Wheel Bearings

spida · Guru

Wheel Bearings

jetj · Guru

Yes I've experienced what happens with a vehicle when the wheel bearings collapse. It is important to check them.

RnD Drifters05 · Veteran Member

Rex checks ours every few months and replaces when necessary. We always carry spares

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I hope they were replaced first?

Cheers,
Peter

Paul and Pam on Tour · Veteran Member

I do not agree with simply adding new grease every few 1000kms.....a properly sealed wheel hub will not allow grease to escape nor dirt to get in, period.
Caravan wheel bearings can take a pounding especially single axle bearings and one with wheels of smaller diameter, it is my opinion that they should be stripped down, closely inspected and repacked, complete with new seals, at least every 10'000km. Wheel bearings are actually quite inexpensive.....also, avoid the cheaper versions, I have had many years sucess using Timken products...and no, I am not a professional.

blaze · Guru

Bearing buddies can cause overheating of the bearing. The bearing should only have the correct grease in the bearing (cup and cone), there is no mechanical need to have the hub or DUST cap filled with grease. A properly serviced bearing will see in excess of 100 000km. Think about a car (rear) wheel bearing that is sealed for life, non service item that is repaced on failure, now pull the sealing covers off a new bearing and notice how little grease is in them (there is not much at all).What happens when all the cavity is full of grease is there is no room for expansion when they get hot and the grease boils and moves away from the area of need and next minute you are watching a wheel part company. In the mechanical field there is no short cuts. The bearings need to be regularly serviced and maintained. For the cost of quality bearings like timkin I refuse to even wash them out, for piece of mind I just replace. IN MY OPINION you have been given bad advice by someone that made a short term money gain know full well you wasnt a return client. Sorry for the brutal reply. Been in the game a long time and repacked more than my fair share of wheel bearings
cheers
blaze

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The biggest enemy of a bearing is water.
I have a 'serious' off road trailer that I used to change the bearings on every trip. They were often contaminated with water.

7 years ago I added grease nipples to the caps and filled the hubs with grease. I add grease every time I do a lube job on the OKA. In difficult country that can be daily, but is usually weekly or monthly.
It keeps the water out.
I have not needed to replace those bearings since doing this and there has never been any sign of overheating, nor have I ever seen a bearing overheat due too too much grease.

That is my experience.....

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Saturday 11th of August 2012 11:15:19 AM

jimricho · Guru

My caravan maintenance person recommends replacing the bearings every 10,000 km. I've never been able to work out why this is so necessary when we don't do this with our vehicles and I've never been given a satisfactory answer by any caravan mechanic. As I'm not a mechanical expert I was most interested to read blaze's post.

I've used bearing buddies on a boat trailer and it's been my impression that that is their intended purpose. The rationale being that when warm bearings are dunked in cold (salt) water (when launching and retrieving) there is a tendency for the bearings to suck in some water. I have found that the bearing buddies to be generally effective in preventing this. It's my non-expert view that I don't see this to be relevant to caravans.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Previous advice that wheel bearings have a considerable lifespan is correct if serviced properly.

Wheel bearings, on a caravan or boat trailer, should be checked each 10,000km or 12 months. It is usual to only clean and repack with new grease at that time.

I have my van serviced each December and included in that is the wheel bearing service I mention above.

The bearings on my van have now done about 55,000km and are still in excellent condition.

Cheers - John

spida · Guru

Wow - thank you all. Very interesting comments and much appreciated. I learn something every time I post on here - it is wonderful.

jimricho · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
The biggest enemy of a bearing is water.
I have a 'serious' off road trailer that I used to change the bearings on every trip. They were often contaminated with water.

7 years ago I added grease nipples to the caps and filled the hubs with grease. I add grease every time I do a lube job on the OKA. In difficult country that can be daily, but is usually weekly or monthly.
It keeps the water out.
I have not needed to replace those bearings since doing this and there has never been any sign of overheating, nor have I ever seen a bearing overheat due too too much grease.
That is my experience.....

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Saturday 11th of August 2012 11:15:19 AM

I guess that your rig at times encounters circumstances not unlike that of a boat trailer so the same rationale would apply?

Jim

-- Edited by jimricho on Sunday 12th of August 2012 06:41:04 PM

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

spida, I have had bearing buddies on my van for the past 11 years and have not had to replace the bearings, but make sure you get the good ones, on the side of the BB (the silver part) there should be a small hole to let the grease out when you pump it in otherwise you may push off the seal at the rear of the wheel.

spida · Guru

Thank you for that Wombat. Nice to have positive feed back as well. I was told to be careful about filling them so may just get them done in a garage anyway - otherwise a grease gun and the right grease is just something else I need to carry.

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

spida wrote:
Thank you for that Wombat. Nice to have positive feed back as well. I was told to be careful about filling them so may just get them done in a garage anyway - otherwise a grease gun and the right grease is just something else I need to carry.

Yep, I carry grease and gun, easy to fit yourself just position them on the hub and hold a bit of wood against it and hit with a hammer, or you could use a rubber mallet.

jimricho · Guru

spida wrote:
Thank you for that Wombat. Nice to have positive feed back as well. I was told to be careful about filling them so may just get them done in a garage anyway - otherwise a grease gun and the right grease is just something else I need to carry.

Thanks from me too to all as this thread has "upgraded" my knowledge base on the subject.

Delta18 · Guru

Probably 80% of boat trailers have Bearing Buddies fitted but I reckon 80% of those owners do not know how to use them correctly.

The intention of them is to keep water out of the hub which, as previously mentioned is sucked in when a hot hub is dunked in cold water when launching, or, in P & M's case doing water crossings with a trailer.

So....the time to get the greasegun out is not on a weekly/monthly or the 15th of 'when I feel like it'...it is at the launch ramp just before launching! This pressurises the hub thus keeping the nasty salty stuff out.

Cheers Neil

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

Ditto Neil, I do mine on the van before every long trip and before we return, takes about 20-30 mins and its all done.

The problem with boats is once at the ramp all they want to do is get on the water, and bearings are their last thought.

The BB with the hole in the side are the ones to go for, after filling they do make a bit of mess around the wheel but a wipe around with some newspaper and all is well again