Are My wheel Bearings Bad?

[Steven@147]

The following is not our Imagine RV, it is a 8000# GVWR, 20 foot all enclosed tandem axle car trailer with 2 Dexter 3500# axles. However the wheel bearings will look the same as in an RV.

Sorry I should have explained when posting.

It's pretty quiet on the forum so I thought I would start a conversation. For people that have never taken these a part and have never greased bearings. This conversation is for you.
There are a lot of Utube videos out there showing wheel bearing replacement and greasing. Just curious I've looked at a few, but never saw any that discuss how to determine if the bearing is good or bad.

Well I thought I would show you what I am dealing with. To get the specifics out of the way, the axles I am working on are Dexter 3500# EZ Lube drum brake axles. The EZLube means there is a grease zerk in the end of the spindle for greasing the bearings without taking the brake drum off.

Now I am the third owner of this trailer, I have never replaced the bearings, just greased them through the EZLube zerk fitting, I have to keep that in mind as to how old the bearings are. Also this trailer has been setting for a long time without moving so i have to keep that in mind as too how good the bearings are.
So I take the brake drum off, pull the bearings out, clean the bearings and inspect them.
In one picture you can see the outer bearing has bluing marks which means the bearing has got hot and is bad.
In another picture you can see the wear pattern on the roller and scoring across the roller. This bearing is old and indicates maybe some dirt got in the bearing and made the scoring marks. This bearing has out lived its usefulness and is bad.
In another picture you can see an inner bearing and the scoring marks on it. It is bad also.
When pulling the bearing cap off I look inside. I can tell the grease is old, dried out and cracking. I feel the grease, its not runny, is still thick but has a slight gritty feeling to it, the grease is not smooth feeling. This tells me the grease is really old and bad, breaking down and has some dirt in it. All the old grease has to be cleaned off of everything.

My conclusion is that all the bearings, inner and outer are past their usefulness and bad. No need to go any further, or repacking, they must be replaced. Got the numbers off the old bearings L44649 outer, L68149 inner. Got the number off the seal - 17266. Pretty standard for 3500# axles. Quick search of the web shows there is a wheel bearing kit which includes 4 inner bearings & races. ( you'll hear them also referred to as cone & cup), 4 outer bearings and races, 4 double lip seals and 4 tang washers. This trailer uses a tang lock washer for the spindle nut instead of cotter pin. This kit is available from E-Trailer or Amazon anywhere from $50 to $60. If I am going to do one, I'll do them all. The bearings are too old to reuse.


Now you cant talk about wheel bearings without looking at the brakes. The back side of the brake drum where the seal is shows a little evidence the seals are bad, dry rotted and some grease has got past the seal. You always replace the seals no matter what. A visual inspection shows no grease on the brake shoes or magnet, thats good. The brake shoe linings show they are about mid life or less. Boy is it dirty in there. I'll use brake clean and spray everything down. Inspect the springs, shoes, adjuster, magnet and the spring floating the magnet to make sure it moves freely. The brakes maybe salvageable and can still be used. If not a complete brake assembly will be ordered. These are Non-Self adjusting brakes. New complete brake assembly with self adjusting brakes can be purchased for this axle.

[Houndbb]

The above post should not be lost! It’s terrific (says the non-greasy fixer). The grease monkey side of our twosome needs to see this!
N

[huntr70]

Is this on your 2017 Imagine?

If it is, I don't believe Grand Design was using Dexter axles back then.

Somewhere around September of 2017 (2018 model year) is when they made the change.

[Steven@147]

Is this on your 2017 Imagine?

If it is, I don't believe Grand Design was using Dexter axles back then.

Somewhere around September of 2017 (2018 model year) is when they made the change.

No no, this is a car trailer not our Imagine. Our Imagine is fine, no problems.

I was just demonstrating what bad and neglected wheel bearings kinda look like, for other people out there, RVs have the same kind of wheel bearings.

[Steven@147]

Just finished the left front axle wheel bearing replacement and manual brake adjustment. For this wheel after cleaning up the brake assembly I am going to reuse it and not replace it. I know replacement assy are pretty cheap and 4 bolts changes the whole thing out. But I think these brakes are still good.

When I was packing the new bearings, thought I would add a picture of how do you know when you have enough grease in the bearing. I am using the hand packing method, when I see grease coming out the top of the bearing as you see in the picture, that is enough. I continue packing grease around the bearing until grease is coming out the top all the way around. I am using high temp Valvoline disc brake wheel bearing grease.

A lot of owners here have done this same thing and may add their comments, its pretty simple to do. For those of you that have never done it, watch a bunch of YouTube videos to get the idea, get out your simple tools and go for it!

[Country Campers]

Great write up. Could you add the year of the trailer? These are all good points even for a trailer sitting around for a while , it should be taken apart and serviced.

Brian

[RVRunners]

Those bearings and races were certainly ready for replacement. Good thing you tore it apart and worked it over now - it certainly would have stranded you on the side of the interstate before long. Great write up!

[Steven@147]

The trailer is a 1995 US Cargo. I bought it in 2004 when we moved from Middletown Ohio to Bastrop Texas to transport our old cars and some furniture. The last trip I took with it was in 2006. The last it was on the road was probably 4 years ago when I loaned it out. Long story short that was a mistake.

During my inspection I looked at the drums, they had minor surface rust on the magnet & brake shoe contact area. I used emery cloth to clean them up and brake clean to flush them out, then let them set and dry. I found a Dexter logo so I'm pretty confident they are the original brake drums. They cleaned up real nice and still have plenty of surface area left on them.

When I inspected the old bearings they all had China on them. I cant say for sure they have ever been replaced but I suspect they are probably the second set of bearings this trailer has had. Doesn't really matter they needed to be replaced.
The brake shoe pads show no signs of delamination (they are not riveted to the shoe, they are bonded to the shoe). The holding springs are in good shape and the adjusters turn freely. An inspection of the spindles didn't show any signs of galling, rust, scratches or being effected by a hot bearing. I pumped new grease through the spindle to clean them out.

The bearing caps all had the Dexter logo on the removable rubber seal so they are probably original, I bought new caps & rubber seals and replaced them. During final assembly on these EZ Lube hubs, you use a hand pump grease gun and it fills the drum bearing cavity from the inner bearing toward the outer bearing with grease. Pump it in slowly just until the new grease oozes out the outer bearing.

Funny thing about my trailer, looking at the paper work I have it's listed at 8000# but during my bearing overhaul I found Dexter tags attached to the axles that list them at 3500# (that helped identify the bearings needed) so the gross weight should be 7000#. When I transferred the licensing from Ohio to Texas the weight got changed. Also the registration says VSCG, it should say USCG for US Cargo.

Steve

[Jerryr]

Steve, the trailer may be rated at 8,000 lbs with 7,000 lbs on the axles and 1,000 lbs on the tongue. If you load it up to 8,000 lbs you will find tongue weight of about 1,500 lbs and only 6,500 on the axles.

My Reflection is gross rated at 13.995 lbs with a pair of 6,000 lb axles.

[Steven@147]

Steve, the trailer may be rated at 8,000 lbs with 7,000 lbs on the axles and 1,000 lbs on the tongue. If you load it up to 8,000 lbs you will find tongue weight of about 1,500 lbs and only 6,500 on the axles.

My Reflection is gross rated at 13.995 lbs with a pair of 6,000 lb axles.

Ok, it was just strange looking. I guess I am used to looking at my Imagine numbers. 4400# LCI axles (8800) on GVWR of 8995. Of course they say the hitch weight is 902#.
Boy when I use to haul around my 66 Dodge Charger in the trailer to the drag strips it took up the whole trailer.

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled Grand Design conversations.