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Old 04-16-2021, 09:43 AM   #1
Bamabox
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Might be overkill, but..........

With an extended trip upcoming, inspected and repacked wheel bearings with red and tacky. 2017 Cougar Xlite 21RBS with Dexter 4400lb axles. Got all part #’s from Dexter (very friendly people) with serial # off axle tag. Genuine Dexter seals were a little tough to find, but found some fairly local. Original bearings and races looked very good. So no need to replace. Spindles looked good as well. I got thinking about having a bearing failure on the road. If a bearing fails, I can’t be driving out races and driving in new ones, packing bearings, replacing seals etc on the side of the road. What I think I could manage however is just to replace the entire hub and drum if it had the races installed, and I had prepacked the bearings. Driving in a new seal wouldn’t be that bad. As it turns out, Dexter sells a hub and drum kit which is complete. Races installed. Matching bearings. Seal, jam nut, washer, nut clip, dust cap etc. In my case it was Dexter # K08-407-90. Found a great price on it at TrailerPartsSuperstore (Eastern Marine), and they had them in stock. Little less than $150 including shipping. Overkill? Paranoid? I just thought it was good insurance for not a lot of money.
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Old 04-16-2021, 10:09 AM   #2
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Bama, overkill is in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone carries the same things, nor has the same ideas. If and when we finally get to make our next trip to Alaska a spare hub etc. will come along. It was worth it to you and that’s what matters.
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Old 04-16-2021, 11:27 AM   #3
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I just bought seals, a seal puller, and some Red and Tacky for my trailer too. I only have around 6K miles on the trailer, but it was 2 years old a couple of months ago. We are doing an "Out West" trip this fall and I certainly didn't want to do that trip out there and back without at least cleaning and regreasing the wheel bearings.....three axles so it will be a bit of a job, but as I see it, preventative maint is a must to help avoid issues while travelling.
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Old 04-16-2021, 12:02 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Bamabox View Post
With an extended trip upcoming, inspected and repacked wheel bearings with red and tacky. 2017 Cougar Xlite 21RBS with Dexter 4400lb axles. Got all part #’s from Dexter (very friendly people) with serial # off axle tag. Genuine Dexter seals were a little tough to find, but found some fairly local. Original bearings and races looked very good. So no need to replace. Spindles looked good as well. I got thinking about having a bearing failure on the road. If a bearing fails, I can’t be driving out races and driving in new ones, packing bearings, replacing seals etc on the side of the road. What I think I could manage however is just to replace the entire hub and drum if it had the races installed, and I had prepacked the bearings. Driving in a new seal wouldn’t be that bad. As it turns out, Dexter sells a hub and drum kit which is complete. Races installed. Matching bearings. Seal, jam nut, washer, nut clip, dust cap etc. In my case it was Dexter # K08-407-90. Found a great price on it at TrailerPartsSuperstore (Eastern Marine), and they had them in stock. Little less than $150 including shipping. Overkill? Paranoid? I just thought it was good insurance for not a lot of money.
I bought a complete hub assembly for my old 5ver for the exact same reason you stated. I carried it around for 5 years. I kept it when I traded the old one in, it is the same hub as is on the new 5ver. I will carry it around for 5 years again and hopefully never have to use it.
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Old 04-16-2021, 02:39 PM   #5
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We had an outer bearing fail on the south side of Laredo several years ago, freshly greased and adjusted just the month earlier. Tore up the brake assembly and no parts were available locally. Jacked up the trailer with the hydraulic jacks, and the wheel/drum assembly fell off onto the sidewalk. I carry the brass punches and other simple tools, and also a complete set of bearings and races and seals along with a container of grease. Sat on the sidewalk and replaced the races, packed the bearings, and after cutting all the brake parts from the backing plate, got the drum back on and adjusted the bearings. Wheel back on and everything cleaned up and back on the road in less than two hours. A week later, had all new parts delivered to a relative near Odessa and swapped the bad with the new. So glad a salesman at a Redneck Trailer store suggested carrying a set of bearings on the road.
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Old 04-16-2021, 06:05 PM   #6
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I carry a set of bearings and a seal, packed and in a tightly sealed tub of grease.
I was just talking to another Landmark owner this afternoon that said he hasn't even looked at his bearings in 8 years.
You pays your money and you take your choice.
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Old 04-16-2021, 08:04 PM   #7
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I carry a set of bearings and a seal, packed and in a tightly sealed tub of grease.
I was just talking to another Landmark owner this afternoon that said he hasn't even looked at his bearings in 8 years.
You pays your money and you take your choice.
That sounds like my DWs BIL (I'm in no way related to him), he's never had the bearings packed on any trailer, his argument is "when was the last time you packed them on your truck?". For those wondering, most all the newer vehicles have sealed bearings, packing is not needed, but rv bearings do.
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Old 04-17-2021, 03:32 AM   #8
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As a child I was a constant fixture at my father's side when he picked up any tool. There were few weekends that my father and I weren't working on some project (I think it ws so he could get space from my mother}. Repacking the front wheel bearings were a yearly ritual IIRC. Of course back then (1960's) the front drum brakes were typically about done as well. By 1970when I gotmy driver's liscence those brake shoes defeniatly needed to be changed yearly. I think there was an issue with tires not lasting as long back then as well.
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Old 04-17-2021, 05:54 PM   #9
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By 1970when I gotmy driver's liscence those brake shoes defeniatly needed to be changed yearly. I think there was an issue with tires not lasting as long back then as well.
The tires you're speaking of were the rears, correct?
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Old 04-17-2021, 11:29 PM   #10
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The tires you're speaking of were the rears, correct?
I was hard on all 4 corners. I enjoyed going around curves at speeds that made the objects in the rearview mirror disapear.
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Old 04-18-2021, 04:39 AM   #11
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When it comes to care and maintenance on an RV, there is no such thing as "overkill".
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Old 04-18-2021, 06:54 AM   #12
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I was a fleet mechanic for ADOT for 22 years. When I first started we had maintenance procedure for all towed units to repack the wheel bearings yearly. About 10 years later when the computer system was able to do a breakdown of wheel bearing failures they found that according to a national average the failure rate was higher on our equipment.
So they extended the wheel pack to once every three years and had a lot of training sessions as we found that there were a lot of techs who really didn't know what they were doing.
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Old 04-18-2021, 02:20 PM   #13
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I was a fleet mechanic for ADOT for 22 years. When I first started we had maintenance procedure for all towed units to repack the wheel bearings yearly. About 10 years later when the computer system was able to do a breakdown of wheel bearing failures they found that according to a national average the failure rate was higher on our equipment.
So they extended the wheel pack to once every three years and had a lot of training sessions as we found that there were a lot of techs who really didn't know what they were doing.
Maintenance manuals make no allowances for human error. In the vast majority of cases, the weak link in the chain.
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Old 04-22-2021, 01:49 PM   #14
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Thanks for the idea. i'm gonna do the same!
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Old 04-22-2021, 02:27 PM   #15
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I serviced the wheel bearings on our previous 5r after the first year just to see what was there and they were fine then kinda judging by the miles we pulled it about every 3 years after that.
Just recently finished the first year service on the Raptor and found grease in one the brakes the other 3 were fine considering I’m still working full time and our available trailer towing time hasn’t changed much I’ll probably use the same plan.
However this is a much heavier rig than the last one
But what you are doing I don’t call overkill, I call it insurance. I haven’t thought of it but I may do it myself
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Old 04-24-2021, 04:30 AM   #16
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Quick update. The more I thought about it, there’s no reason to have to be driving in a seal on the side of the road, so why not go ahead and install the packed inner bearing and seal. Cover the outer with some plastic wrap and a rubber band so the grease can’t dry out, should be fine for years. Then if I have a bearing failure I can pop the new hub and drum on, install prepacked outer bearing, washer, jam nut, clip, dust cap and done.
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Old 04-24-2021, 07:29 AM   #17
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Quick update. The more I thought about it, there’s no reason to have to be driving in a seal on the side of the road, so why not go ahead and install the packed inner bearing and seal. Cover the outer with some plastic wrap and a rubber band so the grease can’t dry out, should be fine for years. Then if I have a bearing failure I can pop the new hub and drum on, install prepacked outer bearing, washer, jam nut, clip, dust cap and done.
There are quite a few boat trailers that do that or a similar thing with the spare tire carrier. Bearings and seals are a "common failure item" on boat trailers. Years ago, someone got the "great idea" to not only hang a spare tire/wheel on a rack mounted to the trailer, they wen't one step further and mounted a complete hub assembly to the trailer and then hung the tire/wheel to that... Now, if you have a bearing failure, you've got a spare hub mounted "behind the spare wheel"....
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