Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

fixajet

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RV LIFE Pro
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Jul 2, 2024
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just brought home a 2024 27bh reflection. While messing around with the compass connect app on my phone, when I turned on the awning lights I swear the LED lights came on blue. Now every time I try it they come on white. Am I missing something or was my mind/brain just playing tricks on me?

Also FYI I've also got small bubbling on the roof. Dealer had his tech supervisor look at it and said it was normal. (Yeah right, we will see and I'll keep an eye on it)
when I got it home I used 2 full tubes of grease in the in the ez lube axle hubs before ANY grease at all started coming out.
Removed the top bunk so now the aft bunk room is now a single bedroom area.
Put two 100 amp lifepo4 batteries in it. Will work on the inverter conversion soon.

first outing is this weekend, fingers crossed I got a good trailer. Our last 5th wheel lasted us 22 years without any issues at all, hope the same for this one.

Scott
 
More likely, he filled the huge air gap between the inner and outer bearings.

Do not use the EZ-lube fittings.

They were designed for boat trailers, filling the entire inner hub with grease to keep the water out.

RVs only lube the bearings, themselves, not packing the entire hub with grease.

No need to waste all that grease, as it is a pain to remove, when you have to remove the hub to repack the bearings, anyway.


Congratulations on your new RV and welcome to the forum!
 
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just brought home a 2024 27bh reflection. While messing around with the compass connect app on my phone, when I turned on the awning lights I swear the LED lights came on blue. Now every time I try it they come on white. Am I missing something or was my mind/brain just playing tricks on me?

Also FYI I've also got small bubbling on the roof. Dealer had his tech supervisor look at it and said it was normal. (Yeah right, we will see and I'll keep an eye on it)
when I got it home I used 2 full tubes of grease in the in the ez lube axle hubs before ANY grease at all started coming out.
Removed the top bunk so now the aft bunk room is now a single bedroom area.
Put two 100 amp lifepo4 batteries in it. Will work on the inverter conversion soon.

first outing is this weekend, fingers crossed I got a good trailer. Our last 5th wheel lasted us 22 years without any issues at all, hope the same for this one.

Scott

Yeah, they were never blue...

You don't pump until grease comes out....read the manual.

Some bubbling is normal on all new roofs. Appearance will change as the weather does, warm, cold, etc.

Enjoy your new unit!!
 
ive used EZLube since 2011 and never any bering ,seal,brake issues. You take off rubber cap & use a hand pump style grease gun and pump till DIRTY grease stops coming out all the while rotating wheel. They are designed to push grease out the front and not made like conventional bering & axles. That comment about boats ," Bering Buddies" spindle caps are a totally different item. They are just a a cap with a spring to keep pressure on the grease after the axle is pumped full to supposedly keep water out. Ive had a few boat trailer bering failures with those on the trailer.
NEVER use any kind of powered grease gun
 
I learned years ago and about 3 trailers ago is NEVER use the easy lube. If you have 4 wheels I guarantee at least one of them will eventually push grease into the brakes and you’ll wish you had just pulled the hub and done them by hand. Another advantage doing them by hand is it gives you a chance to inspect the bearings and brakes, clean them and make sure everything is in place. You might be surprised when you clean the bearings before greasing that you find some pitting. It also allows you to set the bearings so they aren’t too tight or too loose. Yes, it’s more work but when you head down the road on future trips you have peace of mind that all is good.

Just popping the cap off and pumping old dirty grease out is a false sense of security because all you know is you added new grease and you are blind to anything else that might need some attention. There is a lot more to look at which should be done at the grease interval.
 
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Yeah, they were never blue...

You don't pump until grease comes out....read the manual.

Some bubbling is normal on all new roofs. Appearance will change as the weather does, warm, cold, etc.

Enjoy your new unit!!

huntr70, always appreciate your posts but this one has me a little confused. All the videos I have watched and the posts I have read about the EZLube have always had you pumping grease in until it starts to come out around the zirk fitting and then wiped the old grease away. Are you saying that we are not supposed to have grease come out around the zirk? I cannot find anything in my manual but I have been on the Lippert and the Dexter sites and they both have pumping grease until it comes out. Can you clarify your information for us?
 
huntr70, always appreciate your posts but this one has me a little confused. All the videos I have watched and the posts I have read about the EZLube have always had you pumping grease in until it starts to come out around the zirk fitting and then wiped the old grease away. Are you saying that we are not supposed to have grease come out around the zirk? I cannot find anything in my manual but I have been on the Lippert and the Dexter sites and they both have pumping grease until it comes out. Can you clarify your information for us?
JMO, of course, but do yourself a favor and forget those grease zerks even exist. They're not needed and will cause more issues than if you never touched them.
 
When you finally do a bearing repack you're going to have one big mess. Eventually you'll need to repack per Dexter.
12 months or 12,000 miles whichever comes 1st. I don't get why you would need to pump grease into the hub when you will eventually need to take it back out in 12 months.

By doing a bearing repack you get to see what shape they're in. Pumping grease in does nothing but waste grease and make a big mess when repacking time comes. I never have added grease to my spindles and run 2 years and around 8000 miles. Been doing that for the last 14 years.
 
When you finally do a bearing repack you're going to have one big mess. Eventually you'll need to repack per Dexter.
12 months or 12,000 miles whichever comes 1st. I don't get why you would need to pump grease into the hub when you will eventually need to take it back out in 12 months.

By doing a bearing repack you get to see what shape they're in. Pumping grease in does nothing but waste grease and make a big mess when repacking time comes. I never have added grease to my spindles and run 2 years and around 8000 miles. Been doing that for the last 14 years.

Agree and Just to add to this, it is not that hard to pull the tires and check the bearings and brakes. FYI, I just pulled the wheels off My brand new trailer for an inspection. I was the Quality Manager at a gear company for many years and inspected 1,000’s of bearings so I wanted to know the as new condition. As new from Dexter just the bearings are packed. There is no grease in the pocket between the inner and outer bearings.
 
just brought home a 2024 27bh reflection. While messing around with the compass connect app on my phone, when I turned on the awning lights I swear the LED lights came on blue. Now every time I try it they come on white. Am I missing something or was my mind/brain just playing tricks on me?

Also FYI I've also got small bubbling on the roof. Dealer had his tech supervisor look at it and said it was normal. (Yeah right, we will see and I'll keep an eye on it)
when I got it home I used 2 full tubes of grease in the in the ez lube axle hubs before ANY grease at all started coming out.
Removed the top bunk so now the aft bunk room is now a single bedroom area.
Put two 100 amp lifepo4 batteries in it. Will work on the inverter conversion soon.

first outing is this weekend, fingers crossed I got a good trailer. Our last 5th wheel lasted us 22 years without any issues at all, hope the same for this one.

Scott
The amount of grease is normal. That amount is not necessary if you hand pack the bearings. In addition if you want to be sure that BOTH bearings get fresh grease in future servicings you will need to use that amount EVERY TIME. This is why most of us do not use the zerk fitting method.
 
Can’t imagine pumping 2 tubes of grease. There would be a voice in the back of my head saying “STOP”, something isn’t right here. Before going on the road I would pull all hubs to see where all that grease actually went.
 
I did a little unscientific test this spring when repacking my bearings. I was repacking by hand but decided to waste some grease on one wheel and repack using the zerk before repacking that wheel by hand.

I pumped it in all while spinning the wheel until new grease came out in a good amount (it was a heck of a lot of pumping), then took the wheel off and bearings out to see how the new grease dispersed through the bearings and race.

I didn't take any pictures but what I found was the inner bearing was fully encompassed with new grease but the outer bearing did not get the same amount of grease, there was a lot of old grease still in that bearing and it seemed to me that the news grease was just pushing right through that bearing but not able to push most of the old grease out.

I am certain that there was ample amount of grease on all surfaces but the quality of grease through the grease cavity was not consistent and would vary from old to new.

I've concluded that I will just continue on hand packing, it's not all that difficult and I have good peace of mind in how the job is done. YMMV.
 
I did a little unscientific test this spring when repacking my bearings. I was repacking by hand but decided to waste some grease on one wheel and repack using the zerk before repacking that wheel by hand.

I pumped it in all while spinning the wheel until new grease came out in a good amount (it was a heck of a lot of pumping), then took the wheel off and bearings out to see how the new grease dispersed through the bearings and race.

I didn't take any pictures but what I found was the inner bearing was fully encompassed with new grease but the outer bearing did not get the same amount of grease, there was a lot of old grease still in that bearing and it seemed to me that the news grease was just pushing right through that bearing but not able to push most of the old grease out.

I am certain that there was ample amount of grease on all surfaces but the quality of grease through the grease cavity was not consistent and would vary from old to new.

I've concluded that I will just continue on hand packing, it's not all that difficult and I have good peace of mind in how the job is done. YMMV.

Thats the best example yet as to why not to pump in grease. One never knows how much old grease is still on the bearings.
 
Just FWIW, the grease that is put in automobile wheel bearings generally never gets changed in the thousands and tens of thousands of miles over the life of the vehicle. Do you really think the grease they use is much different than what you put in your wheel bearings? Why does yours wear out, i.e. "get old", and the theirs doesn't? Perhaps there's really nothing wrong with that grease at all. :)

Periodic examination of the wheels and brakes is a good idea, but changing out the grease because it gets "old" seems to be pretty much a waste of time and money...and grease. :) I worked in a can manufacturing facility, and we ran greased roller bearings 24-7 and only changed the grease when the machinery was down for an overhaul, every year or two.

Anyway, just my thoughts every time I read about changing out "old" grease.
 
Just FWIW, the grease that is put in automobile wheel bearings generally never gets changed in the thousands and tens of thousands of miles over the life of the vehicle. Do you really think the grease they use is much different than what you put in your wheel bearings? Why does yours wear out, i.e. "get old", and the theirs doesn't? Perhaps there's really nothing wrong with that grease at all. :)

Periodic examination of the wheels and brakes is a good idea, but changing out the grease because it gets "old" seems to be pretty much a waste of time and money...and grease. :) I worked in a can manufacturing facility, and we ran greased roller bearings 24-7 and only changed the grease when the machinery was down for an overhaul, every year or two.

Anyway, just my thoughts every time I read about changing out "old" grease.

Great point. I always wondered why they do not use a sealed bearing on trailer hubs. I guess it is price.
 
Just FWIW, the grease that is put in automobile wheel bearings generally never gets changed in the thousands and tens of thousands of miles over the life of the vehicle. Do you really think the grease they use is much different than what you put in your wheel bearings? Why does yours wear out, i.e. "get old", and the theirs doesn't? Perhaps there's really nothing wrong with that grease at all. :)

Periodic examination of the wheels and brakes is a good idea, but changing out the grease because it gets "old" seems to be pretty much a waste of time and money...and grease. :) I worked in a can manufacturing facility, and we ran greased roller bearings 24-7 and only changed the grease when the machinery was down for an overhaul, every year or two.

Anyway, just my thoughts every time I read about changing out "old" grease.

I've wondered the same thing. Over the years I've cleaned and repacked my bearings ever couple of years and have never found the grease looking contaminated or missing. Maybe someone can provide us with data that the lubricity breaks down over time.

Unless one was using a trailer in an extremely dirty or dusty environment, or was putting many thousands of miles on each year, I'm beginning to think a good baseline packing and frequent inspection may be fine.

Even though I swapped out my OEM bearings for Timkens, I'm under the impression that *most* bearing failures in our type of trailers are not a result of China made vs. whatever, but just a lack of general maintenance to begin with.
 
"Even though I swapped out my OEM bearings for Timkens, I'm under the impression that *most* bearing failures in our type of trailers are not a result of China made vs. whatever, but just a lack of general maintenance to begin with."

Over the years I've noticed that quite a few of the posts on various forums about wheel bearing issues, start with the phrase: "I just had the wheel bearing maintenance done and...". Maybe just me I but I honestly think a person is best served by pulling the wheels on their new, or new-to-them trailer, and checking the state of lubrication in the wheel bearings and packing as needed. I think the factory assembly lubrication leaves a bit to be desired.
 

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