Packing Wheel Bearings, DIY?

[mountainborn]

Aubrey said:
Looking forward to Jugfest!
Very cool ! We are going to have some fun on the Lake ! We look forward to seeing you and the boys.
With one side done so far, it is going very well. After cleaning, inspecting and repacking, I went back togather. I noted no excessive wear or scoring, but the castle nut did tighten one notch further, I think.
I'll have pix soon.

[tumbleweed]

Just remember.... DO NOT CHECK your wheel bearing as I once did....with the palm of your hand....the PACER brand has worn off my hand from the bad bearing we had....
Bugeyedriver has the neatest little heat gun reader.....
Larry, ya'll need a seperate post to START the infamous FEST!!!
Chuck n Geri n still got our Oliver

[tumbleweed]

The FAMOUS Jugfest I Mean.................

[mountainborn]

Hey Chuck, we are looking forward to seeing you guy there at Lake Greeson !

[mountainborn]

A look inside the brake drums, here is the link:
>
http://mountainborn.blogspot.com/2010/03/brakes.html
>

[bugeyedriver]

I just learned a very valuable lesson about wheel bearings. While going down Route 66, a fellow traveler called me and said my right trailer wheel appeared to be smoking.

I pulled off the road, grabbed the fire extinguisher and found a few wisps of smoke coming from the wheel and a hub temp of, get this, 258 degrees! (I had become complacent and was too busy savoring the Route 66 and failed to check the hub temp at gas stops - - - dumb)

Well . . . bearings were gone, brake drum damaged, yadayadayada. Fortunately I was close to a great trailer shop that allowed me to camp out overnight as the event occurred after hours. (Trailer Supply Center, El Reno, OK)

I have the Easy Lube Spindle with a grease fitting on the end for squirting grease in and I thought this was sufficient. The technicians at the repair shop said the Buddy Bearing or Easy Lube Spindle systems were no substitute for good old fashioned manual repack of the bearings. Simply squirting through the easy fittings does not do the job at best and if done excessively, can result in grease coming into contact with the brakes leading to brake failure. The tech showed me where some of the excess grease was lying around the inside of the brake housing.

While the situation was bad, it could have been a whole lot worse. (Thanks for the smoking tire call, Rich) I may have lost a bit of money, but there was no wheel separation leading to a major catastrophe, which easily could have occurred.

Well, I had the technician manually repack the street side bearing while he was at it and have rejoined my fellow Route 66 travelers. Lesson learned . . . don't let this easily avoidable event slow down your travel plans.

[SeaDawg]

Pete,
So glad you had an alert friend behind you when this happened! Still, a bummer.
Sherry

[tumbleweed]

Oscar, Iffen Pete can't take better care of you, than you can come live with us! Scotty n Doogie

Glad all is well and good info from that mechanic. From hauling horse trailers so much, I always had mine manually packed and brakes checked each time. Old fasioned way but.....
Chuck n Geri

[DCKiefer]

I have what I think to be a really stupid question. I was greasing the bearings yesterday in preperation for a trip when I noticed something clinking around in the brake drum when spinning the wheel. I removed the drum to find a single nut that seems to have served no purpose. Couldn't find anything missing a nut, so I just thought it may have fallen in their from the manufacture. Went to the other wheel and found the same thing, a loose nut that appeared to belong to nothing inside the brake drum. I would give this up as chance, but as some of you may know, this is our second axle on our Oliver. I was recalling the removal of the orginal axle when I remembered having the same thing occur with both wheels on that axle. The nut is the same size nut that holds the back of the brake mounting assembly to the axle ends. I carefully checked the entire assembly and found nothing missing a nut.

Now the dumb question. Am I incredibly lucky to have an extra nut left in four diffent wheels or is this loose nut serving some kind of mistic purpose I am not aware of?

[tumbleweed]

Not positive, but think this fits over the other backing plate nut to act as a "lock nut". Obviously not successfully A little LocTite goes a long way.. Hope someone else can confirm this for you.
Chuck