Wheel Bearings

[wwenstad1]

I have a 2015 Heartland BigHorn, and I am wondering about how often I should change out he wheel bearing. We live in Mt. Shasta and sits most of the time. Just don't want a wheel flying off when I do travel. Any opinions greatly appreciated.

[Skip426]

I used to mine annually ( I had 3 , 5ers ) but I towed 6, to 8k a year.
If the unit sits most of the time and your only doing short trips , every 2 years or 5k.
Is your 5er equipped with drum brakes and automatic adjusters?
None of mine had that feature and mostly I was inspecting/adjusting brakes at the start of the season, along with the bearing pack.

[Skip426]

Here's a view you're probably familiar with .
Hope the lake is finally back to a normal level , it has looked dreadful for many years.

[paz]

There's no reason the change out the bearings and replace with new ones if there is nothing wrong with them. Inspect and repack annually. You only need to replace them if you see any signs of wear (pitting, galling, etc.) or discoloration (indicating overheating).

[wwenstad1]

Hey I know that mountain. [emoji3][emoji106]

[Texastbird]

I was on the last wheel of our 2012 TT and noticed a couple of the rollers had a couple little pits. So I went back through and replaced them all. I have a 1969 Buick with the original wheel bearings. But they are American made, not Chinese.

[MtnTrek]

Originally Posted by paz

There's no reason the change out the bearings and replace with new ones if there is nothing wrong with them. Inspect and repack annually. You only need to replace them if you see any signs of wear (pitting, galling, etc.) or discoloration (indicating overheating).

If the seal(s) hubs are intact, meaning no lube getting out, no contaminants getting in, to damage the rollers the only other issue is the lube oxidizing drying out with age, or overheating from hung brake(s).
Boat trailers are far more likely to fail prematurely due to hot bearings dipping into cold water during launch sucking in H2o.
As others have indicated, it's often helpful to have an inspection / repack to form a baseline if unsure.

Loved Shasta back in June, internet is to slow at moment to post pics.

[oldbeek]

25,000 miles or 5 years.

[monkey]

As said above, no need to "change" bearings unless they have wear or damage. But my Dexter axles say lube every 12 months or 12K miles. I removed, inspected and repacked ours at 12 months so I had a baseline. You just never know if the person who put it together was having a bad day....
Monkey