grease all over my wheels after driving, what is wrong?

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rockwind1

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Mar 1, 2015
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i have a  2007 attitude fsakg33 fifth wheel, triple axle.    i learned years ago about the little rubber cap that comes off the hub and there is a zirk. so i use quality synthetic grease and pump it till it starts oozing out of the bearing.    been doing it for years but recently i noticed the grease on my back axle seemed to become very liquid and escape and gets flung all over the rim.    i actually had one of the caps come off and that really made a mess.  i fixed it though.  but i have only noticed it on the back axle,    but i also noticed this trip that my trailer brakes aren't working as effectively as they had in the past.  see pics.  any thoughts from folks?  i put a short video of the problem on son's youtube account.    please look at it,  see if anyone knows what issue is.  https://youtu.be/lMn9JmVLbVE

[urlhttps://youtu.be/lMn9JmVLbVE][/url]

 
It sounds like you have a blown bearing seal and the grease has gotten into the brake area causing the reduced braking.
 
Yup overfilling will blow the "inner" or Rear seal, and even normall proper filling can if it's not the right kind of seal. >Other than that I like those bering buddy devices. They do a darn good job.
 
Unfortunately the Bearing Buddy hubs work great on boats, not so much on RV trailers. It's easy to over grease them causing the exact problem you are having.  The reality is that the hubs should be pulled and inspected and re-greased annually. Just shooting more grease into them and going is not a replacement for removal and inspection. If one is leaking, it's a good bet that the others are close behind. And than could mean little or no braking from the trailer.
 
What I suspect is that the trailer is only 10 years old and the brakes and the wheel bearings have never been serviced.
 
You will have to pull each wheel/hub/brake assy apart, clean it all up. Inspect the brake drums, magnets and shoes. Replace as needed. Buy new bearings, races, and seals. Hand pack the bearings. Repeat as necessary each year. Stop using the grease fitting to grease your bearings. It's not hard to hand pack, though it does take a bit longer. That's the only way to check actual bearing and bearing races, along with a yearly brake inspection. It will also prevent blowing grease all over your brakes.
 
kdbgoat said:
You will have to pull each wheel/hub/brake assy apart, clean it all up. Inspect the brake drums, magnets and shoes. Replace as needed. Buy new bearings, races, and seals. Hand pack the bearings. Repeat as necessary each year. Stop using the grease fitting to grease your bearings. It's not hard to hand pack, though it does take a bit longer. That's the only way to check actual bearing and bearing races, along with a yearly brake inspection. It will also prevent blowing grease all over your brakes.
Click to expand...
What is your theory of replacing the bearings, races, and seals annually?

Here is a link to bearing inspection:
http://www.timken.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/5892_Bearing-Damage-Analysis-Brochure.pdf
 
i would like to say i bought the trailer in spring 2014 used.  i immeadiately took off all wheels and checked brakes and looked at wheel bearings.  started to hand  pack and then researched the zerk situation (not trusting them to grease effectively)    after researching, it appeared they worked pretty good, so everyyear, i pump until i see some grease start to come out.  anyway, thanks for all the info. 
 
so if brakes are have grease on them,  can some brake cleaner clean it off and then burn off residue with use?  or does the shoes and drum have to be replaced? 
 
JFN said:
What is your theory of replacing the bearings, races, and seals annually?
Click to expand...

Poor writing :( I didn't mean replace the bearings and races each year, I meant to inspect them and replace if needed.
 
rockwind- the brake cleaner will work fine on the drums, but once grease/oil gets on the shoes, it's always been recommended that they get replaced. I'm sure people have cleaned them up and reused them before, but I would only do that in an emergency.
 
Those Bearing Buddies (or similar brand) of zerk-fit caps is in no way a substitute for greasing the bearings themselves.  The idea of the zerk cap is to keep positive grease pressure on the outer surface to help prevent water intrusion around the hub and bearing (a classic problem on boar trailers that get immersed in water).  It is not very effective at actually pushing grease inside except when there is a seal failure.

By the way, you should NOT be filling the buddy until grease oozes out - that may well be part of your problem. Just pump in some grease until the floating metal plate pushes on the retaining spring and rises toward the outer rim a bit. You should be able to press the plate and feel it move, but grease should not be squeezing out around it. A few pumps with the grease gun should be sufficient. Here is a quote from the Buddy instructions on etrailer.com:

The zerk fitting where you insert the grease is sitting on a spring loaded disc or piston that will move outward away from the hub as grease is added. Push on the edge of the piston with your finger. If the disc doesn't move, add grease until the piston moves. You don't want to overfill the hub, as it will cause the grease seal at the rear of the hub to blow out and let the grease escape.
Click to expand...

Sound familiar?
 
I'm not sure if he has bearing buddies. I was thinking about Lippert ez lube axles.
 
i should have updated this to say i do have the lippert ez lube axles.  5200 lb lippert axels,,,,3 of them.  DO NOT have the bearing buddy.    they must be different than other ez lube axles, like the dexter.  when i put grease in mine in the past,  i've done it 3 times in last 3 years,  i mean, i must pump (this is during warm weather but not spinning the wheels) 20-40 pumps from the grease gun before i see grease coming out.  when some folks mentioned 4 pumps i was blown away.    anyway,  could speculate all day long,    gotta pull the drums and see what's up. 

hey, what is the best way to back off the brakes to get drums off, i tried that before using the little plug on bottom of brake shield to move the "star wheel" with a flat screw driver.    didn't seem to work  all that great. 
 
i should have updated this to say i do have the lippert ez lube axles.  5200 lb lippert axels,,,,3 of them.  DO NOT have the bearing buddy. 
Click to expand...

OK, sorry about the Bearing Buddy lecture.

Do you have the Lippert manual for those hubs? I thought EZ Lube was a Dexter trademark/component. Maybe you have Lippert axles with Dexter hubs?
http://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/videos/e-z-lube-system
https://www.floeintl.com/assets/pdf/e-z_lube_greasecap.pdf

Here is a previous discussion on the EZ Lube system, which I think has undergone a couple of iterations and may have multiple versions:
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=77652.0
 
kdbgoat said:
Poor writing :( I didn't mean replace the bearings and races each year, I meant to inspect them and replace if needed.
Click to expand...
:)) :))
 
Just a little lesson from an ex industrial maintenance man, the average bearing seal is good for about 300 to 400 PSI service, the average hand operated grease gun will put out 8,000 to 10,000 PSI, When you see grease, you've already destroyed the seal.
 
rockwind1 said:
hey, what is the best way to back off the brakes to get drums off, i tried that before using the little plug on bottom of brake shield to move the "star wheel" with a flat screw driver.    didn't seem to work  all that great. 
Click to expand...

That star wheel should easily contract your brake pads to allow the drums to come off. Sometimes a light tapping with a wood or rubber mallet may help.  That is unless the pads are greased up and sticking to the drums. That is what happened to my Lippert brakes and grease seals. If that is the case, all you can do is continue to beat on the drums until they release, or undo the mounting bolts on the back of the brake mounting plate and remove the whole assembly. 
 
rockwind1 said:
hey, what is the best way to back off the brakes to get drums off, i tried that before using the little plug on bottom of brake shield to move the "star wheel" with a flat screw driver.    didn't seem to work  all that great.
Click to expand...

If the drums can be rotated by hand while trying to pull them off, turning the adjuster won't help.  If the drum can move in and out just a bit perhaps a bearing failure messed up the spindle.
 
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