wheel bearings

[Paychk]

I wonder if the 200 ft. lbs. is to make sure the bearing cones are fully seated in the hub?

 

[dremelts]

I just repacked my trailer bearings this past weekend. Well, actually, I repacked 3 of them because the parts store only had 3 seals - I'll do the other hub this week.



We just got the trailer last year and put about 4000 miles on it and it sat all winter. I did think that the old grease seemed kind of thin and watery when I disassembled the hubs.



After I got done with the 3 hubs I towed the trailer for about 20 mi. just to check things out. When I got back home I reached my finger thru the slot in the trailer wheel to feel the brake drums and the one wheel that I did NOT repack felt noticably hotter than the others. Don't know if there is a correlation or not but I thought it was very interesting nonetheless.



I'll have to see there is any difference after I repack that hub.

 

[SRehberg]

Please let us know what you find, as it would be interesting to know if the grease died from lack of use or it is a brake doing more than its share of the work/to tight. Packing wheel bearings is up there on my list of least favorite things to do, but the alternative of failure is even higher on the list.



Have you found synthetics to separate less than petroleum based greases? This last time I tried the Valvoline synthetic, but haven't pulled the wheels down yet this year and the trailer has just sat there since the repack.