailed description. Since no grease appeared after 10 pumps, I figured I'd better quit. I think I will try to get someone to come out and do the job right, as I'm not at home and don't really have the tools to take the wheels off/apart. I don't want to try towing the trailer, as we are in the mountains and I want to make sure the brakes don't get grease on them.

Here's the cut and paste from the Dexter Axle Service Manual:
The procedure is as follows:

1. Remove the rubber plug from the end of the grease cap.
2. Place a standard manual grease gun onto the grease fitting located in the end of the spindle. Make sure the grease gun nozzle is fully engaged on the fitting.
3. While rotating the hub, pump grease slowly into the fitting. The old displaced grease will begin to flow back out the cap around the grease gun nozzle.
4. When the new clean grease is observed, remove the grease gun, wipe off any excess, and replace the rubber plug in the cap.
5. Rotate hub or drum while adding grease.

Two places in the instructions it states to rotate the hub while adding grease. If the instructions you've got aren't the same as this, you need to go back to the Dexter website and download the correct manual.

If you have the correct manual it should read as above, and if not, then you may have to "read between the lines" and use statements from other places in the manual to get the complete picture of what you need to do. If you're looking for a better understanding of what is happening and want to see a visual demonstration of how to use the EZ Lube system, go here and watch the EZLube video. It's the middle video on the top row.

http://www.dexteraxle.com/video_gallery

[lindy46]

Well, $500 later, the wheel bearings are properly greased, brakes checked, cleaned and inspected. They say I'm good for 10,000 miles. There was little grease in the hubs - I would have been pumping forever to properly fill them. Now a few pumps every 6 months or so should do it.

[Maxzd]

I tackled mine a few weeks ago. First time I have used the dexter ez axles. Grease was black, I used a recommended Red Grease so I could see when it actually had purged old grease easier.

Seemed like it took an insane amount of grease into each fitting on each wheel before I was comfortable. I used nearly 3 tubes of grease for 4 wheels. The video makes it seem like it takes seconds it takes several minutes or more. Also (unlike the video) I removed the wheel and the dust cap just ends up being easier.

Honestly can say on the first wheel I almost quit. It felt like something was wrong and grease was flowing out somewhere else. Not the case just took a lot longer than I had expected to get grease flowing and purged. :rofl: