Ultralube wheel bearing repacking

Sparkie

Member
AL-KO recommends that the Ultralube wheel bearings should be totally disassembled, inspected and repacked every 6K miles or every 6 months, whichever occurs first. This seems like an overkill to me. How often are you servicing these? Are there any horror stories I should know about? What's the feedback from you guys that have done the job yourself?
Thanks for your response!
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Sparkie, I went a little over 7K and about one year. At about 6 months I pulled the caps on the wheels and gave them a few shots of grease thru the grease fitting. They are not hard to DIY the most important thing being getting them clean and dry before repacking. While you have the wheel up be sure to adjust your brakes. I also cleaned the drum and brake mechanism before reassembly. I replaced the seals as well with CR seals.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
It's from Farm & Fleet and used for boat trailer bearings and waterproof. It's their house brand I'll have to go look at a tube because I CRS.
 

slaytop

Well-known member
I posted a photo of my UltraLube experience at //heartlandowners.org/showthread.php?t=3387.
When you pump grease into the fitting it goes through the axle and exits out a couple of holes near the rear bearing. If the rear seal is working properly, the grease will be held in the axle area and will fill the voids around the axle until sufficient pressure builds to force the grease forward to the outer bearing and to force grease into the bearings. If you place a few squirts of grease into the fitting it does little good and will not help the outer bearing.

Disassembly and repacking is a much better method of maintaining the bearings than to rely on the UltraLube system to keep them properly lubricated. It is not any more difficult than a standard bearing system. I would squirt some fresh grease through the fitting while it is disassembled to clean out any old grease that might be in there.
 

talley

Well-known member
I posted a photo of my UltraLube experience at //heartlandowners.org/showthread.php?t=3387.
When you pump grease into the fitting it goes through the axle and exits out a couple of holes near the rear bearing. If the rear seal is working properly, the grease will be held in the axle area and will fill the voids around the axle until sufficient pressure builds to force the grease forward to the outer bearing and to force grease into the bearings. If you place a few squirts of grease into the fitting it does little good and will not help the outer bearing.

Disassembly and repacking is a much better method of maintaining the bearings than to rely on the UltraLube system to keep them properly lubricated. It is not any more difficult than a standard bearing system. I would squirt some fresh grease through the fitting while it is disassembled to clean out any old grease that might be in there.

NOW I READ SLAYTSOP EXPERIENCE!!!... Purchased Bighorn in October '06. In the next ten month the BH was used for three trips totaling 6,000 miles. It then went to dealer for warranty work and repair of china bomb going off on last trip. Got it back in November '07 with no trips until April '08 for the recent. Heartland Owners Rally in Houston. Followng rally dropped the BH off at Camping World for wheel bearing repack and brake check.

Well now.... I had followed the recommended procedure for lubrication of the UltraLub system and used hand pump to inject grease until the new grease begain appearing at the front of the spindle. I had done this in June '07 before last trip on which the tire blew-out. Did it again about six weeks befor rally. (Sorry, hit wrong key... probably still shook up from UltraLub Experience. Like Slaytsop experienced... mechanic at Camping World found both OD side hubs full of grease (has not removed DoorSide wheels yet, likely to be the same). I recall thinking that it seemed the hub was taking a good amount of grease, but as I was following directions felt that all was well and trusted the design of the system. I now have to REPLACE all brake componets due to the amount of grease coating the brake plate, shoes, magnets. IMHO, like Slaytsop, the concept of the UltraLub seems good... but, as a practical matter if you have to rremove and inspect the bearings, hub and replace the seals every SIX MONTHS... what is the value or use of the UltraLub system???!! Now I am obviously not a mechanic, but I can do a reasonable job of minor maintenance and generally follow written instructions. It seems that I must now institute maintenance to include repacking wheel bearings and replacing the seals at least every six months. WHAT A DRAG...
 
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