Wet hubs instead of grease?

[Spider]

Has anyone converted their front hubs to a wet system? How is it working out? Seems more do it yourself friendly. Was it cost effective? Also who did the conversion for you? Thanks for your replies.

[Sixpack98]

I converted our '06 HR Endeavor to oil bath from greased. The delta in cost was about $150. I had it done at a local Volvo truck service center. They removed the old grease from the hub and bearings, installed new inner and outer seals and installed the Stemco assembly and filled with Lucas Hub oil. I have heard that bearings tend to last longer since there is more of an exchange of lubricant over the bearings. Don't know if that is correct or not.

Don't know about how user friendly the conversions is. Seems to me not at all. Removing the grease would be a little bit of a chore to make sure all residual grease is removed. Probably replacing the seals would be a pretty good challenge. If the bearing race was scored or burned that would be a pretty difficult job. When I was younger and broke I repacked wheel bearings on a car but not sure I would even try a MH. If your asking about after the conversion it is simple to check, change out or add oil. I had to add oil 2 or 3 times during the next couple of hundred miles which is normal as the oil settles in. I replaced the original solid baby moon hubs with baby moons with a center hole which makes it a little easier to check the oil level. The cost benefit comes down the road. You don't have the recurring expense of repacking wheel bearings but since repacking is about every 25 to 30k miles I'm not sure it saves that much if you don't put that many miles on the MH. Monaco says to repack the wheel bearings every 30k miles or yearly but I think the yearly is overkill. The downside of oil bath is if a seal starts leaking their is the potential of oil soaking the brake shoes and brake jobs aint cheap. I usually stop every 3 hours and do a walk around and would notice a leak but it might be more difficult to spot an inner seal leak.

Overall, I think there are benefits to changing over to oil bath, especially if you are going to keep the coach for awhile and put on a lot of miles.

[EngineerMike]

If you have tapered bearings, the process to get proper "end play" is unwieldy compared to the down side of improper install for a DIYer that hasn't done this before. I.e. improper end play is a big problem when it overheats the assembly, melts the Stemco plastic parts & drains out the oil, and proper install eliminates that. Since it is a sort of TLAR system, or maybe more of a TFAR system, prior experience is pretty handy to get it right. (That Looks, or Feels, About Right)

You can search on bearing end play and find write-ups on how to.

[Sixpack98]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EngineerMike If you have tapered bearings, the process to get proper "end play" is unwieldy compared to the down side of improper install for a DIYer that hasn't done this before. I.e. improper end play is a big problem when it overheats the assembly, melts the Stemco plastic parts & drains out the oil, and proper install eliminates that. Since it is a sort of TLAR system, or maybe more of a TFAR system, prior experience is pretty handy to get it right. (That Looks, or Feels, About Right) You can search on bearing end play and find write-ups on how to.

Just further convinced me that I made the right decision to have a qualified shop do the conversion.

[sjholt]

Yep, I done it myself and if you aren't a good mechanic- have it done by the pros.
I done it and it worked out just fine, the setup to do it right involves a dial indicator and a clearance of .001 to .005". Just make sure they use Stemco Wheel seals- they are the best according to a few truck service mechanics I've talked to.
It's sure is nice to walk around the MH and see the oil level and know that the bearings are being lubed properly and run cooler- Can't do that with greased bearings and you wonder if the bearing were even packed right.

[Spider]

My do it yourself idea was for maintaining the oil system. I would have it installed by a professional. I just purchased a used (05) dynasty with 31,000 miles. Need to have the bearings done, so I was considering making the change to oil bath. I could change the oil in the future. I appreciate your replies

[Flagelpater]

I am coming up on 30,000 miles on my 05 Knight. Could anyone give me an update on converting to WET Hubs V Re-pack with Grease? How about average cost to have the bearings repacked? Also, how do you get the center part of the hub off? I don't see the small opening that was on the older Knights.

[Richard and Babs and a Bob Tail Cat]

Local orange harvesting company I live close to converted all of its fruit trailers to oil bath hubs from grease or about 40 trailers. Must bea good thing.

[Doggy Daddy]

My 08 Damon Outlaw on a WH24 chassis came with oil bath hubs.