AXLE LUBE

Have you lubed the axles on your camper? I have the E-Z LUBE AXLES on my trailer.. but have read pros and cons about lubing this way. And even about the correct procedure.. Seems it might be easy to do incorrectly.. and cause problems. I am thinking about just taking mine to the neighborhood mechanic.. let him pull the wheels off.. and do the job the old fashioned way.

It's interesting to me that we can drive our cars 12,000 miles a year.. and seldom need to lube the axles,.. yet a camper that's pulled a few hundred miles (or less) a year.. needs to have a lube job every couple of years.

Anyway.. what is your experiencre with lubing camper axles?

Seems like I read somewhere that Richard had performed this service on his pop-up.

Just found this,.. A good thread.. and step by step procedure on AXLE LUBE & BRAKE SERVICE:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/17173784.cfm

Yea.. gonna take mine to a "real" mechanic.. this is not something I want to get into.

chuck wrote:Have you lubed the axles on your camper? I have the E-Z LUBE AXLES on my trailer.. but have read pros and cons about lubing this way. And even about the correct procedure.. Seems it might be easy to do incorrectly.. and cause problems. I am thinking about just taking mine to the neighborhood mechanic.. let him pull the wheels off.. and do the job the old fashioned way.

It's interesting to me that we can drive our cars 12,000 miles a year.. and seldom need to lube the axles,.. yet a camper that's pulled a few hundred miles (or less) a year.. needs to have a lube job every couple of years.

Anyway.. what is your experiencre with lubing camper axles?

Seems like I read somewhere that Richard had performed this service on his pop-up.

I think this topic was discussed over on the ETNCC site. I think Richard bought new tires for his pup, they repacked his bearings for him.

I think the biggest thing with the ez-lube is the fear of putting in to much grease, having the old to push out the back and get on the brakes. Causing the trailer not to stop correctly. You would then have to do a brake job on the trailer.

I did have this discussion over on etncc, because someone else started the thread. I did my own, but I would suggest having a mechanic do it. It's a nasty messy job. You have to know what kind of axle grease you want, because there are different kinds for different brake setups. You have to get all the old grease out, because the new grease may not be compatible.

When I opened mine up to do the grease job, I found a rear seal out and barely any grease in the hub. Better to have a pro do it on a regular basis than to be broken down beside the road. You could find yourself with a really expensive tow, as replacing a spindle isn't a "beside the road" repair. I don't even know how they would tow a Travel Trailer with the weels off the ground, perhaps a dolly of some sort under that wheel.

A lube job isn't actually difficult, just frustrating and messy, and important that it's done right. If I hadn't ever re-packed bearings before (with live guidance from someone that knew what they were doing) I wouldn't have attempted it myself.

Still, so far so good.

Willy over at etncc suggested this guide for do-it-yourselfers, and I followed it.
http://www.nationalserroscotty.org/resources/bearings.html

Would agree with Richard. It might be better to take it to someone who knows what they are doing. I don't have all the tools needed to make the repairs myself.