Packing Wheel Bearings, DIY?

[Angler]

One year plus in our Oliver and going great. Very few problems and none of major consequence. We've put about 6,000 miles on so far and will be headed out on a 2,500 -3,000 miles trip in two weeks. We're headed into fairly rough terrain, lots of gravel roads and possibly pretty wet too. Oliver recommends repacking wheel bearings every 6K. Any one done this themselves - how bad a job is it? How do you get the dust cover off? Or do you advise finding a local brake shop that can do it?

Thanks

[SeaDawg]

We have a good friend who has a general mechanic's shop... and is also familiar with trailers and electric brakes. We take ours there. Not something beyond Paul's skills, but he's right around the corner, and takes care of several of our vehicles. Honest and good, he's a rare guy.

Sherry

[JuniorBirdMan]

If you've got the Freedom Axle, you can get directions on repacking at http://www.freedomaxle.com/downloadFiles/operationmanual.pdf. It doesn't require removing the dust cap or the hub and makes repacking a real no-brainer (which for me is a good thing).

[SeaDawg]

JrBirdman,
Thanks for sharing the manual online. That's a great resource. Very detailed, and clearly written. I think this should be made a sticky.

Sherry

[mountainborn]

In a current thread over on the Casita Club Forums is this video link to give a look at the general procedure before tackling the project, The axle bearings are lubricated through the center of the axle like our Oliver's are:
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-repack_trailer_hub_bearings.aspx
There is a simple quick check that I do just before each trip. Here is a video look at my simple check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7hOfOQUOIg
Please note the date this video was posted. The Oliver factory has since upgraded the axle, tires and wheels. Our Ollie, being one of the older ones out on the highways, had the origonal 3500 LB rated axle with the five hole chrome plated steel wheels. The upgraded axle, wheels and tires gave us a couple of more inches of ground clearance, which we really appreciate since we tow with a Jeep and drive a lot of Jeep Trails.

[Astrocaster]

Mountainborn and JuniorBirdMan,

Thanks for the information on the Oliver's wheel bearings, particularly the part about the bearings being lubricated through the center of the spindle. Do you know for sure, though, that the Oliver's upgraded axle uses this easier lubrication method? In the Freedom Axle Operations Maintenance Manual, it seems to indicated that Freedom Axle offers both a standard axle with bearings that need to be repacked in the traditional way and an optional "Free Lube" system mentioned on page 18 that allows relubing without removing the hubs from the axle. This option is also mentioned on page 9, but here it is refered to as the "New-Name option." So my question is whether anyone has actually repacked his or her Oliver's axle/bearings, and if so, did you find that your axle allowed the use of a grease gun to simply pump the grease through the axle and bearings without the need to remove the hubs?

Thankss,
Steve

[technomadia]

Has anyone double-checked whether the newest Oliver's have this simpler system? It has been around 6000 miles since we had our defective axel replaced over the summer, and I am wondering whether packing / lubing the wheel bearings is something I can handle myself.

Thoughts?

- Chris

[JuniorBirdMan]

Chris,

You'll need to take a wheel off to be sure, but I'm betting you've got the newer system. If the hub has a rubber plug with a grease fitting behind it then you're in business. I've been repacking mine every 4-5 thousand miles 'cause it's so easy to do. (Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid about axle bearings, but on my last trip I saw a guy along the interstate with a fire extinguisher trying to put out the wheel fire on his trailer!)

FYI: It takes just about a full tube of grease to do both wheels if you pump until you see new grease coming out through the bearings.

Hope this helps.

Aubrey

[mountainborn]

Update on our axle status. We now have the 5200 pound rated axle and are doing our bearing and brake checks now, just before starting another year of travels. We check our bearings "slack" without removing the wheel or tire, on a regular basis. We also add grease on or about the regularly reccommended check period of time. Thus forcing the old grease out where we can check it for magnetic particulants,and grease discoloration, a good barometer of bearing wear and heat build up.
Using this system we have handily exceded the reccommended check up times. We are "opening up" this axle's hubs for the first time to take a look. Since this is the third axle under our Ollie ( all upgrades, no malfunction ), and I havn't kept any kind of records, I arrive at miles towed by aproximate mileage of the various trips added togather. Which were:
1 x Tn to Ar 800
2 X Ar to AZ= 4,000
1 X Ar to Co= 1800
1 x Ar to ND= 2,300
1 x Ar to Mx= 1,600
3 x home to lake 360
------------------------------
Total 10 ,860
Here is a link to photos & videos:
http://mountainborn.blogspot.com/2010/03/bearings.html
>

Is this a system I would reccommend to someone else ? Works for me, you will have to decide if it's for you.

[JuniorBirdMan]

Let us know how things look in there. I've got just under 20,000 miles on my Ollie (plus whatever miles were on it when it was a 'demo unit'). I repack the bearings every 5000 miles or so but am wondering if it's time to change the bearings due to age. They still run cool when I check them at every fuel stop, but as I've said before I'm a bit paranoid about trailer bearings.

Looking forward to Jugfest!