Dexter Axle Maintenance

AnacortesArmyGuy

I’m curious as to what other T@G users are doing in the maintenance of their axle hubs. Specifically, annually inspecting the brakes, drums, and repacking the wheel bearings. When I visit the Dexter website they list these items, plus a few more, as needing to be done annually, however, when I go through the T@G manual those items are not listed as maintenance items (unless I missed it, which is entirely possible). Is this annual maintenance something others are having performed by the dealer who sold them their camper? Thanks ahead of time for your replies.

Verna

I have taken my Silver Shadow teardrop and now my T@B, to a utility trailer dealer annually for wheel bearings maintenance. I normally travel 10,000 to 12,000 miles annually, It costs around $100, and is money well spent for the peace of mind.

As far as where I got the information to have the maintenance performed annually is from advice from the factory and recommendations from Dexter about 6 years ago when I got my Silver Shadow.

mgreen2

The old owners forum is still up and has a lot of information. If you don’t find it here by searching check it. See below for dexter axle

http://golittleguy.com/forum/#/discussion/comment/60615

AnacortesArmyGuy

Thanks to all for your input.

AnacortesArmyGuy

Does anyone know if the 2017 T@G Max came with the EZ Lube system on the hubs?

WilliamA

Army guy,
Most trailer manufacturers don't include much info with their trailers as they source the axles from outside venders. They either give you a vender pamphlet (as withe NuCamp) or point you to an online source. That's why they haven't got lots of detailed info for maintenance. The vast majority of hubs out there, and there are dozens if not hundreds of varieties, work pretty much the same way so information about one will usually apply to most of them. If you set your wayback machine for rear wheel drive cars you'll discover that front hubs for cars and trailers used to be pretty much the same. In my humble opinion, the reason most trailer hubs fail is either: sitting around or lack of grease. Old school automotive hubs required little maintenance for a couple of reasons. They didn't sit around much and they had much bigger bearings on one side. The inner bearing supported more of the weight and the outer bearing load was mostly to support thrust and preload. They also didn't sit around much. When bearings sit the grease will migrate off the upper half of the bearing race and create a spot for rust to form. It only takes a tiny bit of rust to quickly ruin a bearing. A pinch of rust or dirt you can hold between your thumb and finger is enough to destroy a bearing in a few hundred miles. Water (condensation) will also make quick work of a bearing as it mixes with the grease and strips away the lubricating qualities of the grease. Grease will tolerate high pressure but water will not. How can you tell if there is water in your grease? Well, it depends upon the kind of grease of course but generally, water will turn grease gray. Dirt, brake dust and heat effects will turn grease dark or even black but water will turn it gray. There are kinds of grease that are gray colored to start with such as lithium grease but it's rarely used in wheel bearings as it has a much lower viscosity.
Wheel Speed. A small diameter tire spins much faster. The tiny, low profile 13 inch tires on a T@G spin 33% faster than the 15 inch tires on my T@G Outback (or boondock or whatever they call it now) It's not rocket science.
Bearings and races are not a matched set. There is no magic machining process that matches a bearing to the race at the bearing factory. But put them together and run them and they very quickly BECOME A MATCHED set. The wheel bearings on a T@G are the same diameter inner and outer, so it's easy when doing maintenance to put them back together with the inner bearing to the outer race and vise-versa. Don't do that. Keep the bearings and races as a pair because they have worn in together.
HEAT. Bearings either live long or die young (and violently) within a pretty narrow heat operating range. Heat in a bearing comes from bearing friction, tire friction and brake friction. Bearing have an inherent friction coefficient that must be transferred to the atmosphere. That heat transfers to the grease and then to the metal mass of the hub where it dissipates to the atmosphere. The tires have high friction which also migrates up through the wheel and transfers to the hub. Brakes have enormous friction and heat which must be dissapated to the atmosphere. Relative to water, grease has a much higher vapor point. Nonetheless, grease expands as temperature rises and as volume increases, it must go somewhere. That somewhere is usually out past the axle seal where it then gets thrown all over the friction surface of the brake drum, rendering the brakes useless at best. Occasionally, the pressure inside the hub can become so high that it will spit the hub cap off violently. There's few experiences in bearing maintenance more memorable than soaking a handful of 300 degree bearing grease up on the front of your shirt and face at 50 psi. I've been that guy.
Now that you are terrified of wheel bearings, here's what I do:
Grease your bearings. They have grease zerks so pump a couple of shots of grease in there 2 or 3 times a year.
When on the road, every time I stop for gas, I touch the trailer wheel near the hub. It should never be so hot that you can't leave your hand there. Warm is fine. In a perfect world, they would be the same exact temperature side to side but mine seldom are. One is usually warmer than the other. That's fine.
Either pack your bearings or have it done annually. Grease doesn't wear out ever, but it does get contaminated with dirt and water. It's a common myth that car and truck wheel bearings don't need maintenance. The truth is that it's very common to replace automotive bearings, usually not because they, fail but because they get noisy (they start to "rumble") and your repair guy says: "You need a hub". It's not the hub that's bad but the bearings. If you ever see your mechanic wandering around with a stethoscope, he's more than likely been listening to your wheel bearings.
Last (I promise!), watch a youtube video or two on how wheelbearings bearings are serviced. Even if you don't do the work yourself, you will be wiser and more aware. I NEVER worry about my trailer wheel bearings. They are robust and don't require my constant attention. But, like anything else, I don't either assume they will work forever without it.
To the best of my knowledge, the 2017 torsion axles on T@Gs all have the easy lube axles. At least that's what the brochure says.

WilliamA

AnacortesArmyGuy

If they are the EZ Lube bearings, then the Dexter video showing how to “repack” the bearings makes it a piece of cake. The video instructs you to inject new grease via a grease gun through the Zerk fitting until the old grease has been expelled out the front. Then you just wipe the old grease off, reinstall the rubber cap, and you’re ready to go. No reason to remove the hub and bearings.

WilliamA

Exactly. Old grease monkeys such as myself pull the bearings and clean them with solvent first for a good inspection but the "new in, old out" works too. Just pay attention to the color of the grease and make sure its not gritty or milky. If it is, then the bearings should be cleaned and inspected the old fashioned way.

WilliamA

mgreen2

Does your T@G have the Dexter EZ Lube axle?

There was mention of Dexter EZ Lube system in Dexter manual included with my owners papers but it also talked about the traditional wheel bearings. I wanted to know if mine had the EZ lube axle but couldn’t find any way to determine it from my paperwork. I decided to remove the dust cap on the wheel to see what was behind it. Pleasantly surprised to find it is the EZ Lube axle. I figure I can do the maintenance on it, using the video from Dexter.

https://youtu.be/XT0RKDGgDm8

LuckyJ

Wow, thank you for the link, I did not know that I could only remove the rubber cap, I tought that the complete metal cap had to come off before pumping grease in.

Again, thank you!

Dan_Ann

Where is the best place to jack up the T@G so I can rotate the tire while the grease is being replaced or to just change the tire?

Mahojin

Put the jack under the frame. Never the axel.

Dan_Ann

@Mahojin said:
Put the jack under the frame. Never the axel.

Thank you! I placed the bottle jack under the frame closest to the wheel as possible. I was able to "repack" the bearings tonight and it went real well. It was the first time I have used the Dexter EZ lube system.

lipcio

Can someone please advise what grease gun and what fitting I should buy to maintenance Dexter EZ Lube system?

Sharon_is_SAM

Standard grease gun with a zerk fitting. https://youtu.be/RWfWRjlQobQ

lipcio

Below is what I bought and it worked flawlessly

Grease Gun
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I6II6K4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Zerk Fitting
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H7LPKKU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lucas Grease
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ARPVO8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The only issue I had was to remove plug center caps. Plastic fingers broke on both of them.

Replacement Center Caps - 2.5" finger to finger and 3" face of plug in my case
https://www.trailer-wheels.com/Chrome-Replacement-Cap-for-EZ-Lube-Open-End-Plus-Plug-Center-Caps-25-in_p_1354.html#.XrI_1C85RmA

Bob297

@lipcio said:
Below is what I bought and it worked flawlessly
Lucas Grease
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ARPVO8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have been using this grease for years. Good stuff. Besides using it on trailers/campers, I also use it on my truck.

csonni

I've always wondered why it's required to grease trailer bearings annually. My Boondock wheels are 15 inch. We'll be doing a cross country trip next summer providing this pandemic is gone by then. What is it about trailer bearings that require more regular maintenance?

Update...I guess WilliamA answered my question above.

csonni

Our scenario is....the trailer is stored outside during our long Labrador winter from November to the end of April. That's 6 months. I wonder if it's best to jack the axle off the ground and blow a path to the trailer and spin the wheels every so often? Lots of extra work. Or is it easier just to repack the bearings before a long trip?

csonni

Can anyone verify if all the newer T@Gs have the easy lube axles? That would be sweet to know if our 2020 has one (which we haven't yet purchased). I downloaded the 2019 manual and there is nothing in there about bearing maintenance.

SueBHunny

My 2015 has the easy lube axles. I can't imagine they would have taken a step back from that.

csonni

NuCamp replied back and confirmed they have installed the easy Lube axles.
Are the T@G axles the 2200 lb or the 3500 lb?

GigHarborTom

We have EZ LUB on our 2017