Never Lube wheel bearings

[JonV]

Because the seals leak - frequently. Requiring maintenance.

I know I'm coming into this discussion a little late but... You're absolutely right.

We just had our trailer changed back to grease from oil because of constant leaking. We replaced all the seals and several damaged bearings. That being said I won't use the zerks to grease it either. The shop that did the work will repack the bearings by hand for $100.00 or for $125.00 if you have disc brakes like we have. The oil bath set up is a huge pain in the butt and a constant concern when traveling.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I recently lubed my EZ-lube bearings with one of Dexters approved NLGI 2 lubes. The first wheel that I chose seemed to take forever to fill and purge like the Neverlube is designed. Having read this thread, I had a great deal of concern over this issue. So I removed my wheel and drum to make sure that I did not blow the seal out the back of the drum. Upon inspection I discovered I had not, but I also got a good look at the design. The design is a good and it does work. My problem came from the fact that Dexter did not fill the hub. Both bearings were lubed alright but there was a large void in the hub.

My grease gun is an industrial high pressure grease gun and pumps small amounts of grease with each stroke, so it was taking forever to fill the void. I applied grease to the interior of the hub by hand, reinstalled the hub, and gave it a few pumps. The lubrication system performed as expected. The rest of the wheels did not exhibit this problem and purged right away. My technique is now going to be to grease the bearings before each trip, purging only a small amount each time.

 

[danemayer]

I recently lubed my Neverlube bearings with one of Dexters approved NLGI 2 lubes. The first wheel that I chose seemed to take forever to fill and purge like the Neverlube is designed. Having read this thread, I had a great deal of concern over this issue. So I removed my wheel and drum to make sure that I did not blow the seal out the back of the drum. Upon inspection I discovered I had not, but I also got a good look at the design. The design is a good and it does work. My problem came from the fact that Dexter did not fill the hub. Both bearings were lubed alright but there was a large void in the hub.

My grease gun is an industrial high pressure grease gun and pumps small amounts of grease with each stroke, so it was taking forever to fill the void. I applied grease to the interior of the hub by hand, reinstalled the hub, and gave it a few pumps. The lubrication system performed as expected. The rest of the wheels did not exhibit this problem and purged right away. My technique is now going to be to grease the bearings before each trip, purging only a small amount each time.

Do you have Neverlube or EZLube?

 

[porthole]

I recently lubed my Neverlube bearings with one of Dexters approved NLGI 2 lubes.

How do you get grease into a sealed cartridge bearing?

 

[Jim.Allison]

I have corrected it, I meant EZ lube. Thanks.

How do you get grease into a sealed cartridge bearing?

 

[porthole]

Never-lube - ez-lube - just shortcuts to proper maintenance.
Timken recommends not filling the hub cavity with grease.

So many choices and who has the best? Don't know, but my former career had me doing a lot of bearings over the years. Never filled a hub with grease and rarely saw wheel bearing failures in many 10's of thousands of miles driven.

 

[jnbhobe]

I would never fill the center of a hub with grease unless it was a boat and then I'm not happy about doing it

 

[Jim.Allison]

It is undisputed that disassembly, inspection, hand pack, and reassembly using best practices is the best and most ideal model. But a bearing lube system is the next best thing, the main drawback being the lack of inspection.

Never-lube - ez-lube - just shortcuts to proper maintenance.
Timken recommends not filling the hub cavity with grease.

So many choices and who has the best? Don't know, but my former career had me doing a lot of bearings over the years. Never filled a hub with grease and rarely saw wheel bearing failures in many 10's of thousands of miles driven.

 

[JanAndBill]

Never-lube - ez-lube - just shortcuts to proper maintenance.
Timken recommends not filling the hub cavity with grease.

So many choices and who has the best? Don't know, but my former career had me doing a lot of bearings over the years. Never filled a hub with grease and rarely saw wheel bearing failures in many 10's of thousands of miles driven.

Quote from the Timken file you attached - " Normally the housing should be no more than half full of grease" using the theory that if you pack the hub full it "slip" within the hub causing excess heat. I really find that hard to believe. In the easy lube hub the grease has to fill up the center of the hub BEFORE it will be forced into the outer bearing. So maybe Dexter's engineers and Timken's engineers need to get on the same page.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I can not see any mechanical reason not to allow grease in the void between the bearings on a purgeable lube system such as the EZ lube system. If there is a practical reason, I would like to know it.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Excess heat build up is probably based on the bearing load at 2 or 3 thousand rpm and not 650 rpm. I would be hard pressed to believe that the minor heat generated by grease in a hub between the tapered roller bearings can build any measurable amount of heat in fact I would guess that the grease would facilitate the removal heat from the hub to the axle or visa versa.

Quote from the Timken file you attached - " Normally the housing should be no more than half full of grease" using the theory that if you pack the hub full it "slip" within the hub causing excess heat. I really find that hard to believe. In the easy lube hub the grease has to fill up the center of the hub BEFORE it will be forced into the outer bearing. So maybe Dexter's engineers and Timken's engineers need to get on the same page.

 

[etcmss]

so how do you tell which bearing type you have and if lube is needed for that type how often is it done?

 

[dave10a]

Well after reading all the posts on this thread, what have we learned about never lube bearings. Seems like there is no consensus if they are good or bad. Does anyone have real statistical reliability data between easy lube, never lube, standard maintained and oil bath bearings.

 

[jnbhobe]

Well after reading all the posts on this thread, what have we learned about never lube bearings. Seems like there is no consensus if they are good or bad. Does anyone have real statistical reliability data between easy lube, never lube, standard maintained and oil bath bearings.

I only have what I have seen, Easy lube I have seen the seals blown out from too much grease, never lube I have seen piles of failed ones laying in bins at Mor-ryde, oil bath I have seen almost every DVR sitting at Mor-ryde with oil seeping on the wheels, Standard maintained work almost all the time if serviced every couple of years. That's my experience.

 

[davebennington]

We have the Dexter Never Lube bearings and hubs on our 2006 Landmark/Golden Gate and we have had no problems to date. The rig has about 90,000 miles on it. We are getting ready to trade and I am going to opt for the regular bearings that you have to grease every 12,000 or once a year. The reason I am backing away from the Never Lube after having such success is if the Never Lube bearing fails replacement bearings are more difficult to obtain when on the road.

dave

 

[Jim.Allison]

Seals blow out from improper application of grease. With the EZ-Lube you are supposed to raise the wheel and turn it while lubricating it. Just simply attaching a grease gun to the zerk and pumping grease into the system would naturally put an unusual amount of pressure on the seal. Ideally the hub is filled with grease already and just a few pumps with a grease gun are required to purge a small amount on each lubrication cycle.

 

[dave10a]

Seals blow out from improper application of grease. With the EZ-Lube you are supposed to raise the wheel and turn it while lubricating it. Just simply attaching a grease gun to the zerk and pumping grease into the system would naturally put an unusual amount of pressure on the seal. Ideally the hub is filled with grease already and just a few pumps with a grease gun are required to purge a small amount on each lubrication cycle.

Since we are talking experience, I should add mine. I followed the factory easy lube procedure and used the recommended grease. I didn't blow the seals, but a bearing failed which cost me plenty to get fixed on an emergency bases on the freeway. After that failure I pulled all the bearings and inspected them and found some of them galled or pitted caused by bearing fatigue-- according to my bearing genius who maintains axle for a living. He explained to me that easy lube bearing are a marketing ploy that instills a false sense of security. He told me to forget the feature and pack/inspect them at 6000 miles or once a year because the my axles are close to their design weight limit for my trailer. My trailer has 7000 lb axle and weighs in a little over 13300 the way I travel and I'm not sure of the weight on each tire--- and that is with as little fresh water and black/grey water as possible.
My bearing genious has no opinion for never lube bearings, but said if they failed they would be harder to repair on the road if the axle survived. To replace/inspect never lube bearings requires of hydrolic press to remove and replace. Therefore his thinking is to save the money and get axle/bearings that are packable and well within design limits. For my trailer that would mean 8k axles as a minimum.

 

[jnbhobe]

As I have always said, why do we keep messing with the tried and true ways of doing things. Take them apart and do the bearings the right way. I bet the hand packed bearings will be around a lot longer than the easy lube.

 

[dave10a]

Does anyone have any reason against the bearing packer tools that are available from Sears. Timken, Harbor Freight and various auto store. Hand packing looks like it may not be as fool proof as those bearing packers.

 

[jnbhobe]

Some Packers are very good just make sure the grease goes all the way through the bearing