[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by gearhead

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.