Wheel bearing grease

Preventive maintenance.
When I changed my grease in trailer hubs. I would remove the entire hub and clean all the old grease out. You need a new inner seal and do a good wash and check the old bearings. I would replace the bearings on my trailer every couple three years, bearings are cheap. This was me doing the labor, my shop rate is cheap to me.

I don't think putting to much grease will overheat the bearings, but it could blow out the inner hub seal. I don't know the amount of grease to put in your axle end. Look that up on the axle manufacture website. You can find recommended procedure for maintenance there also.
You will need the socket for the axle nut if you remove the hub.

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Good luck.

 

I assume your talking a commercial semi trailer?. Not a utility type trailer?.
I use Kendall semi fluid grease in my Great Dane trailer. Don’t even think of using regular old HP grease in those hubs but best way pull them down inspect and like mentioned before replace seal and outer hub gasket and keep trucking.

 

Mine has grease. The Trailer shop says they use regular grease. Other Shops tell me the same. I don’t think regular grease is good enough for longevity. My research showed a special grease. I think it’s 00 weight. I took mine off. Grease was still intact. Bought my Trailer from Penske. Asked them what kind of grease it was. They said they put it in all they’re Trailers when new. No more wheel seals to repair. I’m a believer after seeing mine intact so well after a lot of years and miles. Can’t believe such a light weight grease,( almost an oil) stays in place so well. The procedure is to clean and pack the bearings properly, same as any wheel bearing. Grease up spindle and races. Torque. Packing all voids, in the hub/ bearing. Then add extra in the grease (hub) cap. Basically holding it at an angle, filling it from the center to the lip. Then install hub cap About 1/3 ways full. You can find instructions online with pictures and examples. Here’s the oil. Shell and others make comparable oils. Same 00 weight. Hard to find and expensive. 5 gal jugs online. Look enough, you can find quarts of it. I plan on repacking my Trailer bearings, and also do the steers on my Truck with this grease. Do your own research. Make your own decisions.

 

Just a note. There’s been some debate about grease wheel ends failing and hubs/wheels coming off. Apparently there was a problem with old style Trailer hubs and bearings. The outer bearing was smaller than the inner bearing. That caused the outer bearing to run dry, and get rusted and fail. Newer upgraded Hubs and bearings are the same size. I had a failure on my last Trailer. Although it had oil. The new hub Kit I bought had the larger outer bearing. Didn’t think much about it at the time. But it makes sense now. Make sure you have the same size inner and outer bearings, before switching to grease.

 

The wheel bearing grease is invaluable in greasing up bearings and ball ends. I use the Valvoline synthetic grease on literally everything I have that needs lube. I use this stuff because it's effective. Just cut the tube down as you use it and you won't have any issues getting to all of it.

 

You can pack em..but the second it starts rolling with weight. Most of it gets pushed out.

YouTube might have videos showing how to pack bearings with your hand.

Something like this is pretty slick though.
https://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-2...t=&hvlocphy=9029673&hvtargid=pla-627404508632

 

There are also many other types of wheel-bearing grease that you can try as Lithium grease which is best used for metals that are subject to high temperatures and pressure. if your camper is frequently exposed to wet environments, such as swampy areas, should try the marine wheel bearing grease,

 

How often would you change the grease on trailer hubs?

 

I always did it at every brake change. Pull hubs down clean and inspect