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Here we go, another EZ lube debate!

js6343js6343
Explorer
Explorer
I am the owner of a 2011 Keystone Sprinter with EZ lube hubs. I have been using the zerk fitting for annual greasing using a manual gun for 5 years. I also perform annual manual brake adjustments. Spring is here and I am getting ready to pull the hubs for a brake/bearing inspection for the first time. The question is - will I find my brake assembly coated in grease? Or will the brakes be clean and grease free?

I know I have noticed significant decline in my braking strength over the last couple years but have no knowledge yet as to why. I will post my results in a couple weeks. Hopefully with pics. I have no pony in this race, so am not prejudging the result one way or the other.

What do you think I will find? Place your bets!!!
2011 Keystone Sprinter 311BHS
2004 Suburban 2500 8.1L 4.10
Reese dual cam WDH
Tekonsha Prodigy 2
86 REPLIES 86

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
Here is a spec for QUALITY replacement "O" rings for the 8K plastic hub caps. "The O Ring Store" has them. The basic black don't seem to hold up well. Another DRV owner posted it on the Thor DRV Forum.

I ordered mine yesterday they won't ship til about the 20th as they are out of stock.

12 x -230 BV75 Brown FKM (Viton, Fluorocarbon) 75 Duro O-Rings (BV75230)

2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

Slowmover
Explorer
Explorer
I donโ€™t LIKE doing hearing re-packs or brake adjustments, but also donโ€™t figure that more than a year regardless of mileage (might be zero) is a good idea. One year or six thousand is enough.

True, Iโ€™m on HADCO axles, not beer-can thin Dexters, and most of the bearings are still the 1989 TiMKEN originals. Prefer not to have to start over. Plus since Iโ€™m getting dirty anyway, a good time to slide under this low slung trailer.

Combine the job with the tests of brake electrics. New Breakaway every three years, etc.

Thx for all the earlier info. A classic great RVnet thread!
1990 35' SILVER STREAK Sterling, 9k GVWR
2004 DODGE RAM 2WD 305/555 ISB, QC SRW LB NV-5600, 9k GVWR
Hensley Arrow; 11-cpm solo, 17-cpm towing fuel cost

mike-s
Explorer
Explorer
Anytime the bearings need grease, they also need to be checked for pits and the brake linings need to be checked. There's no practical advantage to EZ-lube for RVs. Boat trailers may be different, but there are Bearing Buddies for those.

carringb
Explorer
Explorer
I have the AL-KO equivalent. Trailer brakes were non-existent by the time I got home. Brakes were completely soaked in grease. ORV doesn't grease them. Dealer said they didn't either. Maybe the delivery driver did? Or a new hire at the dealer. Anyways, ORV still warranty replaced everything, because the dealer tried cleaning them and the grease would seep back out of the shoes once they got warm, and back to square one.

So, since then, I've never added grease. I have about 40,000 miles on on it now. Wheels still spin free with no noise. Brakes are worn out however, so looks like a regular old re-pack with new brakes is the way to go.
2000 Ford E450 V10 VAN! 450,000+ miles
2014 ORV really big trailer
2015 Ford Focus ST

fj12ryder
Explorer II
Explorer II
Bird Freak wrote:
I have never understood why people think these are a good thing. You don't add grease to your wheel bearings on your car so why would you on a trailer?
For the same reason people want to pull the wheels off and repack by hand every year or two.

On edit: added "every year or two"
Howard and Peggy

"Don't Panic"

Bird_Freak
Explorer II
Explorer II
I have never understood why people think these are a good thing. You don't add grease to your wheel bearings on your car so why would you on a trailer?
Eddie
03 Fleetwood Pride, 36-5L
04 Ford F-250 Superduty
15K Pullrite Superglide
Old coach 04 Pace Arrow 37C with brakes sometimes.
Owner- The Toy Shop-
Auto Restoration and Customs 32 years. Retired by a stroke!
We love 56 T-Birds

JKGoneHunting
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for the feedback guys. Red Lionโ€™s point about seal damage during installation reminded me of another point I think is worth sharing about the EZ Lube style spindles. My 5,200 lb axles have a generous shoulder with a large chamfer to seat the inner race against so wear there has not been an issue. However, the cross-hole to supply grease between the inner bearing and the seal is centered on the shoulder. In my experience, this is a deburring nightmare! While the seal surface is obviously ground after the cross-holes are drilled, the edges of the holes on mine were still VERY sharp. I honed and sanded them all to get rid of any potential seal damage during installation.

The โ€œbetter ideaโ€ of EZ Lube created a new potential failure mode of seal damage. I would imagine the deburring of the cross-holes is totally operator dependent and the operator drilling mine wasnโ€™t having a very good dayโ€ฆ If you have this kind of spindles, it would be a good idea to check for sharp edges at the cross-holes next time you inspect bearings.
2014 Ram 2500 Cummins, Hensley BD3 18k TrailerSaver
2011 Crossroads Cruiser 27RLX

dodge_guy
Explorer
Explorer
Removing the drums every year or 2 wouldโ€™ve shown you the leaks early on and you couldโ€™ve fixed it before it damaged the brakes. Iโ€™ve found mine a couple of times slinging a bit of grease. If I never pulled the drums it wouldโ€™ve gotten worse.

You canโ€™t do a brake inspection without removing the drums!

I just replaced my brake assemblies last year after 10 years and 20k miles. Still on the same drums and only replaced 2 wheel bearings due to early signs of wear.
Wife Kim
Son Brandon 17yrs
Daughter Marissa 16yrs
Dog Bailey

12 Forest River Georgetown 350TS Hellwig sway bars, BlueOx TrueCenter stabilizer

13 Ford Explorer Roadmaster Stowmaster 5000, VIP Tow>
A bad day camping is
better than a good day at work!

Lynnmor
Explorer
Explorer
I'm glad that my suggestion on 3/26/17 was of use to someone. You did a fine job and that is exactly what I had in mind.

I agree with your maintenance schedule as well. The grease fittings have no place on any axle that will not be immersed in water. Since the spindles often have poor finishes and tolerances, it doesn't much matter if the seals are single or double lip, they both can leak.

Look at where the inner race contacts the shoulder on the spindle. You can check the contact area by using layout dye or a magic marker. 3500lb axles have little surface area and that leads to burrs and loss of bearing adjustment as the shoulder gets malformed. When a seal is pushed over the sharp edge, it is ruined as it is installed.

Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Explorer II
"EZ Lube" is Dexter. "Super Lube" is Lippert. Two different names/trademarks for what amounts to the same basic thing. What is different is Lippert uses/used the cheapest single lip seal they could find, and Dexter uses double lip seals. I say uses/used in Lipperts case because they may now be using double lip seals, after the fiasco they had with Grand Design. They had so many issues that Grand Design quit using their axles.
Too many geezers, self appointed moderators, experts, and disappearing posts for me. Enjoy. How many times can the same thing be rehashed over and over?

mike-s
Explorer
Explorer
+1, good job. I'd have likely just Dremel'd the race and put a steel punch to it, making a note to get new brake hubs the next time.

Although, China.

JKGoneHunting
Explorer
Explorer
Iโ€™m a newly registered member here but have been a reader for quite a while. Most recently I was searching all over the web for a way to get the inner bearing races out of my hubs. Strangely, one of the Axle Teknology hubs on each of my 5,200 lb. Lippert axles has plenty of edge to drive the race on but the other hub on both axles has zero edge protruding. It looks like to me somebody at the foundry grabbed the wrong core for two of my hub castings or somebody at Lippert grabbed the wrong hubs.

I took the hubs to our old standby local auto machine shop thinking they would have the right tools to press the races out and they just shook their heads. They suggested the weld bead approach, but I didnโ€™t really want to heat the casting too much in one area and I wanted a fix that would allow me to service the bearings anywhere between here and Alaska if necessary.

I decided to see if I could grind some undercuts behind the races with my trusty Dremel Tool. I was a little concerned about removing any material until I realized the other two hubs had 1/8โ€ less material already, and they had the same outside diameter. Creating a stress riser was another minor concern, but a generous radius with all the edges rounded off would not be an issue. Since it worked out so well and took much less time than all my fretting over it (confession: Iโ€™m a retired engineerโ€ฆ) I thought I should share.



While it looks like there might be an edge there, that corner of the race is nicely radiused and nothing would stay on it, no matter what kind of edge I ground on the punch.

Just to make sure material removal didnโ€™t cause an issue, I ground the undercuts adjacent to two opposite lug studs where there is a huge boss of cast material outside the bearing race area.



I used a 5/8โ€ diameter by 3/8โ€ long grinding wheel at 20,000 RPM. I โ€œdressedโ€ the wheel a few times by grinding on a junk bearing race. Each undercut took less than 5 minutes.



Now, after deburring the shoulder the race stops against, cleaning up the grind swarf and reassembly, my bearings can be changed with the tools I carry in the truck all the time.

My $.02 worth on the EZ Lube debateโ€ฆ I bought my trailer used with very few miles on it. I canโ€™t even measure the brake shoe wear. The dealer said they โ€œchecked the wheel bearings.โ€ One bearing sounded rough and when I got inside them, two brake assemblies were full of grease. The other bearings (Chinese) had scratches in the races I could pick up with my fingernail so I replaced all the bearings with Timkens. (My fingernail is still calibrated from many years in the hydraulics industry.) I want a fresh start. I will not use the EZ Lube feature due to the brakes. I will check the bearings for endplay and noise and repack them by hand next winter. If the bearings look good Iโ€™ll probably go to a repack schedule of 3 years or 12k miles, or before any very long trip.

Thanks
2014 Ram 2500 Cummins, Hensley BD3 18k TrailerSaver
2011 Crossroads Cruiser 27RLX

myredracer
Explorer II
Explorer II
myredracer wrote:
If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.
Lynnmor wrote:
Dave H M wrote:
I just did four and did not have any problem. maybe your drift is too soft or more patience was in order.
Years ago, when common sense was still used, the hubs had notches for a punch. Now, many are built with little or no amount of the bearing cup exposed, therefore no place for a punch to engage it.
No, not at all an issue with the drift being too soft or lack of patience, it was as Lynnmor has pointed out, very little of the edge of the bearing cup being exposed. I ended up using a length of 1-1/2" pipe (or might have been 1") to get more contact with the almost non-existent lip on the cup. Cleaning & repacking bearings is easy peasy in comparison to replacing them and those who are mechanically inclined shouldn't shy away from doing it themselves.

When Alko was independently owned, their drums were marked "Axletek" and made in China for Alko but now that Dexter and Alko are combined, am not sure what drums you'll get. Our Alko axles (from early 2014) came with Dexter seals. Like many RV parts & components, there is little regard for making things easier to repair or maintain or to last longer.

Lynnmor
Explorer
Explorer
Dave H M wrote:
If anyone thinks doing a bearing repack is a hassle, you should try replacing bearings... The bearing cup that is in the drums are extremely hard to remove because there is almost no protruding lip on the cup to get a drift onto.


I just did four and did not have any problem. maybe your drift is too soft or more patience was in order.


Years ago, when common sense was still used, the hubs had notches for a punch. Now, many are built with little or no amount of the bearing cup exposed, therefore no place for a punch to engage it.

Some weld a bead on the cup so that it shrinks as it cools. Another method it to grind some notches in the hub that should have been there in the first place.