Brake drag amount on wheel bearings

[McTrailer]

I packed my wheel bearings for the first time myself on my 2019 2100bh. (Lippert 3500 axles).

The brake drums looked good and the bearings were fine, although there wasnt much grease in there. Definitely needed a good repacking!

I followed instructions to a T and my wheels can spin freely but I notifed the left side of my trailer had a slight bit more brake drag then the right side. So if side left will spin 8-10 revolutions with a little push the right side might spin 2-3 more revolutions with a little push. It didnt seem to have anything to do with loosening the castle nut more, I already had it plenty loose when getting it hand tight and backing it off. I backed it way off and it didnt seem to spin more revolutions

Im wondering what the variable is, I probably should just replace all the bearings next season. I did a brake check and everything works great.

My opinion it is a difference in bearing wear and or brake wear on that side. Neither of which I observed warranted full replacement but at the end of the season I will.

[Eagle5]

Hi McTrailer,
It sounds like you did a fine job in the bearing repacking. That very slight difference in the number of free-wheeling rotations represents an insignificant force in the grand scheme of things. Unless the bearings or the races have pits or visible lines in them, your bearings are just fine.
Thanks, Eagle5

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by McTrailer

I followed instructions to a T and my wheels can spin freely

Do you have advice on what instructions you thought were "best" and most specific to your trailer? I think my trailer matches yours exactly, and I need to get this done this spring, too. I haven't put on many miles, but I'm sure the packing degrades on its own. Besides, I need to learn how to get it done. Procrastinating here would be very bad!

[Cataska]

If the wheel does not rock side to side and spins freely you should be good 2-3 revs on other wheel no big deal.

[McTrailer]

Originally Posted by tinglett

Do you have advice on what instructions you thought were "best" and most specific to your trailer? I think my trailer matches yours exactly, and I need to get this done this spring, too. I haven't put on many miles, but I'm sure the packing degrades on its own. Besides, I need to learn how to get it done. Procrastinating here would be very bad!

Sure.

Tools:
Seal puller tool
Needle nose pliers
Four wheel hub seals and a few extra for messups
I used a plastic cone style bearing repacker
Grease gun
3-4 bottes of high temp wheel bearing grease
Three rolls of low lint paper towels
Box of latex gloves
Large adjustable wrench
Rubber mallet
Small Block of wood
Large jack and jack stands
Socket wrench and socket for tire nuts
3 cans of brake cleaner spray
New cotter pins or whatever yours uses

I plan on keeping these tools with me in addition to my normal set of tools in my camper storage box.


The jist is on the castle nut you tighten it to where it stops then back it off. What you dont want to do is tighten down so much the tire wont spin freely. That means there is too much friction and friction = heat.

What I did was before I started I spun the tire before removing and made sure when I was done the tire still spun somewhat the same. Mine spun slightly less but I think thats attributes to the bearings being fully packed with grease and a brand new grease seal.

Use lots of brake cleaner to keep the wheel hub and brakes clean.

The first one took me about an hour to figure out the process and the next took like 15-25 min per tire once my method was down

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CWzoYdHUDOM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HMifZSj407A

There was anoher really good video and i cant find it!

[McTrailer]

Originally Posted by Cataska

If the wheel does not rock side to side and spins freely you should be good 2-3 revs on other wheel no big deal.

This is the part that bugs me, it has to have "some" play. Unlike a truck tire any slop shows bad bearings but on these no movement at all means too tight and your bearing will burn up.

I will take mine apart after my long trip next week and see how they do

It reminds me of dealing with valve adjustments on old carburated engines. Like there is an overall way to do it and not do it but each person does it a little different

[McTrailer]

Oh and is it just me, or does anyone else not trust those big box camping world businesses to do this service for you? I had previously used a big name brand place for service and their techs were awful. They never did anything right and after I found they installed my wdh hitch frame mounts upside down I was determined to do all my own work.

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by McTrailer

The first one took me about an hour to figure out the process and the next took like 15-25 min per tire once my method was down

Thanks! I'm going to make some popcorn and enjoy those shows!

[Cataska]

Originally Posted by McTrailer

This is the part that bugs me, it has to have "some" play. Unlike a truck tire any slop shows bad bearings but on these no movement at all means too tight and your bearing will burn up.

I will take mine apart after my long trip next week and see how they do

It reminds me of dealing with valve adjustments on old carburated engines. Like there is an overall way to do it and not do it but each person does it a little different

I just adjust it till the play is gone check wheel for free spin been packing them for 50 yrs off and on only lost a couple over the years from lack of maintenance.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by McTrailer

Oh and is it just me, or does anyone else not trust those big box camping world businesses to do this service for you?

It's NOT just you. I'd say the vast majority of us would not allow Camping World to do any repair on our RV. Nor, would we buy an RV there. RV parts, sure but only after checking with other sellers first.

[nuclearnumb]

If you are noticing one side seems to brake harder or drag, you may need to adjust the brakes slightly. These axles have drum brakes which have a manual adjustment device. It is a small star wheel on the bottom of the assembly accessed through a small port on backside of the backing plate. Using a small screwdriver you can remove an oval shaped plug that covers the access port. The star can be rotated slightly to tighten or loosen the brake drum.

[reeman]

Originally Posted by McTrailer

This is the part that bugs me, it has to have "some" play. Unlike a truck tire any slop shows bad bearings but on these no movement at all means too tight and your bearing will burn up.

I will take mine apart after my long trip next week and see how they do

It reminds me of dealing with valve adjustments on old carburated engines. Like there is an overall way to do it and not do it but each person does it a little different

A good idea might be to get an infra red thermometer so you don't have to burn your fingers checking for excessive heating on the assembly.

When ever we take a short break and find a pullout I insist upon doing a visual and a full running gear and wheel bearing heat and rolling check if we are doing a long haul.

It is great having a trailer with a slide out that does not need to be moved so that we can take a pee or make a quick lunch. This setup we absolutely love about the winnie drop 1780 design. No extension mirrors required because it is only a 6.5 wide but enough room to use the trailer without having to slide out at all! So even if we have to dump the crappy lippert 3500 lb axle it came with it will still be a good buy for us. I am not that high on having a single lippert axle which is rated far too close to the legal gross. When we can afford the switch to another brand with a higher rating it will happen.

[McTrailer]

Just got back from my 2,500mi round trip. I drove anywhere from 8 - 13 hours at a time. I noticed nothing unusual while driving and experienced heavy winds, storms, and temps from the 30's to the 90's.

I have several more shorter trips this year but I dont think we will have any interstate trips like that again rest will be in state.

I think im going to get a tpms system, that was the only thing I wanted to check frequently, especially when encountering crash debris, huge potholes, and cluttered gas station lots.

[Eagle5]

Hi McTrailer,
This is great confirmation that you did a fine job in the bearing repacking. It sounds like your trip was a long and difficult one, to be sure.
Welcome home; Eagle5

[McTrailer]

Sorry to revive this thread but wanted to follow up:

This weekend I serviced the wheel bearings by completely replacing them. I ordered Timken brand inner and outer bearings with matched races.

I had one hell of a time getting the races out because the LCI 3500lb hubs did NOT have notched sides to make it easier to pop them out. I used a blunt punch to knock them out and it seems impossible to not mar some surfaces. Im not too concerned about it because the races themselves are what matter the most and in general, the void areas of the hub have rough cast marks anyway.

I bought a cheap aluminum bearing punch set and it worked pretty well to seat the new bearing races. I cant recommend seating bearing races with anything else. It just wont last that long unfortunately, the races are way harder then the soft punch.

I messed up one by seating the race in backwards. This is basically a game over error and ruins the race and hub. I figured out a way to get the race out by using a dremel tool and notching 3 holes into it, that way I could use a blunt flat punch to knock it out.

I went ahead and bought a spare hub to keep with my spare tire. I realized its a little extra insurance to get us off the side of the road if we get in a tight spot.

My bearings all seemed fine. I did the same method as before where I torque down the castle nut while spinning the hub, then back it off and finger tighten the nut. Once finger tight I backed it off to the next cotter pin hole and put in a new pin. Then put the tire on and put about 20 pumps of grease into the ezlube zero fitting while spinning the tiree to keep the spindle void greased. I still like the plastic cone thing for packing the bearings, the hand method just looks sloppy and maybe not consistent.

Anyway, The race removal on those hubs was a pain!

[McTrailer]

Another update, my brakes were in dire need of adjustment. They could not stop the trailer at all and ive never adjusted them. I used a brake spoon and they needed quite a bit of expansion. I expanded the brakes up to the point where the wheels were not spinning easily and then backed it up to where the tires were free enough to spin about 1.5 to 2.0 revolutions quite easily, but with some brake drag.

I test drove the camper on my driveway and was able to get the camper to stop the tow vehicle gently from 10mph. I read some methods want you to get the trailer to nearly lock out with full brakes but to get to that point with a micro minnie camper and a one ton truck just isnt going to be reasonable.

Anyway, just more inexact science as it pertains to trailer maintenance ��

[Ray,IN]

Back 4-5 decades ago, the way to adjust trailer brakes was, adjust tight enough to slide tires on a gravel road, then back off just enough that they would not slide the trailer tires on a gravel road.


Today just finding a gravel road is a task.

[backtrack15]

I repacked mine on another trailer. Dexter has some good instructions for this in their online support documentation.