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Old 07-31-2016, 05:56 AM   #1
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Bearing repacking/Brake inspection

I'm in the middle of doing my bearings, which is the first time for this Voltage since it was new two and a half years ago. During that time it's been all over the country racking up lots of miles. Camping World wants over $350 for three axles so I'm doing it all myself. Glad I didn't wait any longer.

Pulling one of the hubs it was evident from the super clean brake and backing plate that this brake has never worked. Traced it to a bad magnet. Another wheel had the inner seal letting grease leak onto the brake shoes essentially rendering that brake useless.

All of the bearings looked real good with lots of grease available. Didn't have any issues using the leveling jacks to lift the wheels off the ground and using jackstands to support the axles.

One discouraging point is that in-spite of the huge sums of money we pay for these trailers they don't come with self-adjusting brakes. Disc brakes would be even better for the money we pay.
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Old 07-31-2016, 10:36 AM   #2
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The one with the inner seal leaking...was it from lining the bearings through the axle or was it just seal failure?

Did you already have new seals or did you have to pull the and run to the store? What size did you need?

Cale
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Old 07-31-2016, 07:32 PM   #3
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Here are some pictures.

One shows the typical crud I found on the brakes and backing plates. The picture of the back of the hub shows, I think, where the seal failed and let grease go onto the brakes. The inner seal picture shows the number that I got from the parts store. The original factory seal had #22333TBN, which was cross-matched to the seal in the photo. I never re-use inner seals.

BTW, I went to Lazy Days part store to see if they had a magnet and the guy looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. They used to actually have a parts counter with knowledgeable people behind the counter. That all seems to have changed.
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Old 07-31-2016, 08:00 PM   #4
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Those brakes look a little thin on the meat!

Looking at 22333TBN seals on line, it says they are for 3500lb axles, I wonder if these have the wrong seals installed...

Cale
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Old 07-31-2016, 08:08 PM   #5
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Scratch that, I found on etrailer where it says they are for EZ Lube ends... One could only imagine though that they would screw that up.

Cale
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Old 07-31-2016, 08:18 PM   #6
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Having the one brake that was in-op all this time I was able to compare pad thickness on the new pads vs the used pads. There wasn't much difference, they were pretty thin from the factory, unlike our car and truck pads.
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Old 07-31-2016, 10:56 PM   #7
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yup.
Pulled mine after the 1st year. 2 bad magnets (wires rubbed through) (got a error in the truck).
2 bad bearings, pitted. Thankfully caught before failure.
Keep an eye on your tires. 6k on them. Within 300 miles one bubbled and one blew. Do not drive around curbs but figured maybe hit a bump on the 1st one (I do live in PA ) but the second... replaced all tires @ 3 years old.
Guy in the commercial tire shop, "They still look good." ME: "so did this one, 120 miles before it blew."

Edit: oh yea, Plus 3 bad seals, as you show.
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Old 08-01-2016, 02:57 AM   #8
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I have no tire worries - they're Michelin XPS Ribs, which is a commercial grade truck tire that is also certified for trailer use. Got rid of the Chinese junk as quick as I could. If you could have seen those Chinese tires when they came off the trailer; terrible. They had 2,000 miles on them (Indiana to AZ) but they looked old and worn. My Michelins have been to the East coast and back twice and numerous trips to San Diego in the last 2.5 years plus dozens of shorter trips and they still look great. Dang, I sound like a commercial, lol.
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Old 08-03-2016, 01:00 AM   #9
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It was a messy job but it's all done. Bearings are repacked and brakes cleaned up and adjusted. What I thought was a bad magnet was a bad wire connection. Took some time to trace the problem.

In the future I'll check my brakes by raising one side off the ground with the jacks, pulling the breakaway switch, and seeing if the tires will rotate. If they do then there is a problem. Can't wait to take it out and see how it stops with all six brakes working.
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Old 08-03-2016, 03:43 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by azdryheat View Post
...In the future I'll check my brakes by raising one side off the ground with the jacks, pulling the breakaway switch, and seeing if the tires will rotate. If they do then there is a problem. Can't wait to take it out and see how it stops with all six brakes working.
Umm... I admit that I'm no expert, but it was my understanding that the break-away switch won't energize the magnets for the brakes until after the system detects rotation of the wheels. Not sure if I read that somewhere on this board, or in an operational manual.
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Old 08-03-2016, 02:50 PM   #11
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Umm... I admit that I'm no expert, but it was my understanding that the break-away switch won't energize the magnets for the brakes until after the system detects rotation of the wheels. Not sure if I read that somewhere on this board, or in an operational manual.
Correct. Pull the pin and then give the wheel a spin. It'll move a little and then lock up. It's a quick and easy way to make sure the brakes are working.
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Old 08-03-2016, 04:29 PM   #12
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Umm... I admit that I'm no expert, but it was my understanding that the break-away switch won't energize the magnets for the brakes until after the system detects rotation of the wheels. Not sure if I read that somewhere on this board, or in an operational manual.
I don't know about that, but when I pulled the pin I could hear the magnets humming. With the disk brake conversion, as soon as I pull the pin the brake acctuator fires and the wheels lock up solid.

I hope everyone that tows is doing a tug test every pretrip. Doesn't due much good to find your break-away switch isn't working at 60mph on the interstate.
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