bearings

[dougjs]

I have a question on greasing wheel bearing.
l had friend that had his outer bearings remover cleaned and handed greased and installed back in to all four wheels. He that drove from Florida back to Canada with no problems stored his trailer for about three months then took it out for a camping trip drove it 25 miles and had problems with wheel took it into dealer and was told that all four seal were blown and grease was on all shoes and magnets. He had to replace all the the wheels with new parts.
How is possible they were hand packed no grease gun was used and the inner bearings and seals were not touch.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by dougjs

I have a question on greasing wheel bearing.
l had friend that had his outer bearings remover cleaned and handed greased and installed back in to all four wheels. He that drove from Florida back to Canada with no problems stored his trailer for about three months then took it out for a camping trip drove it 25 miles and had problems with wheel took it into dealer and was told that all four seal were blown and grease was on all shoes and magnets. He had to replace all the the wheels with new parts.
How is possible they were hand packed no grease gun was used and the inner bearings and seals were not touch.

If he "Had" his bearings serviced, there's only one person who knows if they were really "hand packed" and that's the guy doing the work. If your friend did it himself, then I'd believe what he says, but if he took it in for service and didn't stand there watching the maintenance, he's really not "positive' that they were hand packed. That is what the mechanic said he did.

Many times, RV service departments have a specific procedure they follow for maintenance. As for bearing repacks, if the service procedure is to use a grease gun, if someone yelled across the service bay, "Hey Joe, this one's in for an outer wheel bearing repack." and the mechanic wasn't instructed that it was "different from the normal" then he did what he "always does for everyone".....

Unless your friend is positive that there was never a grease gun on the hubs, it's only speculation that they were done as he requested...

Sad, I know, but it happens every day.

And, even if they were hand packed, there's no guarantee that they weren't damaged when the hubs were reinstalled on the spindles or that they were damaged/worn when the work was started and never checked, so there's not much of a way to be certain when or how the damage occurred.

[Javi]

Not a clue...

But then I'm at a loss as to why anyone would bother to pack the outer bearings and not do the whole job. It only takes a couple more minutes to clean, pack the rear bearing and replace the seal.

Maybe somebody decided to use the bearing buddy and shoot some grease into the hub...

[bsmith0404]

Originally Posted by Javi

Not a clue...

But then I'm at a loss as to why anyone would bother to pack the outer bearings and not do the whole job. It only takes a couple more minutes to clean, pack the rear bearing and replace the seal.

:

That was my first thought as well, and my second thought, and my third.......

[dougjs]

No they were hand packed his trailer was next to me and l watched them pack the bearings, my question is why would his seals blow can you over hand pack just seem strange that the seal go 1500 miles later.
How would packing outers only affected the inners and seals

[bsmith0404]

I think you have us all pretty much stumped on this one as well.

[JRTJH]

Yup, one of those "great mysteries" of RV'ing.....

[hankpage]

25 miles isn't enough to cause four seal failures and soften the grease enough to get all over. I think he had problems on the longer trip and just did not notice it. With front bearings removed it is easy to dislodge the seal if not careful. I think the problem started in Florida. JM2¢, Hank

[kellydog98]

You know the saying, 'If you want a job done right...then do it yourself". Not being a big grease guy, is there a possiblity that the 'type' of grease ate up the seal while it sat?

[micar]

Recently had my curb side brakes lock on? Noticed smoke coming from the hubs, with only about 2 miles to go and nowhere safe to pull over, elected to continue to the campground. Whilst registering my son noticed that the breakaway had been pulled....caught on something in the box I guess. No brake lock up on driver side.
Did a quick visual check of the locked up wheels bearings and brakes at the campsite...looked ok, only a short drive home and stopped 3 times to check temps.
Decided to do a bearing inspection and repack as the trailer is a year old and has never been done.
Pulled curb side front wheel and bearing and grease seal stays on the spindle??!!
Trip to the parts store for a complete new set of bearings and seals. With a little heat the stuck bearing comes off, no damage to the spindle!!
When I pull the wheels and hubs off of the driver side...remember these didn't lock up when the breakaway got pulled.
Brakes are full of grease and both grease seals are bent!!!
This must have been done at the factory or dealership as the wheels and hubs have never been off and I don't believe in just pumping grease into the zerk fitting.
Cleaned everything with copious amounts of brake cleaner and a full roll of shop towels!! Hope that does the trick without having to replace the brakes.
I know this is a long post, but just want to make the point that when it comes to bearings and brakes it pays to be hyper vigilant....I know will be now.
Mike

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by micar

Recently had my curb side brakes lock on? Noticed smoke coming from the hubs, with only about 2 miles to go and nowhere safe to pull over, elected to continue to the campground. Whilst registering my son noticed that the breakaway had been pulled....caught on something in the box I guess. No brake lock up on driver side.
Did a quick visual check of the locked up wheels bearings and brakes at the campsite...looked ok, only a short drive home and stopped 3 times to check temps.
Decided to do a bearing inspection and repack as the trailer is a year old and has never been done.
Pulled curb side front wheel and bearing and grease seal stays on the spindle??!!
Trip to the parts store for a complete new set of bearings and seals. With a little heat the stuck bearing comes off, no damage to the spindle!!
When I pull the wheels and hubs off of the driver side...remember these didn't lock up when the breakaway got pulled.
Brakes are full of grease and both grease seals are bent!!!
This must have been done at the factory or dealership as the wheels and hubs have never been off and I don't believe in just pumping grease into the zerk fitting.Cleaned everything with copious amounts of brake cleaner and a full roll of shop towels!! Hope that does the trick without having to replace the brakes.
I know this is a long post, but just want to make the point that when it comes to bearings and brakes it pays to be hyper vigilant....I know will be now.
Mike

To my knowledge, Keystone and the dealerships don't service the axles on trailer assembly or on PDI. They come from Dexter (or Al Ko) ready to be installed on the trailer. The frame is pulled into the assembly line bottom side up, the electrical harness, plumbing, insulation and heat ducts are laid in the frame, the coroplast is installed, the axle/spring assemblies are installed and the trailer is turned over onto the wheels and pushed forward where the tanks, additional items like the level sensors, leveling jacks, etc are installed, then finally the floor is installed, vinyl and carpet laid and the frame is pushed down the line where the interior is positioned and it moves on. The factory just pulls the ax;es from the rack and bolts them on the frame. There was no inspection of hubs or bearings performed. All they did was a quick look to make sure they weren't damaged and they were installed, then the workers moved to another task.

I'd suppose that most dealerships don't pull hubs to service brakes or bearings on PDI, they wait to service them (and get paid under warranty terms) if the customer brings it back. Otherwise, it's the customer's issue after 12 months.

[chuckster57]

We don't do anything with the wheels other than verify torque for lugs and air pressure on new units. Wet bolts (if present) are serviced. Any used unit gets a complete axle service and if tires are out of date they get replaced.

[micar]

So I guess that means they were faulty straight from the manufacturer.
Hmmmm thats scary!!
Guess they could have failed since installation, surprising since trailer has only about 2000km on it since new.
Mike
BTW it cost $325 for all the bearings, races and grease seals....seems like a lot of dough, they are SKF bearings though.

[JRTJH]

They may have been faulty direct from the manufacturer. Like the A/C, stove, water pump, refrigerator, toilet, tires, etc, Keystone simply removes them from the box and screws them in place. Keystone doesn't build them, doesn't service them, doesn't inspect them before shipping the trailer.

Apparently Keystone feels that they bought the part from the manufacturer, the manufacturer needs to "step up to the plate" with what they build, just as we expect Keystone to "step up to the plate" with what parts they build.

During the first year, Keystone will act as an "intermediary" with the individual manufacturers on behalf of the customer, but after that time is past, it's up to the customer and/or the dealership to work with the manufacturer (if there is any warranty remaining). Dexter has a 24 month warranty on their "conventional trailer axles".

They do have a long list of exclusions such as "normal wear and tear", "hub imbalance and any damage caused by it", "unreasonable use including failure to provide necessary maintenance" and the list goes on and on......

You can read the warranty here: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...0uweSly-wnzt9w

If you're still in the 24 month warranty period, you might want to discuss your problems with your dealership and if not satisfied, contact Dexter and see what they say.

[micar]

Thanks for the info JR. We are in warranty, not willing to pursuit a claim though. Just wanted to share what I learned and that a failure can occur whenever.
Frequent inspection is the key!!
Mike

[rjsurfer]

Originally Posted by micar

Cleaned everything with copious amounts of brake cleaner and a full roll of shop towels!! Hope that does the trick without having to replace the brakes.

Do yourself a favor and get new brake assemblies not expensive and easy to change out. Brake cleaners and degreasers are a shadow of what they used to be you will never get the grease off the linings.

Ron W.

[micar]

Ya, I was wondering about that....Seemed like they were fairly clean,figured friction might clean them up some more.
Mike

[gearhead]

I would question the shop that did the work. No way if I owned the shop would only the outer bearings get packed. No decent mechanic would do it anyway.
Something ain't right here.

[micar]

For all the time it takes, why not do inner and outer.

[LittleJoe]

For you western ontario guys. Cerka Industries at one eight seven seven 876 three three 44 or www.cerka.ca (not affiliated)

Have used this company several times for our ERS trailers. You can buy a complete axle drum to drum with torflex suspension for very just over 500.00.
The same axle we were quoted locally for 2000.00

We have to replace from time to time because of accident or bad roads causing bends (seen about everything)

Will also add (for those who think greasing by hand is only way) have several trailers that are greased only with gun(according to procedure PROPERLY) that have in excess of 300,000 km without ever removing hubs. Brakes are inspected through inspection hole and free play checked, brakes adjusted if nec when tires are changed approx every 30-40K km or 4months .

YMMV but repacking once a year is a make work project if upon external inspection and bearing running temps all check out good.

If there is an indication of a reason to check internally than by all means.

On my personal RV I have yet to remove drums, in 40K km but annually grease and adjust brakes, and always monitor brake/bearing temp on the road.