Packing Wheel Bearings?

[lonestarace]

Hi everyone:
Its time to have the front wheel bearings(non-wet) packed on our new to us 99 Executive. My questions is:
How many shop hours of labor should it take? Today, a shop quoted me 6 hrs? At $100/hr.
They said it could also be converted to wet bearing for another $250?
Does this sound reasonable?
Thanks in advance
Don, Lisa, and Alexa

[Steve Ownby]

Find another shop! In Feb 2008 Lazydays cleaned & repacked mine & charged me for 2 hours labor. Total charge was $315 and I consider that very high. I should have converted to oil bath at that time for about $75/wheel more but I didn't. I will next time. I have an '03 Sig so the job should be the same.

Steve O

[GOLDWINGER2]

How often do you have to pack the bearings?
J

[Buckeyefarm]

I am not sure how mechanically savvy you are but if you can change a tire you can repack wheel bearings very easily. It is not a complicated job and for about an hour to an hour and a half of your time, a tube of GOOD grease, a parts brush, and a little gasoline you can repack your own. If you are interested in doing it yourself I would be glad to walk you through it. Besides if you decided to do it yourself you could replace the bearings while you are at it and still be over four hundred and fifty dollars ahead. Or switch it over to oil bath hubs and still be money ahead. Drop me a line if I can help

[GOLDWINGER2]

Soak bearings in gasoline? Not a good solvent.
J

[lonestarace]

Thanks for the offer.

I want to do it myself. I do all my own brakes & bearings. Always have.

BUT! this thing is a beast. I have no way to jack this size vehicle off the ground and don't have the extra mucho tools to get the tires off.

The place where I got that $ quote was a MH shop. Go figure.

I'll head for a truck stop and see what they can do me for.

[nodine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Ownby Find another shop! In Feb 2008 Lazydays cleaned & repacked mine & charged me for 2 hours labor. Total charge was $315 and I consider that very high. I should have converted to oil bath at that time for about $75/wheel more but I didn't. I will next time. I have an '03 Sig so the job should be the same. Steve O

Steve,

Sounds like Lazydays likes you better than me. I will have to dig out the invoice but I believe they charged me 3 hours in Jan 2009. Maybe they had a price increase.

Noticed you are just down the road in Cleveland.

Bob

[Nonno]

Currently have non-wet. Which is better, oil bath or non-wet?

[lonestarace]

I'm no expert, but from a realiablity standpoint, it's probably a case of 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.
I have figured out that its a whole lot cheaper and easier to check/change the gear oil in the wet type.
I called a local garage that does my MH state inspections, and they gave me an estimate of 1.5 hrs labor to pack both sides.
I'll take'm a tube of red Amsoil grease to use for the job.

[Denali]

I had ours converted to oil bath the first time they were due to be repacked. Cummins Coach Care in Coburg charged the same price to convert them as to repack them.

I replace the hub oil annually. As it happens, that was my daily chore for today, but I got lazy and decided to do it tomorrow. Ah, retirement...

[Pusherpilot]

Had the bearing in our 04 Imperial repacked a few weeks ago. The history is this.
The bearings are supposed to be repacked every 30k or annually. I've had it done twice, once at 30k and again at 70k.
The first time I had it done was on May 4, 06, at Reliable RV in Springfield, Mo. and the charge was $150.
When I noticed that it had been more than 30 k since they had been done last, I called Colton Truck for estimates on both a repack and conversion to wet hubs. I was quoted around $600 for a conversion and less for just a repack, but not much less. They person I talked to was not very specific, possibly due to not knowing which axle I had or if new seals would be needed etc.
We waited till after the rains were all done for a bit and took the rig to Redlands Truck to have the work done. Their charge for the repack including parts was $365.
I was still sticker shocked. Labor rates have gone up all over it seems.
I'd still like to have the hubs converted but I think I'll wait till I get back to the cabin in Mo and shop around.
Ron

[Pusherpilot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nonno Currently have non-wet. Which is better, oil bath or non-wet?

I've been told that wet hubs are more common on large trucks than MHs because the tendency of MHs to stay in one place for long periods of time would allow rust to form on that portion of the bearing assy and races that are above the oil bath level. Our 2000 Safari had wet hubs and I loved it. The Monaco rep told me that was the reason they used greased wheel bearing instead of oil bath on their coaches and that oil bath bearings should be turned once a month to keep this from happening. When I raised the lack of oil bath bearings on the coach as I was dealing for it the dealer scoffed and said it was just a couple dollars to have them converted! Funny, he didn't jump to do it before purchase as a good will issue but he did throw in a washer dryer and sat dome to seal the deal!
Ron

[William Willard]

I have a 42' Camelot -- I had hub oilers installed at 15,000 miles for about $350.00 in Phoenix -- The tag axel is oil bath, & it takes about 30 minutes to change all 4 hubs -- I use Lucas Hub Oil -- My last 2 MH`s had Spartan Chassis, they had hub oilers, & I had no bearing problems -- Bill Willard

[Denali]

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Willard I have a 42' Camelot -- I had hub oilers installed at 15,000 miles for about $350.00 in Phoenix -- The tag axel is oil bath, & it takes about 30 minutes to change all 4 hubs -- I use Lucas Hub Oil -- My last 2 MH`s had Spartan Chassis, they had hub oilers, & I had no bearing problems -- Bill Willard

Bill:

Have you found an easy way to drain the old oil from the hubs? I use a hand-operated suction gun with a piece of small tubing taped to the end of the big tubing on the gun. It takes for-EVER to suck that thick oil out, and I'm sure I'm not getting all of it.