Wheel Bearing Replacement

I figured at 25K miles or more I should at least check out my brake shoes. Since I've never inspected my bearings, I thought it would be a good time to do that too. I popped the drums off and pulled out the outboard bearings - saw groves in all the rollers, so am going to have to replace it. Since my drums also had armature grooves beyond turning specifications, I've got new drums coming, so at least I shouldn't have to press the cups. And even though my shoes are fine, I figured going to the automatic adjusting brakes is a good idea (plus my magnet needs replacing on both sides). I think I tore up my magnet and armature by not adjusting my brakes as often as I should have, and attempting to compensate by running a stronger setting on my brake controller - seeing the design, I can see now that will just wear out the armature surface a lot more. So hence the auto-adjusting brakes for this job.

My question is about the preload procedure for these bearings. I've got the Dexter E-Z Lube 3500 lb axle. If I put the wheel back together (with bearings greased) and torque the adjustment nut to 50 ft lbs (while turning the wheel), back it off (without turning the wheel), what do I do next? I'm thinking from reading the reference material that I then should hand tighten then adjustment nut as tight as I can get it with just my fingers, then back it off just the tiny bit necessary to put the locking-clamp-thingy on it.

Is that correct? Or do I have it wrong?

[Kwantau]

You got it right on the nose. Just did my brake inspection which turned out fine and did the preload on the bearing just as you said. One small piece of advise. I hope you lubricated the contact points of the brakeshoes on the backing plate so that they move easily. Also after you preloaded the bearing with the 50 lbs don't turn the drum when you back off the nut, and like you said hand tighten after that with a slight 1/12th back-off to put your spring clip on the nut or cotterpin back in the hole depending what was used. Good luck and happy trailering.

[ShrimpBurrito]

I pretty much follow your procedure. It doesn't require exact precision, though.

FYI - that "locking-clamp-thingy" is called a "tang washer". You know, like the drink mix.

Dave

Got it done, thanks everyone!

I can't say I am happy with how the factory wired the brakes. I don't care what Dexter Axle says, wire nuts are not an appropriate fastener for any purpose on a motor vehicle. They were corroded enough to need to be cut off - plus water got into the wires and corroded a few feet in due to the wire wicking in the water. Sometimes I'm truly amazed at what corners get cut on this camper.

The armature surface on the drum had grooves well beyond service limits (and resurfacing limits) so I ended up replacing the drums as well. I'm not sure what caused the deep grooves, but my theory is that I did not adjust the brakes enough and substituted increasing the controller gain for doing the adjustment as often as I should. Knowing what I do now, I'd adjust much more often. I also know why I didn't seem to have much breaking force - clearly the magnet did not make good positive contact with the armature surface, so it couldn't sam the shoe into the drum as well as it should have been able to do. The brake pads themselves and the drum surface looked great. The old bearings had some longitudinal grooves in the rollers. I think they would have still been usable, but no point in reusing them when replacing the drum.

Originally Posted by grakin

...
The armature surface on the drum had grooves well beyond service limits (and resurfacing limits) so I ended up replacing the drums as well. I'm not sure what caused the deep grooves, but my theory is that I did not adjust the brakes enough and substituted increasing the controller gain for doing the adjustment as often as I should. Knowing what I do now, I'd adjust much more often.
...

Sounds like another good reason for switching to Dexter's self-adjusting brakes. They really should be standard equipment on these trailers.

[Dave99gst]

o man... you guys are telling me the nut isnt suposed to be all that tight ? i noticed mine wasnt and tighten thee crap out of them

Originally Posted by Dave99gst

o man... you guys are telling me the nut isnt suposed to be all that tight ?

Yup.

Originally Posted by Dave99gst

i noticed mine wasnt and tighten thee crap out of them

Not good. The Dexter manual has a pretty good explanation of how to do this.