Spring maintenance

It usually takes me 3 hours to repack the bearings and adjust the brakes on my r-pod.  That includes all the time fiddling around getting equipment together and finding jackstands from where I last hid them in the garage (plus at least one coffee break).  Repacking bearings is not difficult, but it is messy work.  I agree with kymooses: etrailer has some excellent videos and goes into great detail on repacking bearings and adjusting breaks; the 3500 pound axles are all about the same anyway, check out a few videos to get an idea of how much work is involved.

We have our bearings repacked at the end of each season. The last two years we put on about 5k miles, per year. I believe I did read something about repacking every 5-8K miles. The local dealer quoted $250. but I think he also included his last mortgage payment. Interestingly, I took it to Camping World where I am of the opinion, that they hate to part with whatever they are selling, unless you really, really, need it. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised to have them do it for $150. I'm sure If I invested the time I could find someone lower. However, my thinking is that they do more of these each year than most dealers do in a lifetime. Also someone with deep pockets if I have a bearing problem in the future. Hope that helps. Safe Travels.

we did an 11,000 mile,. 10 wek trip in Sept-Nov. One thing that I think really helped was to balance the Pod's tires-no shimmy or rattles.

Vann Evans

Have your TV fully inspected, too.  Brakes, belts, fluids, hoses.  Keeping water in the pod's tank will give you a backup to refill the radiator, plus carry extra of the other fluids like oil, brake fluid, etc.  

For the pod, carry a torque wrench with you to re-check the lug nuts every morning.  Eventually they will seat and you won't have to check as often.  Inspect the tread wear and tire pressure at the same time.  Pressure should be at the max rating on the tire's sidewall.  Every time you stop, go back and feel the hubs.  If they are too warm to keep your hand on them they need to be repacked.