2016 Cougar 1/2 ton 283RETWE Bearing seal failure

[smiles5160]

We had a bearing seal failure occur in the right rear wheel. This failure occurred between 771 and 941 miles on the trailer.



Failed Component, Bearing Seal Right Rear. Replaced, Lippert, 12" Brake Assembly, Re-pack, new seal. All in the field. :/

The first indication of the failure was grease streams that were visible on the outside of the wheel. See attached


Called original dealer, keystone and the local dealer. We were 1.5 hours from Redding, CA and were unable to find a remote service tech. So the repair was done with parts and support from the Redding Dealer, on site at the campground. With the blessing of Keystone. Still working out the reimbursement.



I have attached a photo and here are the videos. Warning: Some foul or offensive language in one of them.



2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uScwVRQp3yM


2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton 283RETWE - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 2 - dis-assembly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_OlWUsBSQs


2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton 283RETWE - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 3 - Back Plate Removal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJ9kQBUgSo


2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton 283RETWE - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 4 - Heat Spots on the Drum Surface
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6to92rU9fds


2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton 283RETWE - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 5 - Re-assembly 1 - Foul Language Warning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knOqmcio5Xc


2016 Keystone Cougar 1/2 Ton 283RETWE - Lippert 4.4K axles bearing seal failure within 1K trailer miles. Field Diagnosis and Replacement Video 6 - Re-assembly - 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khrpirvuBcc

[sourdough]

Thanks for the detailed post. It's a shame that your fishing time was ruined trying to take care of it but seems like that happens a lot when RVing:)

I was interested in what you did to put the wiring back together but it appears that video didn't make it or was deleted. It just tells me "private video" and doesn't play although all of the others did. Glad you got it fixed and hope you have time to at least enjoy yourself a little.

[smiles5160]

I did not video the wiring it was behind the axle and was paying more attention to that then the phone. I used the stock connectors that came with the Lippert Axle kit.

Took a full day out of my vacation.

After the change was complete, I did not video the brake test as well. I tested with the wheel off and spun the drum, while my wife worked the brake level on the control.

There was trouble uploading that video, I will re-do the upload. Number 5 I believe.

Just a question, Is this common? I have not seen a blown grease seal in a long time. Does not seem like this should happen at all.

[smiles5160]

Also, the trailer is under Keystone warranty.

[smiles5160]

Fixed the video. THX!!

[chuckster57]

We saw a run of bad seals on lippert axles on a different brand and different axles. Found at PDI and replaced entire backing plate assembly, cleaned drums and rims.

In our cases, we bypassed the trailer manufacturer and dealt directly with lippert.

[smiles5160]

I have requested Keystone, either through Lippert, or themselves, service the other 3 hubs. Want to resolve this as quickly as possible. The interesting note, on our way back, we stopped at a rest area. I hand touched all 4 axles, subjective the rebuilt one was cooler than the other 3. That was a bit surprising. All of the TPM sensor were within 5 deg of each other. 115 to 120. California central valley driving.

[eds451]

Lippert just replaced the brake sets and seals on my friend's 2015 244rle. We were traveling back from camping and one of his wheels locked up. We pulled the drums when we got home and found 3 of the 4 seals were blown. Grease all over the brake shoes and drums. He was 3 months out of warranty, but Lippert said they would ship new brakes and seals, but not cover labor. Not a problem as he and I did the job.

[Canonman]

First off, Smiles 5160 deserves the patient Dad of the year award for dealing with this in the campground on vacation, with the slides out and unit leveled for the comfort of his wife and kids.
We also had to have our bearings and brakes replaced. Same Lippert axle within the first 1,000 miles. We were told the manufacturer expects a certain percentage of failures. I'd personally like to get their numbers just to see how many families they inconvenience due to poor quality standards that they think are acceptable. According to RVIA the industry shipped over 344,000 towable units in 2016. So let's say the acceptable fail rate is 1% (i have no idea what the number really is). That to me seems like a pretty low number. But for the nearly 3500 of us sitting under new trailer making on-the-road repairs it's a huge pain in the OL Tookas!

[mtlineman2010]

Nice write up. I feel your pain. Was just looking into the exact same model as yours. They seem to have a nice layout. BTW, I just watched video 2, disassembly and when you pulled the drum off the large oval object you weren't sure of is the magnet for your brakes. Depending on how long you keep your RV you might end up having to replace them once or twice. I've replaced several on trailers around our farm. Just a tid bit if you hadn't figured it out by now😀

Sent from my SM-T818V using Tapatalk

[smiles5160]

THX for the comment and the info

Yes, this was educational. Did not fully understand the actuator, but, have been schooled.

[nellie1289]

I had this same exact issue on my fifth wheel. Upon return from my trip I took it to dealer. Had two grease seals blown which fries the brakes on that side too . Dealer insisted that all four should be replaced and even though I am at 13 months not a warranty item for my extended warranty. They say they are wear items. I reminded them they had my trailer for two months for three other items. Anyway I paid the 550$ repair and called keystone. About a month later dealer called and said they had a check for me from keystone. I wonder if this 2015 model issue above mentioned was what I suffered. The trailer was used like three times for short trips before they blew. Anyway haven't had an issue since.

[smiles5160]

This is a wear part, so, the warranty should be more about miles not time.

Lippert says.
--------
“We have made significant and ongoing improvements to our processes,” he explained. “Based on our warranty claim data, the overall frequency of this issue was less than 1/10th of 1 percent across all our products for the past 12 months of activity. That is significantly lower than results reported in the poll on the owners’ forum.”
---------

You are the second person to reply they had a failure at 13 months.

The maintenance guide from Lippert says, repack and seal every 1 Year or 12K miles.

Seem like they have a initial quality issue that is resolved by better seals. Supposition at this point, however, the accumulation of data from dealers an others around the Community are starting to show a trend > .1%. Lippert needs to bite the bullet and get out in front of this before it becomes too big for them to handle.

On that note, I have asked for technical data on the axles so I can work with the dealer to make sure the issue does not return. Keystone is being aloof with the data.

We like the trailer, especially the layout. So we will keep working with Keystone. However, 9 months into warranty and 900 miles on the trailer. Does not instill confidence. What is this happens next trip? In 2 weeks form today. :/

Up to Keystone to do the right thing.

Sorry, needed to get that commentary out there.

[jsmith948]

In one of your videos you pointed out that the dust cap and the end of the hub around the outer bearing contained an excessive amount of grease. Your videos also showed quite a lot of grease on the brake shoes and magnet. IMHO, this was the direct result of someone (probably at the dealer) having used the infamous E-Z Lube feature of your Dexter axle. If you do a forum search, you will find several threads/posts about the unreliability of this system.
The first time I re-packed our wheel bearings, I found grease that had 'extruded' past the wheel seal and hung like a black curtain from the hub. Luckily, it had not dropped off onto the brake parts so I was able to clean it up with brake-clean, repack the bearings and replace the seals. Some folks will say they love and swear by the E-Z Lube feature, but, FWIW I only hand pack the bearings - NEVER use the grease zerk to try to pressure feed grease into the hub. Don't know for sure if this was your cause, but I'd be willing to bet that it was. Just sayin";)

[ScotnBev]

After 2 years and ~8K miles on my 5er, I had routine maintenance done on the wheel bearings. They found that 2 seals had blown, had to replace backing plate, drum, and break shoes. Was told that the seal manufacture had a recall on the seals and replaced for free, if done within 12 months of original purchase. I was never notified and was now 12 months past the offer. No luck for me.

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[Campy]

When I did my first service of the axles on my trailer I removed the grease zerts from the end of the axles so that EZ-lube system is disabled on my camper. I pack mine by hand and only use National seals.

[chuckster57]

In one of your videos you pointed out that the dust cap and the end of the hub around the outer bearing contained an excessive amount of grease. Your videos also showed quite a lot of grease on the brake shoes and magnet. IMHO, this was the direct result of someone (probably at the dealer) having used the infamous E-Z Lube feature of your Dexter axle. If you do a forum search, you will find several threads/posts about the unreliability of this system.

The first time I re-packed our wheel bearings, I found grease that had 'extruded' past the wheel seal and hung like a black curtain from the hub. Luckily, it had not dropped off onto the brake parts so I was able to clean it up with brake-clean, repack the bearings and replace the seals. Some folks will say they love and swear by the E-Z Lube feature, but, FWIW I only hand pack the bearings - NEVER use the grease zerk to try to pressure feed grease into the hub. Don't know for sure if this was your cause, but I'd be willing to bet that it was. Just sayin";)

Actually it's more likely a failure at the axle factory. As I said in an earlier post, we had a run of the same thing on different weight axles on another brand. 98% of trailers we got from the factory were found to have this issue at PDI. Only thing a grease gun hits here is the wet bolts.

OP states LCI axles not Dexter, but they all have the same zerk on the ends.

[smiles5160]

Update to the odyssey.

1. Still working with Keystone for an acceptable reimbursement of the field seal repair.

2. After some significant discussion, returned the trailer to the original dealer. They repacked and resealed the remaining 3 axles under Keystone warranty.

I will keep updating on this thread as we go. Will be looking to build a recommended seal and grease kit we can post to the forum