I had 8000lb axles installed by Lippert (upgrade offer for the 2011 rally) During the installation, the drums on the ne axles had to be s]changed as the wheel studs were too large for my wheels. Today, I took the drums off, inspected the brakes and bearings, and then repacked the bearings. Everything was in good condition. The self adjusting brakes seem to be working OK as I had to really wiggle the drums quite a bit to get them off. However I was dismayed to find that two of the axle nuts were not properly locked. The washer tabs on two hubs were not bent out into a slot on the nut. There was nothing, apart from friction stopping the nut from loosening. Fortunately there is some friction there as the thread machining is not to a high standard. Obviously the mechanic that did the axle swap forgot to lock two of the nuts. IIRC, another member had a hub failure on an upgraded axle. Perhaps one of his hub nuts had not been properly locked. I probably have 6000 miles on these new axles, and consider myself fortunate that one of those wheels did not come off. I'm not a fan of this type of nut locking, I prefer split pins.
So next time you have the wheels off, pop the grease cap and check the lock washer if you haven't done so yet. The EZ lube feature can be tempting to use, but manually repacking the bearings allows you to do a full inspection, and obtain peace of mind.
So next time you have the wheels off, pop the grease cap and check the lock washer if you haven't done so yet. The EZ lube feature can be tempting to use, but manually repacking the bearings allows you to do a full inspection, and obtain peace of mind.
