Wheel Bearing Pack.... How hard is it??

[roperteacher]

Hello! I have a 31 ft. Living quarters horse trailer. 2 axles. How difficult is it to pack the wheel bearings? Just it's annual ck up? Could someone give me the procedure? THanks!!

 

[jelag]

There is a couple of things you might look for... . some new axles have a dust shield with a rubber insert in it... behind the rubber insert... is a grease fitting to lube the bearings with a grease gun..... 3 or 4 pumps per fitting every year or so... the rubber plug just pulls off.....

If you don't have the above... . you can either leave the tire and wheel on the hub or remove it... . I leave it on... .

We remove the dust cover with a pair of water pump pliers..... get the tire 1/2" off the ground and pull the cotter pin, and outer nut, washer..... some have a bend over lock instead of the cotter pin... we remove the bearing and reinstall the nut... . when we drag the wheel, tire, hub assembly off the spindle we drag the rear bearing and seal across the nut, which pulls them out of the hub.....

Once out of the hub we wipe off all grease from the bearings, and inside the hub... we don't wash the bearings, as the manufacture says that leaves a film of solvent on them... . we inspect each bearing and replace as needed with the race if the bearing is bad... we inspect the race and purchase new seals... .

We hand pack the bearings... that is putting a spot of grease into the palm of your hand and press the large diameter of the bearing into that grease and force out the old grease rotating the race as we go... ... we apply some grease to the inner race, place the bearing in the race and installing a new seal... .

We put a light film of grease back on the clean spindle..... and now slide the tire, wheel, and hub back into position...

We do the same with the outer bearing... . by pressing out the old grease with the new... . again a light film of grease on the race, put back on the outer bearing, installing the washer, and nut... . we use an adjustable wrench to tension the nut and remove all the excess grease and take out all the play in the inner, outer bearing assembly... .

We now tension the nut until all the play is out and back it out until the locking cotter pin or locking system will hold it..... and reinstall the dust cap...

While the bearings are out... . we check and clean the brakes... removing the dust and dirt... . and do any repair needed... before we lower the axle we adjust the star adjuster on each brake so that the shoes lightly drag... and now we spin the wheel and apply power to the magnet to make sure that each brake works... we sometimes will power the magnet with the wheel off if we think there might be a problem...

We do not use chassis grease... we use only a grease designed for wheel bearings and each of our trucks carries and infrared temp testing gun to point and shoot at the hubs, tires and brakes at each rest stop... . it takes less than 2 or 3 minutes to do a walk around looking for all the tires, brake drums, and hubs to be in the same range... . as an example all the hubs have to be the same temp +- 20*F, the same with the brake drums, and the tires... .

I'm sure I've left something out or someone might want to add to my post... . but we do it often on our stuff and its a routine step for us... .

If the vehicle has hyd brakes they get bleed at this time as well using fresh fluid... .

I guess that's it..... Hope this is what your looking for...

 

[TowPro]

Get yourself One of these Saves a lot of mess and time.

#ad

 

[steved]

... each of our trucks carries and infrared temp testing gun to point and shoot at the hubs, tires and brakes at each rest stop... . it takes less than 2 or 3 minutes to do a walk around looking for all the tires, brake drums, and hubs to be in the same range... . as an example all the hubs have to be the same temp +- 20*F, the same with the brake drums, and the tires... .

This is a very good habit to get into... doesn't take a infrared gun either (although that's a pretty slick idea!).



I make a habit of simply walking around the rig and feel the tires and hubs with my bare hand... as long as they are not so hot you can't lay your hand on the hubs for even a short time, they are fine. The tires should feel warm to the touch, even fully loaded.



I make it a habit to check the rig's hubs everytime I stop... doesn't matter if it was 30 minutes from the previous time... I check them.



steved