Wheel Bearinigs

We have a big, 4 week trip coming up in a month.  I have been putting off adjusting the brakes and redoing the wheel bearings-never done it and wasn't looking forward to this job.  I had read every post here about doing this job. i also looked at several Youtube videos-I thought I was prepared.

 So, yesterday was the day.  I moved the pod to a shady and level location.  I left the pod hooked up the tv and jacked up one side.  I used 2 jack stands and took the weight off of the jack-it was solid and safe.  I got my tools together and started.

the first shock happened when I took the first wheel off and removed the dust cap-well, look at this-a grease zerk on the end of the axle-never saw that in the videos.  good idea

the second surprise --no cotter pin in the castle nut.  My Lippert axle had a different type of retainer.  Still had a castle nut, but behind it is a washer with 2 tabs -one of which gets bent into the castle nut slot as a retainer. I really had to clean off the grease and look hard to figure that out.

Everything proceeded as planned until I got the hub off and knocked the rear bearing and grease seal out.  the grease seal had obviously  been reused several times and  obviously hammered back in place before.  The problem was that there appeared to be a small spring wrapped around the top end of the  bearing.   I looked at the Lippert website-no help there .  I called Lippert customer service(very nice and informed rep) and he finally figured out that the spring must have been part of the grease seal that got knocked off when I pulled them out. He said the seals were standard auto parts and I should replace them.

So, it's off to the auto parts store to find a grease seal to match.  As it turns out, Car Quest has an exact seal that fits and works.  The seal is part #47336 and cost $7.34 each.

when I pulled the second wheel and seal, I confirmed that indeed the old grease seals had a small spring on the interior around the rubber seal. That made me feel better.

I also cleaned the brake drums and associated parts  with a spray brake cleaner.

All in all not a bad job, just lots of grease and patience.

Vann

I use the zerks all the time on multiple trailers, never had a problem.   I think the key is to slowly spin the wheel while pumping, pump slow and watch for the new grease to appear coming out the outer bearing, then stop.

BTW to everyone buying a replacement seal- sometimes the available seal is the right diameter and such but only has one lip- you want double lip seals to use with the zerk based regreasing systems.
One seal points out to exclude dirt and water, the other points in to contain grease.

Sometimes parts counter guys don't understand this and sub a regular grease seal that to them is "the same".