EZ Lube my hubs

[Dray]

I am trying to put grease in my hubs before a long upcoming trip.  It's not hard because I have the EZ Lube hubs, and I think I did it right, but still have a few questions.

I think I'm supposed to pump grease in until I see the clean grease coming back out.  I did a lot, but didn't see the clean.  About how much might be in there?  I think I have Dexter Axles on a 2006 Fleetwood Timberlake (popup).  

Also, when pumping the grease in, the dirty grease being displaced came out and is now mostly in a little cover on the hub.  It's a little cover shaped like a cup.  Will it be a problem or make a mess if I leave that grease in there?  I need to clean it out right?  But it appears the only way to get that off is to take the wheel off.  What did you do?

Thanks

[chasd60]

I believe you should have the wheel off the ground and be rotating the tire as you pump grease in. This makes sure the grease is evenly distributed. When I removed the rubber cap from mine, the grease came out around the outside perimeter of where the zerk fitting is. I simply pulled the excess out with my finger.

[Dray]

I believe you should have the wheel off the ground and be rotating the tire as you pump grease in. This makes sure the grease is evenly distributed. When I removed the rubber cap from mine, the grease came out around the outside perimeter of where the zerk fitting is. I simply pulled the excess out with my finger.

Right.  I saw in the instructions about rotating the wheel.  I wonder if that will make the clean grease come out sooner.

[dthurk]

I think you only need to pump grease until you see grease appear around the zerk fitting.  If you pump until you see completely clean grease, you'll pump the whole tube in.  I just repacked our bearings after having used the EZ Lube feature last year.  (Yes, I went two seasons before repacking the bearings.  They were fine, no sign of any kind of wear at all.   But then, we're towing fairly frequently.  That might help the situation.)   Anyway, I was amazed at how much grease there was inside the hub from using the EZ Lube feature of the axles.  Took quite a bit of time to remove it all.  Make sure you are rotating the tire as you put new grease in.  It doesn't make it come out faster, it helps to distribute the grease all the way around the bearings.   Also make sure you're using compatible greases.  Not all greases are compatible with each other.  Here's a compatibility chart that might help: http://www.mindconnection.com/library/handyman/greasecompat.htm

[wavery]

It is not necessary to pump your hub full of grease. A hub full of grease is more likely to end up on your brakes. As the hub heats up, the grease expands and may be forced past the seal while you are driving down the road.

When you service your bearings, the grease that you pack into the bearings is quite sufficient to do the job.

Those grease gizmos were originally made for boat trailers. The idea is to keep the hub full of grease to keep the water out while launching the boat. They really have no practical use on a camper. However, through clever marketing, many TT owners have installed these, thinking that they will never have to service their bearings again. That's a recipe for disaster.

It is necessary to clean up any grease that you forced out of the hub. As stated above, if you don't, it may end up on your brakes. :sombraro:

[dthurk]

It is not necessary to pump your hub full of grease. A hub full of grease is more likely to end up on your brakes. As the hub heats up, the grease expands and may be forced past the seal while you are driving down the road.
 
 When you service your bearings, the grease that you pack into the bearings is quite sufficient to do the job.
 
 Those grease gizmos were originally made for boat trailers. The idea is to keep the hub full of grease to keep the water out while launching the boat. They really have no practical use on a camper. However, through clever marketing, many TT owners have installed these, thinking that they will never have to service their bearings again. That's a recipe for disaster.
 
 It is necessary to clean up any grease that you forced out of the hub. As stated above, if you don't, it may end up on your brakes. :sombraro:

Wavery-

Have you ever repacked bearings on and axle with EZ Lube hubs?  The engineering is really quite amazing.  The grease travels through the spindle of the axle and exits a small hole at the point of the inner bearing.  This forces the grease into the inner bearing.  You must spin the wheel, though, to get the grease into all the rollers of the inner bearing.  Grease is then forced through the outer bearing and finally finds its way out around the zerk fitting.  Yes, our bearings were probably overgreased, but the seals held and all was fine.  We have a TT with dual axles.  Had to do this on 4 wheels.  I would not be afraid to use the EZ Lube feature again, but would probably pump much less into the hub than before.  The EZ Lube is definitely not a replacement for repacking, but may buy you some extra time before repacking.  Oh, I also check hub temps every time we stop on our excursions.  It only takes a half minute to walk around and feel them.  We're buying gas every 200 miles, so stops are rather frequent.  I've never felt a hot hub up to this point.

[Dray]

Thanks all for the help.

[chasd60]

many TT owners have installed these, thinking that they will never have to service their bearings again.  :sombraro:

The EZ-Lube is not something you can install on an existing axle. There is a hole bored in the center of the face of the axle with a zerk fitting installed. The port travels past the bearings and exits on the backside. Pumping grease into this port forces grease through the hole, behind the bearings and forward towards the face of the axle and out around the perimeter of the bearing on the axle face side. If you remove the excess with your finger you can leave an empty pocket that will allow for expansion when the grease heats up. This is all covered with a rubber cover that pops on and is probably the most likely point of leakage should you have too much grease in there.



 
 That being said, these were designed to stop water from going in like you said. Better design than the bearing buddy but same purpose. Dexter still recommends you remove, clean and repack the bearings annually.
 
 
 My thoughts on this................
 I put over 10,000 miles on my popup and never removed the bearings for repack.
 Did I get lucky? Don't think so, I think annual repacking is overkill.
 
 Read the owners manual to cars, trucks, campers, home furnaces, water heater, air conditioners, and anything else you can think of and see how many of the recommendations that most people follow.
 
 Many or most of the recommendations are overkill and written more as a protection for the manufacturer. Some people will follow some of them, some people won't follow any of them and some people will follow all of them.

[chasd60]

Wavery-
 
  We're buying gas every 200 miles.

Get a bigger gas tank . I figure with a 100 gallon tank on my motor home, I can go 800 miles or so. Of course it is pricey to refill :yikes:.

[dthurk]

Get a bigger gas tank . I figure with a 100 gallon tank on my motor home, I can go 800 miles or so. Of course it is pricey to refill :yikes:.

We tow a 28' TT with a Dodge Durango.  About 6,000 lbs of camper.  We get about 10 mpg.   We like to fill up before we get to empty, a bit of a margin is nice.  20 gallons for 200 miles is about far enough.  The car has a 27 gallon tank.  Don't want to install an aux. fuel tank in the back seat.  I'll keep stopping, the breaks keep us fresh.  We all run back to the camper for a potty break, too.  Agree with the pricey refill.  We've gotten the credit card bill from Aug.  Not a pretty sight.

BTW, good explanation of EZ Lube hub.  Nice photo.  Exactly what I saw when I cleaned down the axle!  I think it's a neat feature to have.

[wavery]

The EZ-Lube is not something you can install on an existing axle. There is a hole bored in the center of the face of the axle with a zerk fitting installed. The port travels past the bearings and exits on the backside. Pumping grease into this port forces grease through the hole, behind the bearings and forward towards the face of the axle and out around the perimeter of the bearing on the axle face side. If you remove the excess with your finger you can leave an empty pocket that will allow for expansion when the grease heats up. This is all covered with a rubber cover that pops on and is probably the most likely point of leakage should you have too much grease in there.

 
 That being said, these were designed to stop water from going in like you said. Better design than the bearing buddy but same purpose. Dexter still recommends you remove, clean and repack the bearings annually.
 
 
 My thoughts on this................
 I put over 10,000 miles on my popup and never removed the bearings for repack.
 Did I get lucky? Don't think so, I think annual repacking is overkill.
 
 Read the owners manual to cars, trucks, campers, home furnaces, water heater, air conditioners, and anything else you can think of and see how many of the recommendations that most people follow.
 
 Many or most of the recommendations are overkill and written more as a protection for the manufacturer. Some people will follow some of them, some people won't follow any of them and some people will follow all of them.

I know.......I should have said "many trailer manufacturers (instead of owners)". My Trailmanor came with the EZ Lube bearings too.

The most common failure on trailers (besides tires) is bearing failure. When they fail, they often over-heat so badly that the axle (spindle) breaks and the wheel comes off.

The most common cause of bearing failure is lack of use. This causes lack of grease protection for the bearings and pitting often occurs from corrosion. If you move your trailer a few times a month (even a few feet) this can avoid this problem. EZ Lube bearings does little if anything to help this problem unless, of course, you lift the trailer and spin the wheel while injecting the grease. Just the act of spinning the wheel does more good than injecting the grease. The problem is seldom (if ever) a lack of grease. It's a lack of grease distribution.

Cars and trucks had the exact same bearing configuration as trailers do, for years. People would often go 100,000+ without servicing those bearings and they didn't have "EZ Lube" axles. The reason is because they were used on a daily basis.

EZ Lube axles are no substitution for use and servicing. IMHO, they serve no practical value on the average camping trailer. In fact, they may give some owners a false sense of security. I'm not saying to remove them if you have them (I'm not going to). I'm just saying don't over rely on them.