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Podsible Dream
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 03 Dec 2010
Location: Hightstown, NJ
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Posts: 571
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Topic: Lippert Axle Grease? Posted: 24 Jun 2011 at 12:55pm |
Thanks for the explanation, Outbound. I do indeed check the hubs on the trailers at a stop. I will follow the manufacturer's recommendation for the RPod greasing and repacking, and, while I have greasy hands, do my utility trailer at the same time, from now on.
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Chris and Walt
'10 RP-171 'Free Spirit'
'13 Dodge Durango Crew 5.7 L Hemi V8
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Outbound
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Location: Oshawa, Ontario
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Posts: 767
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Posted: 24 Jun 2011 at 12:23pm |
Trailer bearings are not the sealed bearings you find in automobiles - they're much simpler and much less expensive and this means that they require some maintenance. The issue with trailer bearings isn't so much the distance travelled, but instead its the great lengths of time that the trailer sits idle. The grease migrates down with gravity, leaving the top of the bearing dry. Regular inspection is necessary.
I've also owned about a dozen trailers in my life, and I have experienced bearing failure due to neglect (when I was young and thought that I was invincible). I've also experienced dry rot from within on tires. Neither is very much fun - even if you're only 20 miles from home when it happens.
If you choose to ignore the manufacturer's recommendation for bearing maintenance, that's your decision. For safety's sake, I do hope that you regularly touch your hubs while travelling to determine if there is unusual heat build-up, which would indicate imminent bearing failure.
Personally, I endorse following the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule and actively encourage others to do the same.
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Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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Podsible Dream
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 03 Dec 2010
Location: Hightstown, NJ
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Posts: 571
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Posted: 24 Jun 2011 at 12:00pm |
Question:
Why is it necessary to "recommend[s] an annual bearing removal/cleaning/repacking of the axle bearings" for a trailer that in essence travels probably less than 5000 miles every year on dry, not salty or sandy roads, with a single axle that allows differential individual movement of the wheels and bearings (that is, there is no side to side or angular torque on the bearings when going around a corner) and that weighs less than the tow vehicle that tows it?
The same recommendation is on my 10 year old 5x8 foot utility trailer and was on a 14 foot boat trailer I had. Both never have had new or repacked bearings.
Besides the trailers, I have owned more than 15 vehicles in my life, many with life spans of over 100,000 miles and I think I replaced one wheel bearing and never repacked any of them.
Is this recommendation a question of manufacturing quality differences between cars,trucks and trailer components or is it like changing engine oil every 3000 miles, self protection and collusion?
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Chris and Walt
'10 RP-171 'Free Spirit'
'13 Dodge Durango Crew 5.7 L Hemi V8
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TIDALWAVE
Senior Member
Joined: 21 Nov 2009
Location: MINNESOTA
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Posts: 315
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Posted: 22 Jun 2011 at 10:17pm |
Lippert also recommends an annual bearing removal/cleaning/repacking of the axle bearings. They implied that the Super Lube technique is sort of 'suspenders and a belt' idea
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TIDALWAVE
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Goose
Senior Member
Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Location: Arizona
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Posts: 672
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Posted: 22 Jun 2011 at 9:14pm |
Great job there TIDALWAVE of answering the question on how it works. I still think that cleaning, a good inspection and repacking the bearings by hand for those that travel alot of miles evry year is wise. Goose
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Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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psaman
Senior Member
Joined: 26 Jun 2010
Location: Corpus Christi
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Posts: 231
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Posted: 22 Jun 2011 at 6:38pm |
Thanks Tidalwave, I have wondered myself and this sure clears it up.
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2011 R-177 "Sponge-Pod"
2011 F-150 XLT "Texas Edition"
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TIDALWAVE
Senior Member
Joined: 21 Nov 2009
Location: MINNESOTA
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Posts: 315
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Posted: 22 Jun 2011 at 6:07pm |
'Outbound' asked how can the grease get to the rear bearings of a SuperLube hub if the old grease comes out of the front bearings? That is what the Zerk fitting is for. Lippert axles sent me the engineering schematics for the SuperLub hub when I asked them the same question: The hub has a central tube running from the zerk fitting into the rear of the hub where new grease is spread into the rear bearings and then forced around the central structure forward into the front bearings and then out towards the cup.
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TIDALWAVE
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Goose
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Location: Arizona
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Posted: 20 Jun 2011 at 5:30pm |
Just what I was always told, that by filling the space between the bearings with grease not only removes a place for moisture to build up but as the grease warms up and becomes more fluid it bathes the bearings so they will not run dry. A cool running bearing will go a long way. Like Outbound I agree that topping of the bearings more than once a season is probably not a wise idea. Goose
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Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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Outbound
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Location: Oshawa, Ontario
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Posted: 20 Jun 2011 at 4:06pm |
IMHO, yes.
Besides... if grease only comes out through the front bearing, how do you get grease into the rear bearing? Alternatively, if grease does get squeezed through the rear bearing, where does it go? The only place it can go is onto the brakes. For general maintenance, squeezing extra grease in there is a bad idea all around.
However, the zerk fitting would be handy if you submerged the rear axle. You could squeeze in the grease and force out any water.
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Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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TIDALWAVE
Senior Member
Joined: 21 Nov 2009
Location: MINNESOTA
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Posts: 315
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Posted: 20 Jun 2011 at 3:22pm |
The Lippert axles have a 180 degree turnaround for greasing through the zerk fittings...extra grease supposedly exits the unit adjacent to the zerk. The manual states that over-pumping of grease will cause the grease to exit at the open end of the hub and not force grease through the seals on the inner face. Does this mean that we are paying for a feature in the Lippert axles, which doesn't really work?
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TIDALWAVE
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