Packing wheel bearings.

[mark5w]

First of all, I do check and repack my bearings on a yearly basis.



My question is why must we do this every year? My first car, a 67 firebird, and every car after that never needed to have the wheel bearings checked and repacked yearly.


Is it just a recommendation, a necessity or poor design of the hub and bearings?


Just wondering.

[Biggles607]

Great question Mark.


I too wonder given today's technology and the advancement of mineral and synthetic lubricants why we need to pull our bearings every year.


I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

[travelin texans]

I did mine either/or annually or 10-12k miles. If only a couple thousand miles wait til next year.
I have a know-it-all BIL that has never done it on his last 3 RVs, says it's a waste of time & $$$, I'm not that lucky.,.........or ignorant!

[DavisK]

I also only packed the front wheel bearings on my vehicles if I replaced the brake linings on vehicles with drum brakes (very few of my vehicles had drum brakes) or had the rotors turned on vehicles with disc brakes. The same goes for the rear wheels on my front wheel drive vehicles. I think the last car I did was my '92 Ford Mustang 5.0. The Ford factory rotors were horrible on that car. I replaced the rotors at 40K and put new bearings on the front with the new rotors.

When I had my auto repair business I maintained a fleet of Ford trucks. The front axle hubs on them were lubricated with 90W axle lube. They were easy, just pop the plug and pump oil to the bottom of the hole. It should settle about 1/4 below the hole.

[rcflyer]

On my 1950-1970 vintage cars that had front drum brakes the only time the wheel bearings were re-packed was when I had to replace the brakes.

It was not a case of the bearings needing to be re-packed but they had to be dis-assembled in order to remove the brake drum. So they were re-packed and new seals installed.

With those cars I was lucky to get more than 30,000 miles on a set of brake shoes.

[sleepyT]

I had a 1995 Taurus that I drove for 21 years and never repacked the wheel bearings...Two years ago on my way home from the last camping trip of the year I came within a hair of loosing one of the wheels on my fifth wheel on I95 just North of Baltimore due to the failure of the outboard bearing...E-trailer says you should repack the bearings every 12,000 miles...I have heard that there are Chinese counterfeit bearings on the market, don't know if that is true but I know I didn't have 12,000 miles on the bearing that went bad on my camper...Gotta admit been a little gun shy since then...

[sjk1998]

I believe the biggest issue is the quality of the bearing and possibly the type of greased that is used. I personally pull the hubs and pack the bearings with a bearing packer to make sure all of the old grease is pushed out of the bearings. I also use Mystik JT-7 Hi-Temperature grease. I also repack the bearings every other year or so depending on the amount of mileage towed. Note: on my first bearing pack I s**t-canned the factory bearings and replaced them with some quality Timken bearings.

[dagst1]

Just my 2 cents - the brakes are or were non adjusting so they should be adjusted each year. To do that the wheel bearings will be removed so why not clean them and check them and that requires a repack. At least that's what the manual for my ALKO axles says.

[sleepyT]

Originally Posted by sjk1998

I believe the biggest issue is the quality of the bearing and possibly the type of greased that is used.. Note: on my first bearing pack I s**t-canned the factory bearings and replaced them with some quality Timken bearings.

Scot
Timken is the bearing that I heard were counterfeit...I heard the Chinese were pumping out cheap bearings and had a laser that etched the Timken name on the counterfeit bearings...I heard this from a friend and have not been able to prove whether it was true or not...

[sjk1998]

Interesting. I wonder how a guy would determine which they have? I swapped mine out three years ago. What next!😤

[mark5w]

Tommy, I found this online:


https://thecounterfeitreport.com/pro...-Bearings.html


A good suggestion is to buy from a certified dealer.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by mark5w

Tommy, I found this online:


https://thecounterfeitreport.com/pro...-Bearings.html


A good suggestion is to buy from a certified dealer.

This is a good reason not to buy these type of parts from Amazon, eBay or some other online dealer selling discounted parts, you get what you pay for.

[4kids2dogs&RV]

Originally Posted by sjk1998

Interesting. I wonder how a guy would determine which they have? I swapped mine out three years ago. What next!😤

There is an app (WBA Bearing Authenticator) you can get that will scan the authentication label on the box, but if you already have them installed, I'm not sure how you would verify that.

Like others have said, buy from a reputable company and stay away from ebay and Amazon

I bought mine from Summit Racing and everything checked good, although it is only a bar code that could also be counterfeited as well.

[sleepyT]

Mark
Thanks for that article...That just proves what I heard is true

[toolman.dustin]

This article says there are apps you can download to help determine if your bearings are real or fake.
" https://www.acorn-ind.co.uk/insight/...e-counterfeit/ "

[dkwheeler]

Don't compare your trailer to your cars..., the trailer's axles on today's RV's are bare minimum specifications for the job thus are fully loaded thus the bearings are also just minimum spec's. A few hours of maintenance a year could save you a pile of money and down time on the road. Since most RV's sit idle for most of the year, and one side is in the sun more than the other, tires and bearing on the sunny side have shorter life spans

[travelin texans]

Also read Papa T's current post about using the EZ Lube system & the headaches & expense of using it.
Handpacking is they best way to lube & inspect the bearings, inspect the brakes & all the other suspension components at the same time.

[Papa-T]

Yep, I won’t ever use the EZ lube again. I had done as recommended; jacked up the wheels and turned the wheels as I pumped grease in. Here’s the link on my recent problem. https://www.crossroadsowners.com/for...ase-15478.html

[dkwheeler]

I too agree, do not use the EZ Lube (grease zerk/nipple), I used it as the instructions for the axels, and had the unit in for some service and they tech did an inspection on the hub and found that grease pushed past the wheel seal and lubricated the brake.
Pack the bearing the good old fashion way, remove wheel assemble from the axle wash the bearings and manually repack. I would recommend buying new seals each time (they are inexpensive). This way you can spot any potential wear or rust that may have happened which would require new bearings.

[mark5w]

I use the EZ lube between trips but repack every year. I found if you take the weight off the axle and spin tire, lube does not push out the back, at least so far after 7 years of doing this. I only pump in a dozen or so pumps, so I don't think I'm overdoing it.

I also prefer to use the Lucas brand of grease. The X-tra Heavy Duty one.