5th Wheel Hubs

[THoltz]

I am looking at buying some kind of 5th wheel in the next few months and am interested in the hubs/wheel bearings available. From what I have read the Dexter easy lube hubs still need to be repacked annually, and I do not want the hassle and added maintenance. The Dexter never lube hubs are sealed bearings and need to be replaced after five years. Just interested for any comments any body has on these two types of axle/hubs/bearings. Thanks!

 

[jelag]

Any axle that you can lube with a grease gun will have 2 long range problems that will need to be addressed... . 1 - excessive lube will eventually be forced from the hub through the seal onto the brakes and will require brake shoe replacement... 2 - if you don't get enough grease you later will have bearing failure and need to work on that... .

I personally like HD seals (twin lip) that seal oil in and dirt out. . and a cover for the hub that is oil tight so that you have oil lube hubs. .

Usually these hubs have a plastic cover that will show an oil level as well as a rubber plug in the center for adding oil. .

If you were to look at most front axles and trailer axles on class 8 trucks you'll see this type of hub... . very effective... .

After all, grease is just a method to suspend oil to defeat gravity.

I have never seen a tapered bearing as a sealed unit... so I don't have a clue what Dexter is doing with their never lube hubs... those dexter axles we use all are oil bath bearings...

Hope this helps.

 

[HBarlow]

As Jelag mentioned above the easy lube hubs routinely result in greased brake shoes and drums requiring brake replacement. I personally prefer old-fashioned standard bearings requiring annual cleaning and repacking. Serviced properly they are troublefree for the life of a trailer.



My HH fiver has Dexter sealed "never lube" bearings. I have only owned it a year and 20k miles so can't speak to long term reliability yet but judging from the HH website (NUWA Owner's Forum) they seem to be very reliable. The manfacturer's warranty is for five years/100,000 miles. I plan to replace them at five years.

 

[jacqnbill]

I am looking at buying some kind of 5th wheel in the next few months and am interested in the hubs/wheel bearings available. From what I have read the Dexter easy lube hubs still need to be repacked annually, and I do not want the hassle and added maintenance. The Dexter never lube hubs are sealed bearings and need to be replaced after five years. Just interested for any comments any body has on these two types of axle/hubs/bearings. Thanks!

I have a 3 1/2 year old 39 ft Teton with the never lub bearings on three axles and love the never lube bearings. I have around 50k miles with no trouble. I replaced the tires yesterday and pulled several of the hub covers and the bearings look good. The unit weighs around 20 k lbs.



I had a 1996 three axle Teton and hated the yearly repack of the wheel bearings.



I also put the Dexter electric over hydraulic disk brakes on the current unit and would not leave without them. Pulling 28,500 lbs with a 3500 Dodge duelly needs all the stopping I can get.

 

[endoscott]

As Jelag mentioned above the easy lube hubs routinely result in greased brake shoes and drums requiring brake replacement. I personally prefer old-fashioned standard bearings requiring annual cleaning and repacking. Serviced properly they are troublefree for the life of a trailer.



My HH fiver has Dexter sealed "never lube" bearings. I have only owned it a year and 20k miles so can't speak to long term reliability yet but judging from the HH website (NUWA Owner's Forum) they seem to be very reliable. The manfacturer's warranty is for five years/100,000 miles. I plan to replace them at five years.

The Never Lube system seems a lot better than the EZ lube-which in fact you may not even have to apply a grease gun yourself to experience a failure! We just bought a brand new 5th wheel trailer, drove about 1100 miles, heavy electric setting with gain at 10 and brakes didn't seem that great compared to my old trailer. I just chalked it up to "break in" period, which was partly true. But when we got to our destination I ran it over to the shop and had the tech remove hubs (Dexter EZ lube) to check. He was skeptical that I needed to continue checking them after the first one on passenger side looked OK, second one passenger side looked OK, but the the first one drivers side HAD GREASE ALL OVER THE PLACE that had extruded past the bearing seal. The seal was not cocked or apparently defective and I discussed with both the dealer we purchased from as well as the trailer factory and they both advised that NO GREASE IS ADDED (and why would they?). So the overgreasing is happening AT THE DEXTER FACTORY. Now if they can't even grease their own hubs correctly how in the world would the average DIY guy be expected to? To Dexters credit, their warranty service was prompt and excellent and they are shipping parts to my local shop and paying the labor to completely change out the two drivers side hub/drum/backing plate/magnet assemblies. Personally I would never use the EZ lube zerks and I might just remove them and plug the holes when it's all fixed. You really have no idea how much grease is going in or where it is going. A friend of mine recently bought a 5th wheel, 2018 model year with the same EZ lube setup and both of his drivers side brakes were all greased up too. In his case it is POSSIBLE that someone added grease at some point but not very likely. It was only driven between factory and dealers, essentially a new trailer, no one had ever taken it camping yet.

If you are buying a trailer with the EZ lube system better safe than sorry-either stick a borescope in there and have a look or pull the hubs off and check for grease. Cheap and easy. I think Dexter makes rock solid axle assemblies and I put Dexter hubs on my old trailer because I like their forward adjusting system. Like I said, their warranty service was excellent. I just think the design/engineering of the EZ lube system is not robust and I plant to check and hand pack yearly and replace seals at that time. Cheap maintenance for peace of mind. Just thinking about these guys who have posted about pumping in a whole tube of grease thru the Zerks makes me shudder.

 

[EDankievitch]

Having dragged boat trailers all over the country over the past 30 years (Wow it's been over 30 years where did the time go?) I've used almost every wheel hub system except for the oil bath hub system. I've found the EZ lube hubs to work well. As long as the seals and shaft are in good condition, I've never had an issue with grease blowing past the seal. The hub caps on the Boat trailers have a rubber plug that you remove to get at the Zerc fitting. When you add grease you can watch the old grease being pushed out of the bearing back at you. I've never had an issue with water in my hubs with this system. And my trailers get very wet very often. I service the bearings every 2nd year. Yes it's a mess but that is life. Having had drum breaks and now Disk I'd never go back to drums. The disk's are well worth the extra cost in the long run.
That said I did have an issue with some Chinese made bearing races. They shattered. Less than 8000 miles on them and I had 3 sets that developed cracks. No water no rust the preload was set right clean grease and they cracked. I lost a wheel as a result. Last time I'll buy at the local trailer shop It's SKF or Timken or nothing.

 

[GAmes]

I've found the EZ lube hubs to work well. As long as the seals and shaft are in good condition, I've never had an issue with grease blowing past the seal.

And therein lies the rub. How does one determine if the seals and shaft are in good condition without pulling the brake drum? My boat trailer has E-Z lube hubs. (no brakes) as did a small utility trailer I once owned. Both of them spit grease out the inner seal if I lubed them with a grease gun. Yes, I've heard the internet myth that spinning the wheel while pumping grease will prevent that. It does not. Three of the four hubs on my new 5th wheel with E-Z lube hubs had grease in them from the factory. I consider it very foolish to use the E-Z lube zerk fitting if the trailer has drum brakes.

As an added note, how does one inspect the brake shoes, magnet and hardware without pulling the hub? I'll stick with packing the bearings by hand.

 

[SKrugerud]

Two trailers with ez lube syatem, 6 wheels, 3 seal failures with grease saturated brake shoes. Removed the threaded and pressed in grease zerks. Will never trust that system again with a 10,000lb 5er. Hand packed from now on.

 

[SKrugerud]

FTR same experience as endoscott.

 

[KATOOM]

Just for fun...let me show you what I found on one of my 5th wheel axles not long after I bought it. No, that rims not bent but rather the hub wheel lugs were drilled off center. Had to buy another drum/hub since it would have cost me more to send it back to Dexter and have them determine if it was in fact manufactured off center.

 

[SKrugerud]

Ouch. I bet that was interesting at highway speeds.

 

[endoscott]

Wow, thats a shocking lack of quality control. Have any of you guys done a disc brake conversion in the Palm Springs area? I want someone really good and detail oriented, not necessarily the "cheapest" guy, but someone who will take the time to route and bend the hydraulic lines correctly. I don't really feel like doing it myself.

 

[Cummins12V98]

EZ lube works well, YA simply DON'T use a pneumatic grease gun. I have them with Disk brakes, RV full time use for 3.5 years now never had a hub off.

Have someone spin the wheel while you pump and keep wiping the grease off as it comes out til the new grease shows.

Saying all this i will be changing mine to oil bath soon with NATIONAL oil bath US Made seals.

 

[GAmes]

EZ lube works well, YA simply DON'T use a pneumatic grease gun. I have them with Disk brakes

Have someone spin the wheel while you pump and keep wiping the grease off as it comes out til the new grease shows.

With disk brakes you can see easily if the seal is leaking. Not so with the drum brakes the majority of us have. In addition there isn't a bunch of springs, levers and other parts that need periodic inspection. Using a hand grease gun and rotating the wheels will not insure there isn't any grease leakage. How do I know? I have a boat trailer with them on the axle. When the inner seals get a bit worn the grease pushes out the back while coming out the front. I don't use the zerk fitting on my boat trailer axles either.

 

[endoscott]

I blew out inner seals on my old boat trailer too. Just following their instructions, not pneumatic gun, but without the awareness to really check what was happening. Not that big a deal, found it and fixed when inspecting but still...hand pack yearly and no grease in the meantime is probably the best.

 

[KATOOM]

Maybe going against the grain of common practice for some...but may I suggest not greasing your trailer wheel bearings annually. Reason being is if you grease them right then they will remain greased for a looooong time without ever needing to be addressed. Think about it... How often did you or do you grease the non-sealed type front bearings of your cars/trucks? The answer to that for most would be never and your vehicles see a lot more miles than most trailers would ever. So why would you believe that the grease inside your trailer hub miraculously disappears or needs to be replenished? Sometimes messing with stuff thats working fine will only lead to problems you didnt have before.
What I will look for on occasion is wheel bearing movement by jacking up the wheel and feeling for any irregular slop. Of the decades I've towed around multiple trailers, boats, RV's... Just saying.

 

[DavidC]

Maybe going against the grain of common practice for some...but may I suggest not greasing your trailer wheel bearings annually. Reason being is if you grease them right then they will remain greased for a looooong time without ever needing to be addressed. Think about it... How often did you or do you grease the non-sealed type front bearings of your cars/trucks? The answer to that for most would be never and your vehicles see a lot more miles than most trailers would ever. So why would you believe that the grease inside your trailer hub miraculously disappears or needs to be replenished? Sometimes messing with stuff thats working fine will only lead to problems you didnt have before.
What I will look for on occasion is wheel bearing movement by jacking up the wheel and feeling for any irregular slop. Of the decades I've towed around multiple trailers, boats, RV's... Just saying.

I am with you on this. I may clean and grease mine every 3-5 years. I use Royal Purple synthetic on all bearings including the truck and front end components.

 

[GAmes]

I don't grease mine annually either, not the RV or the deckover flatbed. The boat trailer is an annual event. The sudden contraction process when the warm hubs are submerged in cold water will draw in moisture, even if the hubs are completely full of grease (which they will be if you use the EZ Lube zerks).

 

[HPSimpson]

I have two boat trailers one is three axles the other one axle both have oil filled hubs zero problems, the grease hubs on the prior three axle trailer was no end of problems.

 

[Cummins12V98]

With disk brakes you can see easily if the seal is leaking. Not so with the drum brakes the majority of us have. In addition there isn't a bunch of springs, levers and other parts that need periodic inspection. Using a hand grease gun and rotating the wheels will not insure there isn't any grease leakage. How do I know? I have a boat trailer with them on the axle. When the inner seals get a bit worn the grease pushes out the back while coming out the front. I don't use the zerk fitting on my boat trailer axles either.

No arguing on the drum part!!! Disks they are a great option IMHO.