greasing the wheel bearings
- Thread starter Jimalberta
- Start date
You're puzzled and so are the owners of these units. With respect to the zerk method of adding grease to the wheel bearings. Cost wise it is not much. They drill a hole in the axle and add the zerk fitting. I have never dealt with the bearing buddy but I believe its intended use is to add grease to the bearings using a zerk fitting and a grease pump. With no breaks to ruin there is not as much concern if the inner seal fails to keep the grease inside as long as the next pump pushes the grease and water out. Many TT owners don't understand why this system would be added when improper use of it causes break damage. Why did GM remove the oil cooler from the Corvette engine???? Well they did it to save weight. Then the oil temperatures went up so they switched to Mobil 1 which brought the temps down. Now the extra cost of using Mobil 1 was shifted on to the new owners. Somebody had to make that decision. It sure wasn't the consumer.
The manufacturers should revert to the standard way of packing bearings and stop trying shortcuts that create problems. Anytime you repeat unnecessary maintenance you create the opportunity to do something wrong. Pack the bearings and do it again in 35,000-40,000 miles.
TeJay
The manufacturers should revert to the standard way of packing bearings and stop trying shortcuts that create problems. Anytime you repeat unnecessary maintenance you create the opportunity to do something wrong. Pack the bearings and do it again in 35,000-40,000 miles.
TeJay
Duramax1
Well-known member
I still cannot reconcile why an RV manufacturer would spend more on an RV by installing the EasyLube system if that system increases the users maintenance costs..... while at the same time an RV manufacturer puts inferior tires on their units to save money which also increases the users maintenance cost.
Something does not compute here. While would the RV manufacturer not install cheaper bearing systems to save money as they do with tires.
I can appreciate why you are questioning their logic & I don't know if any answer will suffice. Here's some true story's regarding the car manufacturers. The old style push button seat belts were replaced by the vertical push down latch. Why??? It seems that a basic law of physics was ignored. For every action there is an equal & opposite reaction. You can push the button in or smack the back of the latch & the belt will release. People were coming out of their belts in rollover accidents. The manufacturers did not recall all vehicles with these seat belts only those that had reached a court of law. The same was true with the Pinto fuel spilling in rear end accidents. Ford used a similar set up for other makes of their vehicles but few if any made it into court so none of them were recalled. It becomes a matter of $$$$$ & lawsuits.
A while back we ordered a TT that had a maximum weight of 7,000 lbs. When it arrived we took it home & I noticed that instead of two 3,500 lb axles, which is what I thought was on the model at the dealer, they had installed two 3,000 Lb axles. That's 1,000 lbs under the max weight limit. The dealer called the plant, explained the concern & asked for heavier axles & got a resounding NO. I called later the same morning and within 2 minutes was told that new 3,500 lb axles would be shipped within a week. I stopped at the dealer around noon & they all wanted to know what I had said. The reason I got results is because I the consumer figured out what they were doing & they did not want the liability. It turns out that they had about fifteen 3,000 lb axles left over from another trailer run & they wanted to use them. A few weeks later I was looking on the dealer lot & noticed that some new units like ours had arrived. I looked at the sticker on the front left. It said 3,000 lb axles. I looked at the axles & they were 3,500 Lb.
Back to the axles/bearings. The system they typically use is just a hole drilled into the axle & a grease fitting. That's not expensive. What makes the best sense to me would be to go back to just decent bearings packed with synthetic grease. I've explained why they are a problem. Thinner grease & a grease gun that allows you or the mechanic to pump more grease than you need. Maybe they like to use the idea of easy bearing maintenance for the consumer as a selling point for the salesmen.
Liability for them I believe would be minimal. If you over grease, blow out the seals, loose your brakes & have an accident it's your shops fault or yours. You'd be hard pressed to prove otherwise. I just read yesterday of another owner that looked at his brakes after I believe 2-years & three of the four were blown with grease soaked shoes. In all 35 years of teaching I never had anything even close to that happen to wheel bearing seals. There's just no reason for a seal to fail unless it's age, improper installation, or excessive heat due to a failed bearing. I guess sometimes there is just no logic to some decisions. It is however, an interesting discussion.
TeJay
A while back we ordered a TT that had a maximum weight of 7,000 lbs. When it arrived we took it home & I noticed that instead of two 3,500 lb axles, which is what I thought was on the model at the dealer, they had installed two 3,000 Lb axles. That's 1,000 lbs under the max weight limit. The dealer called the plant, explained the concern & asked for heavier axles & got a resounding NO. I called later the same morning and within 2 minutes was told that new 3,500 lb axles would be shipped within a week. I stopped at the dealer around noon & they all wanted to know what I had said. The reason I got results is because I the consumer figured out what they were doing & they did not want the liability. It turns out that they had about fifteen 3,000 lb axles left over from another trailer run & they wanted to use them. A few weeks later I was looking on the dealer lot & noticed that some new units like ours had arrived. I looked at the sticker on the front left. It said 3,000 lb axles. I looked at the axles & they were 3,500 Lb.
Back to the axles/bearings. The system they typically use is just a hole drilled into the axle & a grease fitting. That's not expensive. What makes the best sense to me would be to go back to just decent bearings packed with synthetic grease. I've explained why they are a problem. Thinner grease & a grease gun that allows you or the mechanic to pump more grease than you need. Maybe they like to use the idea of easy bearing maintenance for the consumer as a selling point for the salesmen.
Liability for them I believe would be minimal. If you over grease, blow out the seals, loose your brakes & have an accident it's your shops fault or yours. You'd be hard pressed to prove otherwise. I just read yesterday of another owner that looked at his brakes after I believe 2-years & three of the four were blown with grease soaked shoes. In all 35 years of teaching I never had anything even close to that happen to wheel bearing seals. There's just no reason for a seal to fail unless it's age, improper installation, or excessive heat due to a failed bearing. I guess sometimes there is just no logic to some decisions. It is however, an interesting discussion.
TeJay
JonV
Well-known member
There has been a large number of failures with the Nev-R-Lube bearings. Even a 10mm offset wheel has been blamed for a large number of failures.
caissiel
Senior Member
I just have to say it again.
Easy lube for me make sense.
When greasing my vehicles I do it myself. The only time I got it done, the certified mechanic busted all my seals on the car. I grease my parts till the rubber feels hard and never broke one
Due to that we are force to maintain $70k trucks with no grease fittings.
I made a career of supervising good maintenance and made notes of important methods and changing what didn`t work.
Easy lube is cheap and used right has been great for all kinds of trailers.
I noticed transport trailers using them and if the trailer has a perfectly clean wheel, I can bet that grease is being used.
When used right grease can out perform oil any day and in all conditions except in high speed equipment.
Sent from my GT-S5660M using Tapatalk 2
Easy lube for me make sense.
When greasing my vehicles I do it myself. The only time I got it done, the certified mechanic busted all my seals on the car. I grease my parts till the rubber feels hard and never broke one
Due to that we are force to maintain $70k trucks with no grease fittings.
I made a career of supervising good maintenance and made notes of important methods and changing what didn`t work.
Easy lube is cheap and used right has been great for all kinds of trailers.
I noticed transport trailers using them and if the trailer has a perfectly clean wheel, I can bet that grease is being used.
When used right grease can out perform oil any day and in all conditions except in high speed equipment.
Sent from my GT-S5660M using Tapatalk 2
My previous two fifth wheel trailers had the Dexter Nev-R-Lube bearings. It was a option on both trailers. Never had a problem with either of the two trailers over 9 yrs.
Don
JonV
Well-known member
Here are a few that didn't workout quite so well... From Morries Trailer Sales
Attachments
Were those the Dexter brand or Lippert brand. I know Lippert had problems several years with their Never Lubes.
Don
wesley1963
Wes
After speaking to some who have the oilers, this seems to be the best.
JonV
Well-known member
Dexter
I did a short search for a conversion to oil bath wheel bearings and did not find a lot of information. I know they are used on heavy duty stuff. Here's my question and concern. I realize that oiled bearing will probably last longer and cool better than greased wheel bearings. Lets say it costs about $100 a wheel to do a conversion. That may be low or high I don't know. Why go to the expense and trouble if proper care with regular wheel bearings will work as well? I changed my china bearings to Toyo brand, hand packed them with Amzoil series 2000 racing grease, correctly adjusted the hub nut for .001-.003 clearance for $130. We might put 6,000 - 8,000 miles on our unit. Therefore they will not have to be serviced again for 2-3 years and they will last 100,000 miles or more. Oiled bearing seem like overkill to me but I may not have all the information to make a good decision. Also we only have a 7,000 lb camper not a 7-8 ton 5th wheel so that I'm sure plays a big part in this topic.
TeJay
TeJay
Have to agree 100% with this. We use oil on 10,000# axles and up. If you don't use the trailer much then grease if way better. You would have to pull at least 30-40K to make it feasible to go to oil bath. Properly packed bearings will last years and years under normal use.
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