Community Forums

chaps2018 · 09-03-2015, 09:45 PM

Dealer told me not to touch it more than once every 3 yrs, we put around 7k mi/ yr on it.

Wild Card · 09-05-2015, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjlakatos

Dealer told me not to touch it more than once every 3 yrs, we put around 7k mi/ yr on it.

I would take that with a grain of salt

taken · 09-06-2015, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

I agree with 2500HD. Every other year. I also have the EZ lube hubs but don't use them for greasing. Too many seals blown out that way. Also some types of grease are not compatible. Unless you know exactly what type of grease they put in at the factory you could put in the wrong brand or type and create oil. Good read over on the Grand Design Owners forum about that exact issue.
I prefer to dismantle mine check all the brake parts and I know I'm getting it done right.

Seals do not blow out if you jack and rotate the tires while greasing as Dexter recommends. They are designed to be greased this way.

As to grease type, Dexter uses Lithium based grease so as long as you don't use Moly based grease, you won't have any compatibility issues.

Zac808 · 09-06-2015, 07:39 AM

I ended up lubing through the zerk fittings while rotating the tires. I contacted Dexter Axle about using SuperTech Marine Grease. I got a reply that stated, "We have not tested that particular grease, but if it meets or exceeds our specifications, feel free to use it." This does meet/exceed, so I used it.

lynnmor · 09-06-2015, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taken

As to grease type, Dexter uses Lithium based grease so as long as you don't use Moly based grease, you won't have any compatibility issues.

Never heard of Moly based grease, I thought that Moly is an additive.

http://www.mobilindustrial.com/ind/e...patibility.pdf

Bamaman · 09-06-2015, 12:16 PM

Many axle problems are coming out of Lippert axles. They use a very thin axle grease that more resembles 90 weight oil than thick axle grease---when assembling the hubs/bearings. And they're also using a cheap Chinese grease seal. When the thin grease squirts out the back seal, it gets all over the brake shoes and the trailer brakes are nonexistent.

The fix is to clean and inspect your bearings and hand pack them with thick axle grease like noted above. And install Dexter seals or those from NAPA made in America. And of course, adjust the brakes (since they're not self adjusting.)

It appears that a large number of axles on travel trailers and fifth wheel trailers manufactured today have grease and seal problems. I have 1 out of 4 brakes leaking on my new fifth wheel.

andy29847 · 09-06-2015, 12:21 PM

Action!!!

took them off, cleaned them out, packed in some new grease, put them on, adjusted brakes. Whew! Hard work.

tucsonrv · 09-06-2015, 03:21 PM

Every 3 years - all new seals, cups and cones. I use a good NAPA wheel bearing grease. This year was 3 years and I could of just put it back together without touching anything but being I'm there replace everything. And, don't horse down on the axle nuts the nut just hold everything in place. I was a aircraft mechanics for 45 years and you would be surprised the very small amount torque on main and nose wheel bearing on a 96,000 aircraft.

tucsonrv · 09-07-2015, 07:59 AM

[QUOTE=tucsonrv;2732461]Every 3 years - all new seals, cups and cones. I use a good NAPA wheel bearing grease. This year was 3 years and I could of just put it back together without touching anything but being I'm there replace everything. And, don't horse down on the axle nuts the nut just hold everything in place. I was a aircraft mechanics for 45 years and you would be surprised the very small amount torque on main and nose wheel bearing on a 96,000 pound aircraft.

ekim · 09-09-2015, 07:16 PM

Even if you don't repack the bearings annually, I think the wheels should be checked for play and pulled so the seals can visually inspected at some regular interval. At least annually.

Here's an OEM seal / OEM Greasing after just a few thousand miles:

This is a Lippert 5200 Lb axle. The quantity of greased seemed ok, but a few of the seals looked like this.

It's possible that the seals were fine and it was just a sloppy install from the factory - too much grease on the spindle... The bearing were repacked and seals replaced just to be safe though.