Bearing Failures & Hub Savers

Good lord, everybody, they're cheap insurance for the unforeseen. Perfect maintenance isn't a panacea.

If $80 is too much to provide even a modicum of peace of mind against some level of catastrophic failure, then you've already answered your own question.
 
Good lord, everybody, they're cheap insurance for the unforeseen. Perfect maintenance isn't a panacea.

If $80 is too much to provide even a modicum of peace of mind against some level of catastrophic failure, then you've already answered your own question.
I have not seen any reports of this actually doing what it is claimed to do...
Their website does state that if the nut comes off, it will not work
 
Just another "Snake Oil" item to take your money.. Use a service manual and properly maintain your wheel bearings and you wont have an issue... If you take your RV someplace to have the bearings and brakes inspected and serviced unless you stand right there to see whats being done you have no idea of what you paid for...
 
The wheel did not fall off but was only held on by the bearing nut on the axle.
Well, that's it's only job to hold the wheel in place. The hub saver wouldn't have made any difference.
Improper bearing re-pack or failure of the bearing will never be known. Certainly reinforces the need to check your wheels regularly. I don't re-pack every year but I do give each wheel a 'ball joint' type of check every so often. If I can't feel a touch of free play..I take the hub apart.
Glad you kept'er safely between the lines when it failed.
 
When we drove down to the Phoenix area for the winter of '23, we met a few people from Alaska escaping their winter.
One thing that stuck with me after talking with them is they all said the roads to and from Alaska are fine now but people still think that you need to be prepared for the lunar surface of the moon.
I took the rv from Texas to Alaska in 2023 and the roads were not too bad, as long as you drive slower and watch out for the Frost Heaves. Thinking about doing it again in 2027. Anybody want to caravan? Lol
 
I have to disagree. On a recent trip to the midwest from the east coast we had a wheel bearing failure. The failure was not the result of lack of regular maintenance. The bearings and brakes are checked and serviced every year. The last service, bearing replacement and repacking, was performed in December of 2023. The failure occurred in October of 2024, 10- months since being serviced. The failure occured on I-10 near Pensacola Fl. We were lucky, there was a safe place to pullover near an exit. The wheel did not fall off but was only held on by the bearing nut on the axle. Maybe a rare occurance but scary when it happens. Any preventative technique, hub locks maybe, could prevent a potential disaster from happening. If we had lost the wheel in a worst case scenario I would not be responding to your post.
Thanks for sharing.
 
And.......what was the freeplay set at? I suspect, you don't know.

I don't have a clue as to how to measure what freeplay is set at. Could you explain please?

Through all the years I have "pre-loaded" by torquing the newly lubricated bearings to 50 ft lbs, then backing off the castle nut and tightening to "finger" tight before ever spinning the wheel. After spinning the wheel I can feel just the slightest lateral play when rocking the wheel.

I can honestly say I have never experienced a bearing issue using this method although it may not be the correct way.
 
I don't have a clue as to how to measure what freeplay is set at. Could you explain please?

Through all the years I have "pre-loaded" by torquing the newly lubricated bearings to 50 ft lbs, then backing off the castle nut and tightening to "finger" tight before ever spinning the wheel. After spinning the wheel I can feel just the slightest lateral play when rocking the wheel.

I can honestly say I have never experienced a bearing issue using this method although it may not be the correct way.
I've always used method too. By overtightening at first it assures the bearing race is fully seated.
 
Any instructions I've read for setting the freeplay on wheel bearings, are pretty vague about how to make the final tightening setting for the retaining nut. Lots of "til it feels right", "isn't too tight", "a bit of free play", "back off a bit", etc.

FWIW, it seems that many of the reports of failures that I've read about over the years seem to have occurred shortly after brake, and/or, wheel bearing maintenance. Seems to be usually a shop that has done the work for an individual, or so it is reported.
 
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Any instructions I've read for setting the freeplay on wheel bearings, are pretty vague about how to make the final tightening setting for the retaining nut. Lots of "til it feels right", "isn't too tight", "a bit of free play", "back off a bit", etc.
Yeah, and seems like wheel bearings and lubrication always end up in a controversial discussion for some reason. Doesn't seem like rocket science, but maybe I've been doing it wrong.

When I hear the term setting for freeplay I always think of some objective way to measure it. The rest are all subjective measurements kind of like I remember my grandma giving me the recipe for making her biscuits.
 
When I hear the term setting for freeplay I always think of some objective way to measure it. The rest are all subjective measurements kind of like I remember my grandma giving me the recipe for making her biscuits.
Yeah, but those were some good biscuits, right?
 
Yeah, and seems like wheel bearings and lubrication always end up in a controversial discussion for some reason. Doesn't seem like rocket science, but maybe I've been doing it wrong.

When I hear the term setting for freeplay I always think of some objective way to measure it. The rest are all subjective measurements kind of like I remember my grandma giving me the recipe for making her biscuits.
It is easy. All you need is a dial indicator and a magnetic mount. Harbor Freight sells them
 
Sure, you can measure movement, but find a specification for the amount of movement, and where and how to measure it.

What Hoopy said plus a link showing how to set up and use these instruments for those of us that have never done this procedure would be helpful. And I sure don't doubt that precision techniques like this are far more accurate, but again, are they really necessary vs. the ordinary process that most folks use and have good results with.
 
If you do something and it works, like forever, then does it matter what others say?

A dial indicator is the only way to do it 'right' but so is a torque wrench when putting on your wheels. I have haven't used a torque wrench to install a wheel in 40 years. I do know, there are plenty of young kids in shops that do not understand the term over torqued. I've twisted enough wrenches to know what works for me.

If you have no idea what freeplay is, you should know how to do it right. There are several methods out there that work but the only right method is what the factory says. I do believe, within reason, if the method revolves around loosening the nut a little bit, it's probably a sound way. If someone says to tighten it by hand and leaving it like that, then that is preload and the more you have, the less distance you will go.

But, like it's been said, there are several opinions out there.

I thought it was just me, that thought it was odd that 'I just had the bearings serviced and they failed a few months later' Cheap Chinese bearings! Could be, but I would first blame the installer, especially if it was a pro.

Research, research, research, then form an opinion and jump on that bandwagon. There are several out there.
 
Sure, you can measure movement, but find a specification for the amount of movement, and where and how to measure it.
I did a bearing repack on my 73 Blazer this AM. I had forgotten the details on how to set them right. Could not locate my shop manuel either.
A quick google search and I had the info, complete with the freeplay measurement, if a dial indicator was to be used. I did not bother setting mine up. I just follwed the now memory refeshed procedure.

I bought mine when I was installing new gears in the Blazers differentials. There is no work around for setting up the bearings in diffs like there is for wheel bearings.

If you guys really want to know how to do it, ,,,google is your friend.
 
If you do something and it works, like forever, then does it matter what others say?
Yes, absolutely. I'm always searching for a better way. That's why I'm looking for specs and how to do it.
 
I have not seen any reports of this actually doing what it is claimed to do...

So you haven't seen reports of non-failures? Shocking!

Can you show me the reports of wheels departing the trailer in the event of catastrophic outer bearing failure even with hub savers installed? I don't have any reports, but by your logic that just means they're 100% effective.

I'm not here to prove or disprove the effectiveness of that particular product. I just said that it's REALLY cheap insurance against the possibility of an event that has some potential to happen with or without any particular level of maintenance performed.

Their website does state that if the nut comes off, it will not work

100% true. Since that ISN'T what they're designed to accomplish I don't know what that has to do with anything.

It's amazing the number of people here who think even well maintained mechanical components can't have catastrophic failures.

It's even more amazing the number of people here who think their maintenance is 100% perfect and error proof. I wonder how it's possible that failures ever happen on rigs, particularly with this group of perfectly manicured lawns and mechanical experts.

comment removed by moderator in hopes of keeping this topic polite.
 
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comment r(and quote) removed by moderator in hopes of keeping this thread civil (and in accordance with our "be nice" rule.

Prior posts were different people's opinions. They shared how they take care of their trailer. Maybe they didn't agree with your opinion? Different opinions are rather common on public forums....and encouraged. By most of us anyway.
 
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