Jacking, Bearing and Brake Session

[jpmorgan37]

This Post was made by Slaytop in June of 2007 after a training session by a Lippert technician. Since we have a number of new members in the Forum, I thought that it would be helpful to repost it.

The session was performed by a Lippert technician on a Bighorn with a standard axle. Here are some highlights that I can comment on briefly.

Jacking.
Place the trailer on a level surface.
Don't try to lift the entire side of the trailer by jacking one wheel or by driving one wheel on a ramp so the other wheel comes off the ground. This overloads the axle, tire & wheel and can cause damage.

Lift the side of a trailer by placing a jack under the frame behind the rear spring hanger. Use wood blocks under the jack to permit it to reach a height that will lift the wheels off the ground.

It is OK to lift a single wheel if only to support that axle while changing a tire or doing service work. If the spring is beneath the axle, lift the axle by placing the jack under the spring plate. If the spring is over the axle, place the jack under the spring just forward of the axle. Only lift high enough to raise the tire off the ground.

Bearings.
Do this once each year.
Remove wheel. Remove bearing cap, bend tab washer back to permit the removal of the axle nut. Remove tab washer and discard. Pull wheel off making sure the outer bearing does not drop to the ground into the dirt. Remove outer bearing from wheel and set aside. Remove rear seal and discard. Remove inner bearing. Clean and repack bearings. Inspect bearing surfaces for heat and other damage. Replace if any damage is noticed. Inspect brake components and drum for damage or replacement. If the bearings are repacked correctly there is no need to load up the axle with extra grease. Reassemble using a new rear seal and tab washer. Tighten nut firmly while rotating wheel so everything seats well then back off. Then back off nut and tighten by hand. Bend tab of washer to keep nut in final position. Reinstall axle cap and wheel.
The use of the zerk fitting on the standard axle is ineffective and should not be relied on to grease the bearings.

Brakes.
Clean brake assembly while drum is off and check the pads and actuator for wear. Remove the upper and lower springs (not the center springs on the shoe frame). Lightly lubricate with grease the flat bosses on the brake plate where the shoes rub. Remove the brake adjuster to clean and lubricate. Reassemble making sure the star adjusting wheel is lined up with the hole in the brake plate. Remove the plug in the hole to adjust the brakes.

Adjusting brakes.
When the wheel assembly is completely assembled, rotate the wheel and tighten the brakes by placing a tool in the plug hole against the star wheel. It should tighten when the tool is pushed downward outside. Tighten until the wheel can't be rotated then loosen the brakes 5 clicks of the star wheel.
Replace the plug and make the same adjustment to the other brakes.

 

[5erWonk]

John

Thanks for the update, I will print this out this time and put it in my maintenance file.

 

[fulltimer]

Axle Problem

I moved my 2007 Landmark from one site to another in the same RV Park on Saturday (4/5/08). I use roto-chocks and when I installed them after the move the street side fit like normal several inches between the top and bottom pieces but the curb side seems like the space between the tires has gotten larger allowing the top and bottom pieces to almost touch. Does anyone have suggestions on what might be causing this difference.

 

[Uncle Rog]

I have the same condition on our 2006 BH. Lippert came out and determined that the axles were 1" out of square. They replaced the entire suspension, gratis, but the tires are still not equally spaced. They also welded a tube from each of the mor-ryde units to reduce deflection. The rig pulls fine but at some point I will have the square fixed and align the axles so that the tires are parallel.....If you are still under the lipper warranty get a hold of them.........

 

[TeJay]

Hi,
Jpmorgan37 good article on brake/bearing maintenance. If I may I would like add two items. Inspection of the wheel bearings may/may not yield any useful information to the untrained eye especially if the bearings are just beginning to fail. Sometimes the bearings are failing but you won't notice the signs unless you inspect with a magnifying glass. However when the bearings are removed wiping them clean with a shop towel and inspecting the old grease may yield very important information. The bearings will begin to fail due to heat and metal fatigue. When that happens the metal will loose its surface hardness and begin to flake away. That will show up long before the bearing actually fail and it will show up as little sparkles in the old grease. It actually looks like sparkles in black snow. If you see any metal flake in the grease they are bad and must be replaced. The bearing rollers have lost their hardness and are flaking away. Eventually they will flake enough to cause valleys in the rollers which will eventually cause the rumbling noise that we associate when we hear a bad bearing. The problem with trailers is that the noise is way behind us and we don't hear it until it's to late. Remember the failure actually started long before the noise as metal fatigue and metal flaking.
Secondly, after 35 years teaching and working in the automotive industry I am very partial to synthetic oils and greases. I won't use anything but synthetics in anything I own and it has never failed me yet. Mobile One makes a full synthetic bearing grease and Valvoline makes a partial synthetic. Either one will work better than non synthetic. What make synthetic lubes better is the upper and lower temperature fail points compared to regular lubricants. If you're interested research them on the net.
Hope this helps. Nothing worse than a mechanical failure. I do all I can to avoid them. We will take delivery of our new NT 24-RBS we hope in early March 2011 and one of the first thing I will do is to repack and adjust the all bearings and brakes.

 

[caissiel]

I worked in the heavy maintenance field for the pulp industry for 30 years and bearing failures never occured due to bearing design and application.
Every bearing failed due to human error and contamination. Grease will breakdown due to age and contamination and dirt, so seals are very important to be changed when bearings are serviced. With 1000's of bearings we never serviced our bearings until the requirement for other services was required and proper greasing with application by grease gun was the standard application policy and I do believe that proper application using the zerk is the required method when done properly.
We never applied grease to a stationary bearing because bearings are designed to pump grease when rolling. Our bearings lasted the life of the equipment, and I replaced a pinion bearing an an old reducer after 40 years application without being rebuild, and it was due to a seal failure and not the bearing.
Everytime the hub is worked at and examined there is a great potential of introducing human error and contaminant that will make the bearing fail. Its all about the proper maintenance done for the right reason.
I heard a friend in the park here drove over 1000 miles with no brakes on the unit and after service at a dealer it was observed that the 1 year wheel check up done before the trip, had not been done properly and he was left with no brakes on the unit after traveling 1000 miles. So there are many owners that do the required checks and to me get bad service that may cause all kinds of safety and equipment problem.
The only real maintenance requirements for our trailers is the 4 or 6 wheels buggy that they sit on and we need to use proper care to keep the buggy in tip top condition and bearing service is so simple but why is it the major problem discussed.

We had GM trucks front bearings failing every 3 months in the early 2000 and we determined the seals were damaged by dirt ruining the seals, we installed shields and there was the solution to the problem. Bearings fail due to lack of proper greasing, improper greasing and missunderstanding the application of the maintenance application.
I will repeat it I have a trailer made with Mustang hubs and I have been carrying over 3000 lbs on each hubs for years and the bearings never failed.
The other day I read that the no lube 6000 lbs trailer hubs have the same bearing arrangements my Mustang hubs have.

In all my maintenance experience it was a no brainer, we had the best technicians on PM of our equipment and they could grease and oil bearings that lasted 1000's hrs like they are designed for.

Of course the less they are used the more chances they are to collect contaminents and the proper precausion should be taken and to prevent moisture to ruin the bearings and regular application of grease will protect the bearings against failure and the longer they are parked the chances are increased so a 1 year service as the manufacturer states has to be observed and used in discretion for the protection of the manufacturer.

To me that's the reason for the introduction of the Zirk fittings that permits the flushing of grease in the hubs, And it has to be applied properly and used to flush out the old grease completly when done or it will leave the dirt and contaminents in the hub and cause failure. One drop of water could ruin oil, and contaminate grease that is more forgiving. That is where the synthetics seam to be more forgiving but the bearings will fail as well if the proper flushing of the grease is not done.

But so far I have not seen anywhere but one location that states to rotate the wheels of the unit while applying the grease to the Zirks, and everyone I talk to they have been told to pump a few shots in the zirks once in a while and some say I pump in the zirks every trip I take. THIS IS COMPLETLY WRONG AND SHOULD ONLY BE USED ON BOAT TRAILERS.

The Zirk design is fool proof when serviced properly, and designed right for our hubs and I believe that they are similar to the industry standard for greasing bearings. And if we in the industry would follow the instructions I have heard and read that we in the industry would not be able to survive.

 

[lwmcguir]

We have used the EZ lube hubs since they came out many years ago. We grease them as Laurent notes and have never had a failure in many years and several million miles on various trailers. It is a huge money and time saver when you have multiple rigs to maintain.

 

[fordtech 2008]

do auto parts stores carry the seals for the axles when repacking the bearings?

 

[jnbhobe]

Most of them do.

 

[dmreece]

Is there by chance a YouTube video of the axle bearing repack and brake adjustment process? I have repacked the axle bearings on antique fords but not these more modern configurations. Don't want to mess it up.

Thanks,
David Reece
2013 BigHorn
2014 F250
SuperGlide 1600

 

[danemayer]

Is there by chance a YouTube video of the axle bearing repack and brake adjustment process? I have repacked the axle bearings on antique fords but not these more modern configurations. Don't want to mess it up.

Thanks,
David Reece
2013 BigHorn
2014 F250
SuperGlide 1600

Hi David,

Not youtube, but here's a thread with a picture guide. One note of caution, Heartland, Lippert, and Dexter all recommend lifting by the frame, not as pictured by the axle.

 

[Piperflyer]

This Post was made by Slaytop in June of 2007 after a training session by a Lippert technician. Since we have a number of new members in the Forum, I thought that it would be helpful to repost it.

Adjusting brakes.
When the wheel assembly is completely assembled, rotate the wheel and tighten the brakes by placing a tool in the plug hole against the star wheel. It should tighten when the tool is pushed downward outside. Tighten until the wheel can't be rotated then loosen the brakes 5 clicks of the star wheel.
Replace the plug and make the same adjustment to the other brakes.

Can you loosen the brakes easily once you tighten the wheel not to rotate. I know some star assemblies can be a pain to loosen. Just want to make sure I can loosen the star wheel once I tighten the brake on the wheel.

 

[Lou_and_Bette]

This Post was made by Slaytop in June of 2007 after a training session by a Lippert technician. Since we have a number of new members in the Forum, I thought that it would be helpful to repost it.

Adjusting brakes.
When the wheel assembly is completely assembled, rotate the wheel and tighten the brakes by placing a tool in the plug hole against the star wheel. It should tighten when the tool is pushed downward outside. Tighten until the wheel can't be rotated then loosen the brakes 5 clicks of the star wheel.
Replace the plug and make the same adjustment to the other brakes.

Can you loosen the brakes easily once you tighten the wheel not to rotate. I know some star assemblies can be a pain to loosen. Just want to make sure I can loosen the star wheel once I tighten the brake on the wheel.

• I know that when I adjust my brakes, I do so slowly so I don’t have to back off the star wheel for that very reason...possible.? not sure but don’t want the hassle.

 

[JohnD]

Just got new tires, had wheel bearings repacked and suspension and brakes checked and adjusted two weeks ago.

I noticed on the way home from the shop that the brakes weren't as tight as they were before so I had to bump the adjustment on the controler up one number from 5.5 to 6.5 to get the same drag.

 

[porthole]

Can you loosen the brakes easily once you tighten the wheel not to rotate. I know some star assemblies can be a pain to loosen. Just want to make sure I can loosen the star wheel once I tighten the brake on the wheel.

Usually will depend on whether you have self adjusters or not. Couldn't find good pictures of RV brakes, but this is similar and should give you an idea.

Non self adjusting brakes. The adjuster star wheel will turn both ways fairly easy. Typically a spring rides against this "star wheel" as it is called, and the spring riding on the teeth of the adjuster keep it in place.





On self adjusting brakes most of the hardware is the same, but there are a couple additional parts for the self adjusting feature. The yellow lever in the picture is the item that adjusts the star wheel when reversing and applying brakes. The lever also keeps the star wheel in postion. It sits on the teeth on the side, only allowing the star wheel to 'ratchet' one direction.

So if you tighten your brakes too much with this system you just need a long thin screwdriver to push that lever away while you 'un-adjust' the brakes.

 

[Kinguni]

I noticed on the way home from the shop that the brakes weren't as tight as they were before so I had to bump the adjustment on the controler up one number from 5.5 to 6.5 to get the same drag.

I had to do the same thing last year, but it seemed they gradually got tighter through the season and I had to back down my brake controller. Supposed to work the other way, isn't it?

 

[VLaurie1799]

So for 8 years I thought I had self adjusting brakes 2011 Big Horn. Towing this trailer I was not impressed with the brakes but because of my engine brake and use of gears I use very little brake. I had to make a panic stop the other day it was a close call. Started reading this form and decided to adjust the brakes what a difference. I urge people whose specs say self adjusting to check they may not be.

 

[marknewbill]

So for 8 years I thought I had self adjusting brakes 2011 Big Horn. Towing this trailer I was not impressed with the brakes but because of my engine brake and use of gears I use very little brake. I had to make a panic stop the other day it was a close call. Started reading this form and decided to adjust the brakes what a difference. I urge people whose specs say self adjusting to check they may not be.

Just to add to the old conversation:
I had to manually adjust my new brakes also. What I believe happens is the adjuster requires braking in forward and reverse cycles to actually move the adjustment wheel. in the case of my new f150, it only applies trailer brakes over a certain mph. that being said, it will not apply brakes in reverse where the speed is below the threshold, which is never.

therefore the brakes will not auto adjust on my trailer with that truck. what I could do is occasionally when backing up reach up and pull the squeeze lever to stop instead of the truck brake. maybe that will keep them adjusted.

please correct if i am wrong, it is just a theory right now.
Mark