Bearing work - what to look for?

[TravelTiger]

Decided to replace all the bearings since it was overdue for a repack. First wheel off, looking at the spindle, are these areas of concern? Not sure what is serious. We’ve not done this before. The surface of the spindle feels very smooth.

We plan to replace the bearings and races, as well as the seal. (But discovered they forgot one of the races in our “kit”, so project is delayed.

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[rhodies1]

Everything looks normal, bearings do not ride on any spot on your spindle ,the bearing slides over and rides on itself. I would squeeze some grease thru each fitting to clean out the old grease inside each spindle.
Also clean your brake assemblies while apart, make sure magnets move freely and put a dab of grease on the backing plate where the shoes ride.

 

[JWalker]

Following.

Starting bearing repack on the ElkRidge this evening.

 

[Gary521]

When you say "kit", what are you referring to? Normally a kit of bearings come from bearings made in China. I just suggest that you get Timken bearings. These can be purchased from several places and one source is Rockauto. Yes, I am bad mouthing Chinese bearings compared to Timken bearings. I also suggest that you use a good synthetic grease. I have a road race car and use Redline CV2 in all bearings on the car as well as the 5th wheel trailer bearings. As long as you are doing this, you might as well put the good stuff in.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Is Amsoil water resistant synthetic grease also good to use? I still have original ones in the BC and am wondering if they either just need to be greased/re-packed or new ones? Also, aren't Timken bearings made in China as well??

 

[travelin2]

? Also, aren't Timken bearings made in China as well??

“Where are Timken bearings manufactured?


"Timken" bearings are currently made in Mexico, Poland, Italy, and possily others as well as the US. Timken claims their QC is the same regardless of of the country of origin which will be stamped on the specific bearing.”


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[2Stepn]

It's always hard to tell from a picture, but I see no major problems. I would take extremely fine emery cloth and lightly polish the areas where the inner bearing races set on the spindle and also the seal contact area on the back of the spindle. All you're trying to remove is the light staining on the spindle from the trailer setting in one place. Also put a light film of grease on the spindle and seal area before reassembly.

 

[MTPockets]

Above All good suggestions and advice. My career of nearly 40 years was in the bearing business. I taught many bearing maintenance seminars to factory maintenance and engineering personnel. The key to long bearing life is cleanliness/proper handling, and proper lubrication. Seals are key to keeping out contamination. Your bearings will last much longer than you’ll ever own the trailer if kept clean during installation. That’s the basics, and if followed, no problems. I’ll gladly answer other questions if you have them.

 

[TravelTiger]

Thanks all, we bought a Timkin bearing kit from Southwest Wheel.

https://www.southwestwheel.com/p-4610-timken-bearing-kit-for-42-spindle-8-hole.aspx

I also bought 4 double-lip Dexter seals from Amazon, since the ones in the kit were single lip.

Dexter 01003600 Grease Seal https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007HRI5W...abc_7MQAXPDKXXEGKD3GJ11C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Sadly we realized this weekend that the outer races were not in the shipment from Southwest. Waiting to hear back from them, they implied they were on backorder but were checking other warehouses.


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[TravelTiger]

I failed to follow up on this - Southwest Wheel couldn’t tell me when I would get the races, so they refunded the cost. I found Timkin races on Amazon with next day delivery, and ordered them.


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