How much to lube hubs?

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merlinmurph

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Joined
Apr 27, 2016
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151
Location
Hopkinton, MA
I'm just curious how long it should take to lube the four hubs on our 34' TT.

We completed our around-the-country trip and thought it might be a good idea to lube the hubs while the slide was being repaired. I was surprised that it took 5.5 hours of labor, but then again, I'm not totally familiar with what it involves. I took it to a place that was highly recommended by a friend and the place only does repairs - no sales. The people I dealt with seemed very straightforward, no bull at all, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. Still, 5.5 hours seems like a long time to me.

Just curious.
Thanks,
Dan
 
merlinmurph said:
I'm just curious how long it should take to lube the four hubs on our 34' TT.

We completed our around-the-country trip and thought it might be a good idea to lube the hubs while the slide was being repaired. I was surprised that it took 5.5 hours of labor, but then again, I'm not totally familiar with what it involves. I took it to a place that was highly recommended by a friend and the place only does repairs - no sales. The people I dealt with seemed very straightforward, no bull at all, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. Still, 5.5 hours seems like a long time to me.

Just curious.
Thanks,
Dan

It seems a little high to me also. I would think 1 hour per wheel would work.
 
If they did the job properly, removing all the old grease and cleaning out the bearings and hubs, repacking the bearings and installing new grease seals, putting the wheels back on and adjusting the bearings and brakes, then the amount of time is not really that out of line.  If I am doing a job like that I figure about an hour a wheel but if they run into any issues then it doesn't take long for that figure to go up.
Sometimes it is worth it to pay a little more if they do a good job and it gives you peace of mind that the job is done right.
 
agreed.  for one man probably not so far out of line, maybe a little.  Somebody that does it all the time probably a little less time if no issues, but on average....
 
Thanks, folks.

I don't have the bill on me right now, but I'm pretty sure they replaced the seals.

On the other hand, I thought replacing a cable on the slide would have cost more. So, maybe it evened out.

Have a great weekend,
Dan
 
I'm struggling to justify more than one hour per wheel, even if there are some "difficulties". Even a backyard mechanic who does it only once a year ought to be able to manage that.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
I'm struggling to justify more than one hour per wheel, even if there are some "difficulties". Even a backyard mechanic who does it only once a year ought to be able to manage that.

X2 but I'm a front yard mechanic.  ;D :D ;)
 
I did my own yesterday, with the help of my son in law and it took less than 4 hours, and that includes two trips into town to get the new seals, because the parts store only had 2 in stock and had to get the other two shipped in. Luckily, I caught them in time to get them by the afternoon.

I'll just go ahead and say, yes I cleaned out all old grease from the hub, soaked the bearings in parts cleaner, sprayed out with air and allowed to dry, then repacked with new high temp grease, installed the new seals, checked and adjusted the brakes on each wheel.

just two DIY guys doing it in my backyard, with two round trips to the parts store, less than 4 hours. I wasn't hurrying, but I wasn't dilly dallying either. But then again, I'm not trying to milk a customers clock to make a few extra hours worth of labor. They're probably also going to charge you four times what you could find the seals for, and don't be surprised if they tell you at least some of your bearings are shot and need to be replaced....

yes, I'm very cynical when it comes to dealing with mechanics  8)

@ReneT - I'm a front yard, side yard, back yard mechanic, it really depends on where the shade is at the time  :)
 
so that was 8 man hours.
Granted, the drive time to the part store should be deducted from that......
 
blw2 said:
so that was 8 man hours.
Granted, the drive time to the part store should be deducted from that......

I was thinking the same thing.
It's really just a one-man job though, right? Unless you have two guys working on two wheels simultaneously.

Still, the consensus seems to be that 5.5 hours was a bit long, especially for someone that does this for a living.
 
blw2 said:
so that was 8 man hours.
Granted, the drive time to the part store should be deducted from that......

not really though, because I did the parts that required greasy hands, he did the parts that didn't. I get what you're saying but no it's not like we were both steady working on each hub or even a hub a piece at the same time. If we'd done it that way we'd have done it in two hours, Basically since I have back issues he basically just did the lifting and bending over parts, and put the hubs on the work table for me to do. So no, not really 8 man hours at all
 
actual drive time there and back and time at the parts store for both trips all total would be close to 45 minutes. since I'm not far from town.....

So since we had both tires on the same axle off the ground at the same time, thanks to those nifty little tire changing ramps he and I both have, and if we'd both done a hub a piece we'd have had an hour and a half maybe, and a good portion of that would have been waiting for the bearings to dry out before repacking. I'm saying half hour per wheel for someone who doesn't piddle around, 45 minutes each is generous and hour each if you run into severe problems. I did use a couple cans of brake parts cleaner and 4 old T shirts for grease rags,  ;)

guess I should have broken it down a little better in my original post. In my opinion, a shop where they do this kind of stuff for a living, it should have been at least as good as our time would have been if not better.  but again, I wasn't trying to milk a customers clock to add to my labor charges
 
I don't know how much they charged you but I spent about $25 on 4 grease seals, cleaner, grease, and new cotter pins.  Took me about 4 hours in the driveway.  There are lots of Youtube videos that show how to do it.  Pretty easy, just messy.
 
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