Voltage 3200 Question on Ultra-Lube Axle

[Colorado440]

My build list on my 2016 Voltage 3200 states 7,000 lb Axles w/Ultra-Lube. Does anyone know what this means? Does it have a zerk fitting and if yes, anyone know what the procedure is for lubing the bearings with "ultra-lube" axles? I searched the internet and not much luck so hoping someone here has knowledge on this.

[Tanman]

the way i understand it the ultra lube is the axle grease not the axle.. yes you should have zerk fittings on the end of each axle. Pop the center disk out of the axle hub. There will be a black rubber fitting that needs removing. There you will find the zerk fitting.. Its a little difficult to lube by yourself holding the nipple over the fitting and hand pumping the grease in. I give mine a couple shots a year. The grease goes through the center of the axle and comes out the back before the rear seal.. Dont over grease it or you can force out the rear seal. Personally I like Lucas brand Red N Tacky..

[dougs2]

The way I interpret this is if you have the Ultra-Lube axles it means you have a grease zerk on the outer end of the axle, which I believe most all Voltages have. The way this works as I understand is, like Tanman said, when you pump grease into the zerk it comes out behind the inner bearing and if your seals are good it forces the old grease in the inner bearing back into the space between the two bearings and then back through the outer bearing, forcing all the old grease out to the end of the axle. You pump until you have all new grease coming out. This will probably take more than a tube of grease on each axle and a lot of rags to clean up the mess. The factory does not pump the center of your hubs full but when I cleaned and repacked mine last fall, all the bearings had plenty of grease and were good, which is how I prefer to do it instead of pumping the hubs full. I did hand pack some grease into the center of the hubs but not anywhere full. Also my seals were bad and 3 of the 4 brakes had grease in them. That probably happened when I pumped some grease into the zerks and it went straight into the brakes. Just my take on it anyway.

[macman83]

The dealer repacked all my bearings under warranty and the first time we took out our Voltage, the brakes (all 6 of them) were covered in grease. I'm sure that they tried to pump them full with an air powered greas gun and blew it all out the rear seal. I now hand pack them with a bearing cup and don't worry about filling the hub. Just a few shots of grease every year and they do fine.

[Nate42379]

The proper way to use ultralube zerks is to jack the wheel off the ground and spin the hub while pumping so grease is evenly distributed


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[Nate42379]

Originally Posted by Nate42379

The proper way to use ultralube zerks is to jack the wheel off the ground and spin the hub while pumping so grease is evenly distributed


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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bob.stone]

You all have me worried about my hubs. I am by no means a drum brake expert and have not repacked a hub since the 90's (and that was on an 81 Bronco). I always wonder what right looks like when I open things up. Attached are pics of what I found when I looked at my passenger side hubs. These pics are from the one with the most lube on it, the others were not as bad. Do I have anything to worry about? The camper only has about 1500 miles on it.

[dougs2]

Bob, that looks normal, looks like there is plenty of grease in the outer bearing, but to really check everything you'll need to remove the cotter key then the nut and washer, and pull the hub all the way off the axle. The outer wheel bearing will slide right off and the inner bearing and seal will stay in the hub. Then you can get a close look at the brakes. Even if you don't repack the wheel bearings I would at least pop the old seals out and replace with new seals.