EZ Lube hubs

[GAmes]

Just a few pictures for those who believe just jacking the tire off the ground, taking off the centercap, and slowly pumping grease into the zerk while rotating the tire is they way to service wheel bearings. On the other hand, disregard if you have x-ray vision. This hub has approximately 11,000 miles of travel and is on a 2016 5th wheel.

 

[Killgore]

Ouch! When I serviced mine the first time I found that they may have gotten half a squirt from the factory.

- Ed

 

[Cummins12V98]

I would never have that system on electric brakes, disks no problem!

 

[GAmes]

I would never have that system on electric brakes, disks no problem!

So grease seals leaking on a disk brake hub is OK?

 

[NIsaacs]

I would never have that system on electric brakes,

Just ignore them, that's what I do. I have 2 trailers with that axle system, I just hand pack the bearings like normal. They are fine for 50k+ miles. My wife is the grease monkey of the outfit and loves a grease zerk, never seize, WD40 and brake clean but I don't let her near my trailer axles, she can't understand why. I need to show her the pic's

Nick

 

[GAmes]

What's sad is there was never any grease pumped into this hub. The seal failed in less than 11k, but would have never been found by the ignoramuses who are too lazy to service their hubs correctly.

 

[jhenderson]

I disagree. It would have been found when Fat, Dumb, and Happy finally pumped enough grease in to fill the drum and fail the brakes. They would not however have known the seal failed even without excess grease.

 

[NIsaacs]

What's sad is there was never any grease pumped into this hub.

Okay, it was probably filled to overflowing at the factory with a power gun. So I guess just having them could be an issue. I always figured the spindle was a little weak from the grease passage but I have never broken one. The heck of it is, if you see a trailer you need/want ya buy it, lol.

I just ordered a new Texas Pride 16K bumper pull equipment trailer with the 8k axles but they don't have the 17.5 tires and wheels, just 14 ply 16's. I guess that is why they are affordable I will pick it up in Stratford, Texas.

Nick

 

[GAmes]

The hub wasn't full of grease so I don't think the zerk was used to lube the bearings. There was a lot of grease though, more than I'd ever use. This is the third trailer I've owned with the EZ Lube spindles, but the first with brakes.

I've driven through Stratford probably 50 times. I didn't know they built trailers there.

edit: I looked up Texas Pride and see they are built in Madisonville, only 125 miles from me.

 

[GAmes]

I disagree. It would have been found when Fat, Dumb, and Happy finally pumped enough grease in to fill the drum and fail the brakes. They would not however have known the seal failed even without excess grease.

LOL, you are probably right.

 

[Dieselnerd]

As was said earlier, EZ Lube is great on trailers without brakes. I had them on my previous 5th wheel and even with new (and very expensive seals) they always managed to leak some grease on the brake linings.

My current 5th wheel came with Nev-R-Lube and they are much better and just need to be checked for play from time to time. I recently upgraded my suspension and went with Nev-R-Lube again. Never had any problems at all with those. I had about 50,000 miles and 10 years on mine and they were good as new. If you ever decide to go that route you'll need new hubs but in the long run, well worth it.

I went to hand packing my EZ Lube after cleaning all the grease out of my drum brakes. The Dexter manual says that any time you pull the wheel with the EZ Lube system you should replace the grease seals. The grease seals are very expensive. You also need a wheel puller for EZ Lube hubs, they don't just pull off like a traditional trailer hub.

 

[GAmes]

The grease seals are very expensive. You also need a wheel puller for EZ Lube hubs, they don't just pull off like a traditional trailer hub.

$14 bucks apiece for double lip Timken (National) seals on line, not that expensive. Other than the retainer for the nut I didn't see any difference in removal.

 

[NIsaacs]

The hub wasn't full of grease so I don't think the zerk was used to lube the bearings. There was a lot of grease though, more than I'd ever use. This is the third trailer I've owned with the EZ Lube spindles, but the first with brakes.

I've driven through Stratford probably 50 times. I didn't know they built trailers there.

edit: I looked up Texas Pride and see they are built in Madisonville, only 125 miles from me.

Yes, made in Madisonville but they have a dealer in Stratford, the closest dealer to me. They will transport free to there so that will save me 600 miles. I think it might have the EZ lube axles, lol...I don't see oil bath hubs on them.

So if the axle wasn't over greased what do you think caused the seal to fail? I have seen some with the seal pushed completely out of the hub. Maybe the grease was synthetic

Nick

 

[GAmes]

Definitely synthetic. I think it was a defective seal, but I have only pulled one other hub. The other two fell down in my priority list, I'm hoping to get to them next week some time. The seals have Dexter stamped into them and are poorer quality than the Timkens I bought.

 

[Dieselnerd]

$14 bucks apiece for double lip Timbren (National) seals on line, not that expensive. Other than the retainer for the nut I didn't see any difference in removal.

I bought mine online from Dexter in the 1990's and I paid quite a bit more than that. Maybe I paid too much.

They fit very tight on the spindle and couldn't be removed without using a puller. My manual also said a puller was required.

 

[GAmes]

Just as any other hub the only restriction is the bearings sliding over the spindle races and the brake shoes. I've removed a lot of hubs for servicing over the years, never needed a puller. Virtually anytime you buy direct from a manufacturer you will pay tourist prices. In The case of Dexter seals, they are not the highest quality to begin with.

 

[mwilson]

There was a brand back in the 90's that some big trucks and trailers used and I can't remember whose they were. The seal stuck to the spindle when you removed the hub and those could be a PITA as you were pulling the seal from the hub during removal. Maybe it was the Barrier seal made by Midland??? Memory is too full of new stuff so I had to forgot some old stuff......:-laf

I have the EZ Lubes on both of my trailers and I just buy the cheap seals where I don't use the EZ Lube feature anyways. I tried the EZLube method just once when I first bought the Cougar and decided right off quick that it was a good way to grease the brakes.......

 

[NIsaacs]

The hub wasn't full of grease so I don't think the zerk was used to lube the bearings. There was a lot of grease though, more than I'd ever use.

I still think the hub was overfilled when you consider the spindle taking up a large part of the hub. Even if the seal was bad or of poor quality I can't see that much grease contaminating the brakes/drum that bad just by normal use. When I repack wheel bearings all I see is a damp area on the seal lip.

Nick

 

[MLee]

When I did mine for the first time, on my 5 vr, one of the seals fell out when removing the drum. It was not set in place properly.

 

[crispyboy]

I greased the wheel bearings on my sister's travel trailer this spring and it showed the exact same issue on one of the wheels. The trailer has Dexter torflex axles and ithad Dexter wheel seals. There seemed to be about the right amount of grease in the hubs - not too much or too little. I guess the Dexter seals are iffy in quality. I replaced with Dexter seals which were about $4.00 each. I like to buy good components but it seems almost all trailer axle parts are foreign sourced. I did try the Napa store and they wanted to sell me a $42.00 wheel seal. The parts monkey didn't know any different so I figured they must have been for an oil hub.
Any recommendations for trailer wheel seals? My trailer is due for a preventative maintenance in 2017.