How to Avoid Over-Filling Hubs with Grease

Question:

Hi, I am in the process of ordering a new RV, it will come with LCI axles and drum brakes. The owners forum has many listings of grease leaking out of this system and getting on the brake components making the brakes ineffective. Since I trailer in the Rocky Mountains this causes me concern. If I encounter this situation, what do your experts recommend as a resolution? GVWR 23,000. 16 inch wheels at time of delivery. Triple 7k axles.

asked by: Dallas R

Helpful Expert Reply:

The most common cause for wheel bearing grease to leak onto drum brake components is accidental over-filling. Once grease gets onto the brake pads it is neither easy nor a terribly good idea to clean the grease off them. They really should be replaced if they become fouled with bearing grease.

The best ways to prevent over-filling your hubs are to use caution when pumping grease into a spindle zerk fitting, such as the one on spindle # TRU37FR if this is what spindle you have. Pump too much in and you will blow out your seal. But if you have standard spindles you can use a spring-pressure-operated Bearing Buddy grease cap that automatically feeds grease into the hub bore as it becomes depleted. These will not apply enough pressure to ruin a seal but they do apply enough to force grease in when there is a void.

All such bearing protectors are shown on the linked page. You will need to determine 1) whether or not your hubs have a bore that is threaded, and 2) what the diameter of that hub bore is, to the nearest thousandth of an inch, such a 1.234-inches.

For instance, for a non-threaded bore of 1.980-inches use part # BB1980A-SS for stainless or part # BB1980A for chromed.

expert reply by: Adam R