Questionable?

[SpencerPJ]

Glad you got that done. Sounds like a great road trip coming. Safe travels.

 

[Carbonation]

BOTTOM LINE hubs and brearings repacked using Gladius grease cleaned up new dustcaps installed. Good to go. The shop that did it is part of a international group, Dexter Axles is a part of that group.

Do you mean Gadus from Shell?
Gadus
IMO, only one grease for wheel bearings.. TRC Paragon 3000. Stuff just works, and for a really long time.
Good deal you got it taken care of.

 

[WV_Crusader]

Gadus is good stuff, i use all Amsoil products and swear by them.

sealed bearings are OK if they are greased from factory properly. I always pull the cover and clean out the “new” grease then pack with Amsoil and reinstall the seal. Yes its overkill and time consuming but it works for me.

 

[CharlesinGA]

How do you repack sealed bearings?

Right? Thats the one statement that put me over. ALL newer Dexter alxes come with sealed bearings. You just replace the race you dont repack.

Dexter has three variations of axles, standard bearings, ez-lube where you take the cap off and pump the hub full of grease and hope you don't blow the seal and fill the brakes with grease, and Never-Lube, which has two sealed bearings pressed into the hub right in the center.

The Never-Lube hubs use a special axle stub and a special hub/drum assembly that has a cartridge bearing in it that is totally sealed. Here is an E-trailer video of the bearing itself. Etrailer video

These hubs are not tolerant of any sideloading, which I understand is common in turns on triple axle trailers, I am surprised they were used. You will need to look long and hard for disc brake conversions, unless Dexter makes something for it, I doubt anyone else does.

Be very cautious, If you have any idea that they removed any of the hubs, you need to be sure they were torqued properly upon re-installation. 145-155 lb/ft. There is supposed to be a torque placard on the end of the axle.

See pages 59 thru 63 of This Dexter Manual for everything you ever wanted to know about the Never-Lube axle and hub and maintenance of it.

EDIT: I should have kept reading before I posted. Anyhow, for those who asked about switching to the sealed bearings, you would need completely new axles, as the spindles and hubs are entirely different, and should you have a bearing failure on the road, you would be looking at a long wait for a part, these are not common, though I think Airstream is offering them now as an option.

As far as standard axles or Ez-lube axles, Dexter is doing a crappy job of packing bearings on new hubs and axles. I am a member of the BigfootRV Owners Club Forum and there have been four reports of bearing failures (most destroying the axle in the process) on NEW or nearly new trailers. One made it 600 miles from the dealer, the others failed within the first couple of thousand miles. Its a real problem.

Any trailer you do not know the history of, even if it is new, should have the bearings removed and cleaned and repacked so you have a baseline to start from, NEVER assume something was done right.

Charles

 

[steveblonde]

Dexter has three variations of axles, standard bearings, ez-lube where you take the cap off and pump the hub full of grease and hope you don't blow the seal and fill the brakes with grease, and Never-Lube, which has two sealed bearings pressed into the hub right in the center.

The Never-Lube hubs use a special axle stub and a special hub/drum assembly that has a cartridge bearing in it that is totally sealed. Here is an E-trailer video of the bearing itself. Etrailer video

Great feed back thankyou

These hubs are not tolerant of any sideloading, which I understand is common in turns on triple axle trailers, I am surprised they were used. You will need to look long and hard for disc brake conversions, unless Dexter makes something for it, I doubt anyone else does.

Be very cautious, If you have any idea that they removed any of the hubs, you need to be sure they were torqued properly upon re-installation. 145-155 lb/ft. There is supposed to be a torque placard on the end of the axle.

See pages 59 thru 63 of This Dexter Manual for everything you ever wanted to know about the Never-Lube axle and hub and maintenance of it.

EDIT: I should have kept reading before I posted. Anyhow, for those who asked about switching to the sealed bearings, you would need completely new axles, as the spindles and hubs are entirely different, and should you have a bearing failure on the road, you would be looking at a long wait for a part, these are not common, though I think Airstream is offering them now as an option.

As far as standard axles or Ez-lube axles, Dexter is doing a crappy job of packing bearings on new hubs and axles. I am a member of the BigfootRV Owners Club Forum and there have been four reports of bearing failures (most destroying the axle in the process) on NEW or nearly new trailers. One made it 600 miles from the dealer, the others failed within the first couple of thousand miles. Its a real problem.

Any trailer you do not know the history of, even if it is new, should have the bearings removed and cleaned and repacked so you have a baseline to start from, NEVER assume something was done right.

Charles