Spare bearings or more?

[firstone]

(Spare)



I have always carried a spare bearing set and hub for my single axle non brakes boat trailer. What should I carry for my dual axle with brakes? I have the Lippert brand 4400lb axles with 3500 lb bearing and seals. Should I buy a spare set of just bearings and a seal or more such as hub kit or hub kit with drum?

Since Lippert does not make their own axles as I am told, is it possible my e-z lube axles as listed by Heartland with the lippert stickers on them are actually Dexter?

 

[TeJay]

You might fing the bearing numbers listed but I don't know if I would trust that. There's nothing saying that they couldn't change to a different bearing without telling anybody. You can get the bearing, race and seal numbers stamped on the sides. This has been a discussion that goes on all the time. The three weakest items on these units are the tires, bearings and suspensions. To fix all three you'd need to replace the tires, bearings and add wet bolts and bronze bushings to the leaf springs. I have done that on a new unit before. The least that I've done is to replace the china bearings with Toyo (Japanese) bearings and pack them by hand using synthetic grease (Amzoil). Changing those will cost you about $125. I think it's well worth the peace of mind, knowing that you have a good lube and that the bearing clearances are correct. Done correctly you should not have to worry about doing it again for 2-3 years. Now you can keep a set of the old china bearings as a back-up just in case you ever need a set on the road. I also have a TPMS to monitor my tire pressures and temperatures as we travel. If I see a tire go low or the temps suddenly rise I can stop immediately before the tire falls apart and takes out the side of the camper or before the bearing seizes and ruins the axle. Take my word for it and stay away from the E-Z-Lube bearing deal. Just pack them by hand and be done with it.
JMTCW
TeJay

 

[Birchwood]

Relax ,you have more of a chance of winning the lottery than blowing a bearing.You only hear of the very few owners
that have problems but thousands that have no problems with bearings at all.

 

[lwmcguir]

Relax ,you have more of a chance of winning the lottery than blowing a bearing.You only hear of the very few owners
that have problems but thousands that have no problems with bearings at all.

Well stated. If the wheel bearings are properly greased and adjusted you can certainly worry about a lot of other things. The failures are almost all due to no grease or improper adjustment.

 

[traveler44]

When I buy mine I just buy a couple of sets of bearings but I buy enough seals to do the whole works twice. The reason that I do that is that I hand pack my bearings nearly every year on the Bighorn and the seals should be changed even if the bearnings are still good. I have found that the seals are reasonably cheap anyway even the double lip kind. I have only found a couple of bad bearings and I have packed mine at least three times now. One of the bearings got damaged when we had a blow out. The other just kept flaking when I washed the grease out so, I pitched it just to be on the safe side. I carry a change kit buried deep inside the side compartment in a cardboard box and I keep at least one set of bearings and a couple of seals in it. Tom

 

[TeJay]

Tom you were right in pitching a bearing that is flaking. When you pull bearings you don't wash them. You wipe the grease away and inspect the grease. If you see little sparkles in the grease the bearing is shot. Overheating the bearing destroys the temper and it will fail. Too little grease and improper torque are reasons for failure. Sooooo I always perform those tasks so I'm sure the manufacturer did it correctly. While I'm at it why not go to a brand of bearing that you know is of better quality and use synthetic grease if you are going to do it. This is just what I do so I know it's done correctly and then I have one less concern as we travel.
TeJay

 

[firstone]

I guess I would have to agree with you I just like to be prepaired. I have had several bass boats and never had a failure. I hand packed the bearing on one and drove from Illinois to Alaska and never even had a flat. I put over 3000 mi. pn the last boat trailer and never a problem even with all that dunking in the lakes. I do have a problem with over doing the grease zerk but will not touch these for the fear of shooting grease all over the trailer brakes.

I like having a pre packed hub but by the looks of it these are a lot bigger to tote around as a spare.

Well stated. If the wheel bearings are properly greased and adjusted you can certainly worry about a lot of other things. The failures are almost all due to no grease or improper adjustment.