Bearing Maintenance Urgency?

[ericandalice]

My wife and I recently came concerned because we have not been doing maintenance on the wheel bearing (packing, greasing, cleaning, etc) since we bought our RV. Our RV has around 7000 miles and is almost three years old. I know I want to get it serviced but I'm trying to determine the urgency. Either:

1. Get someone to do it before moving the RV again and count ourselves lucky it hasn't caused us problems so far. We are currently in our RV in Lousiana and plan to travel back home to GA in about 2 weeks.
2. Go ahead and travel back to GA without any service and find a reputiable service person once we are back home and have the leasure to do so before traveling anywhere else.
3. Inspect it ourselves with our untrained eyes (just watched some Youtube videos on the topic and know nothing more). Assuming we don't see anything glaring go ahead and go back to GA. If we see a problem get someone to fix before leaving.

 

[TravelTiger]

Eric, I understand your concern, especially after reading about what bearing failures can do to your rig, your trip, and your pocketbook. We have had ours serviced in the past, and we are due again. Our rig has been sitting for 9 mo, so I don't know what that does to them, either. We just took a 100 mile round trip, and we checked the temps at a rest stop, and watched our tpms temps carefully. We WILL have the service done before our big 1000 mile trip to Goshen and back.

 

[jassson007]

My wife and I recently came concerned because we have not been doing maintenance on the wheel bearing (packing, greasing, cleaning, etc) since we bought our RV. Our RV has around 7000 miles and is almost three years old. I know I want to get it serviced but I'm trying to determine the urgency. Either:

1. Get someone to do it before moving the RV again and count ourselves lucky it hasn't caused us problems so far. We are currently in our RV in Lousiana and plan to travel back home to GA in about 2 weeks.
2. Go ahead and travel back to GA without any service and find a reputiable service person once we are back home and have the leasure to do so before traveling anywhere else.
3. Inspect it ourselves with our untrained eyes (just watched some Youtube videos on the topic and know nothing more). Assuming we don't see anything glaring go ahead and go back to GA. If we see a problem get someone to fix before leaving.

Where are yall at right now in Louisiana? I might be able to help find someone to do reputable work for you.


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[olcoon]

We are "any timers", and usually live in our camper about 6 month of the year. I get ours packed every spring, I know they don't need it that often but a little peace of mind is worth the money. I've seen where it's recommended about every 2 years or 10,000 miles, so you "should" be OK. Another thing to think about is if there is a reputable place that works on trailers (not campers), you might check their pricing, might be cheaper than an RV dealer. There is one near where I live & last spring I got it done for $35.00 a wheel. It's always a good idea to keep an eye on the temps of your wheels/axels I've got an infra red thermometer that I use, that way I know if there is a big difference in the temps. Also, normally the temps will be a little higher on the side of your rig that the sun is shining on.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Eric and Alice,

The problem is that if you do have a failure on the road, it could be very expensive, and even dangerous. If a wheel comes off, there's lot of unpleasant possibilities, including injury to others. Also, in that situation when all the weight transfers to the remaining wheel, you could have damage to the surviving axle. The safe thing to do is to find someone qualified and get it done now.

 

[MTPockets]

Two things: 1) if you have not had any overheating to this point, you most likely will be fine, but watch that they don't get hot on your trip home. If you can lay your hand on the wheel and leave it there, it's not to hot. 2) the last time I had mine re packed, I made an 8:00 AM appointment for the day we pulled out, and we were on our way before 11:00 AM.

 

[JohnDar]

I think the recommendation was to have it done every 12 months or 12000 miles, whichever comes first. With the exception of last year, I followed the "every 12 months" schedule since we normally don't put more than 400 miles a year on it. It's getting done next week.

 

[JohnD]

Get it done before you leave.

We lost a wheel bearing two months ago in Phoenix with barely 5000 miles on our trailer, which was two years and four months old.

And that 5000 miles includes the 1200 miles from Elkhart, Indiana to Colorado delivery from the factory.

I hadn't had the bearings packed . . . but the EZ Lube hubs had been greased twice.

We lost two days of our vacation, basically destroyed all five of our trailer tires, and the repair bill was $988.

And that repair was just a band aid to get us home!

The trailer is in the shop right now being estimated for a complete repair (replacing both axles, springs and all five rims and tires), which is looking to be in the $3000 price range!

Did I mention to get the bearings packed before you leave?

 

[ericandalice]

Thanks for everybody's feedback. Sounds like the safest thing is to get it done before leaving here. Andy, I'm currently in Slidell, LA so a recommendation of a good place nearby would be greatly appreciated. Also looking to take I-10 back to GA so anywhere on the MS coast is also close might be able to stop on the way as MTPockets suggested.

 

[DougS]

Last week I just replaced all four outer bearings and cups after 10,000 miles when they showed wear, inner bearings were fine. Since most, if not all wheel bearings are now made in China, I was excited to find Japan made bearings at NAPA. I also travel with a complete set of bearings for one wheel since I have had bearings go bad at 3,500 miles and 6 months on a new axle, in the middle of nowhere.

 

[jassson007]

Thanks for everybody's feedback. Sounds like the safest thing is to get it done before leaving here. Andy, I'm currently in Slidell, LA so a recommendation of a good place nearby would be greatly appreciated. Also looking to take I-10 back to GA so anywhere on the MS coast is also close might be able to stop on the way as MTPockets suggested.

Let me do some digging but I would stay away from Camping world/Dixie out there. Bents is good but they are a ways from you in the Kenner area.


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[MTPockets]

Thanks for everybody's feedback. Sounds like the safest thing is to get it done before leaving here. Andy, I'm currently in Slidell, LA so a recommendation of a good place nearby would be greatly appreciated. Also looking to take I-10 back to GA so anywhere on the MS coast is also close might be able to stop on the way as MTPockets suggested.

As a PS to doing it on the way. When making the appointment, point out to them you are in fact under way and need to get in first thing so you're not waiting needlessly.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I understand that you have EZ lube.

Insure that the servicer gives you what you are buying. If he is selling a bearing repack by hand, then great. But if he intends to take it back where you can't see, and pump a bunch of grease into the EZ lube system, and call it a day. You can do that without his assistance.

Also, the Dexter EZ-lube system is designed for a hand pack or a manual grease gun. Dexter explicitly cites pneumatic grease guns as a cause of blown blown bearing seals. --just a heads up.

 

[ericandalice]

I called a few mobile RV repair folks to see if I can get it done on-site. One said he could not while another said they could. The one that could quoted a price of $132/hour + $95 on-site fee. He estimated it would take 3 hours. That's close to $500 which seems pretty steep. What should I expect to pay. I realize it might be more to have it done on-site. The convenience of not moving the RV would be well worth it. But want to make sure I'm still getting a reasonable price.

 

[jnbhobe]

An auto or truck service center can do a repack as good or better than a trailer service center and maybe cheaper.

 

[pegmikef]

I just had mine done at a custom trailer (mostly stock and cargo) shop and the cost was $195.00 as follows:

8 15 minute labor increments $160.00
4 seals 24.80
shop fee (rags I think) 7.04
Tax 2.84

And that is about what it has always been the last few years.

 

[jassson007]

I didn't pay anywhere near what you were quoted Erica and mine was less than what you paid Mike. But my local mobile guy here has a shop he was able to take everything to to clean them up so he didn't have to do that on site.


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[Jim.Allison]

If you have EZ lube, raise the wheel, pull the wheel in and out, checking for thrust movement. You might be able to detect a little but there should not be an excessive amount of endplay. look around the wheel and back side of the brake assembly for unusual signs of leakage.

While rotating the wheel shoot some grease into the hub with a manual grease gun until is come out the front of the hub. This is not a difficult task but doing it will save you plenty of money and frustration.

Here is a link to the approved greases for the Dexter axles.

http://www.dexteraxle.com/i/u/6149609/f/Service_Resources/Bearing_Lubrication_Chart.pdf

Here is a link to the type and style of a grease gun for the application

http://www.alemite.com/catalog/details.aspx?identifier=guns_professional

The 555E is what you want. This is just an example, you can buy different brands, but with this spec, NAPA would be an excellent source. To find one.

Here is a link to a YouTube video produced by Dexter outlining the procedure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0RKDGgDm8

Save yourself some money, and shoot some proper lube into the system. Read the PDf concerning the wheel bearing grease, because not all wheel bearing grease is compatible with other grease.

Go to lowes and buy a southwire hand held infrared temperature device. Every Time you stop, immediately take a reading.

Good luck!!!

My wife and I recently came concerned because we have not been doing maintenance on the wheel bearing (packing, greasing, cleaning, etc) since we bought our RV. Our RV has around 7000 miles and is almost three years old. I know I want to get it serviced but I'm trying to determine the urgency. Either:

1. Get someone to do it before moving the RV again and count ourselves lucky it hasn't caused us problems so far. We are currently in our RV in Lousiana and plan to travel back home to GA in about 2 weeks.
2. Go ahead and travel back to GA without any service and find a reputiable service person once we are back home and have the leasure to do so before traveling anywhere else.
3. Inspect it ourselves with our untrained eyes (just watched some Youtube videos on the topic and know nothing more). Assuming we don't see anything glaring go ahead and go back to GA. If we see a problem get someone to fix before leaving.

 

[ericandalice]

How does one know if they have EZ Lube?


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[jnbhobe]

You have it on your BC but not too many like it or use it.