axel question

I have 5200lb axels. I also have grease fittings for the wheel bearings. With all the problems people have had with bearing failure, and with Lippert replacing some with 6000lb axels, should I press Lippert for axel replacement?

They probably wouldn't do anything unless you were actually having problems.... or if there was some indication that failure is imminent.

Tater

That's what I figured. Nothing like waiting until a catastrophic failure that kills a bus load of church kids to change something that is obviously under designed.

BobnPi wrote:I have 5200lb axels. I also have grease fittings for the wheel bearings. With all the problems people have had with bearing failure, and with Lippert replacing some with 6000lb axels, should I press Lippert for axel replacement?

Surprised you have those axles. My 2006 came with 6000 lb axles and I have a smaller trailer.

Mine came with 6000lbs also and it is smaller than Bobs.??

I'll bet that BobnPi's rig was an east coast build, they were using the 5200lbs axles, and maybe still are....

Bill - My feelings exactly.

onetonford wrote:Mine came with 6000lbs also and it is smaller than Bobs.??

I am guessing those are on axles somewhere.

Portagie1968 wrote:

onetonford wrote:Mine came with 6000lbs also and it is smaller than Bobs.??

I am guessing those are on axles somewhere.

Yep pasted right on the center of the axels.

Thank you.

How about another scenario? I have 2009 31TS with the Lippert 5200# with the sealed bearing system. I am concerned. Is Lippert likely to do anything different since it is a SBS? Manufacture was 12/08.

I also have a 2009 with the sb system and was haveing a problem with it.I called Lippert about it and they sent me two new axles,4 drums with bearings and 2 two u bolt kits at no cost to me.Took a little longer to get it and had a trip planned so i just pressed in a new bearing very easy as long as you have a press.The only thing they didnt send was backing plates and brakes still trying to find out if my old stuff will bolt on.I was happy that Lippert did stand by there product .

This may not seem not very smart but how do you know you are beginning to have a problem? I jacked my unit up to inspect. There was some grease inside the dust cap. There was no grinding when spinning the drum. Everyting seemed ok. Do you have to ship defective axles back to Lippert?

Free play is one thing. When jacked up push on the top and the bottom. If you are pretty tight U should be okay if U do not here noise.

To clarify - got to one wheel yesterday before it started raining. Just did another. When pushing on top and bottom there is some play. The manual said there should be some - just need to measure and determine if it is to much. Wheel spins free without scrubbing for the most part - seems to be alot of brake dust/rust coming out. I am not a big fan of the movement as well as I am doing this for the first time. Any other words of wisdom? Thanks

I was changing tires and noticed one wheel moved a little when I was putting them back on.My wheel spun fine so I took drum off and looked at bearing and grease had come out of center of bearing and I could move 1/2 of the bearing by hand.I got lucky and found it just as the problem started.They do not want axles back.I got the bearing at my local auto parts store and it was a pretty fix.

How do you know what size bearings to get? The manual is not much help.

If the bearings are not totally destroyed, there should be a manufacturer and part number stamped on the side somewhere.

The number is stamped on the side of bearing.It starts with the letters JRM followed by numbers.Hey bob did you spray your bedliner over or under the rails for tour hitch.

BobnPi wrote:I have 5200lb axels. I also have grease fittings for the wheel bearings. With all the problems people have had with bearing failure, and with Lippert replacing some with 6000lb axels, should I press Lippert for axel replacement?

We have the same....I am not really worried about it, though.

I would. The strong the axle the safer you are. Why 5200 on a 29 I can not understand. Why lighter axles on East Coast trailers i can not understand.

Portagie1968 wrote: I would. The strong the axle the safer you are. Why 5200 on a 29 I can not understand. Why lighter axles on East Coast trailers i can not understand.

I'm running a 33' 30Loft on 5200# axles! Cant say I was too pleased to find this sticker when I know my dry weight is 9205 and GVWR is listed at 11380!!
I have no idea what they were thinking!?! I may be giving Lippert a call as well once I check the wheels before the next outing....

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Schleprock wrote:

Portagie1968 wrote: I would. The strong the axle the safer you are. Why 5200 on a 29 I can not understand. Why lighter axles on East Coast trailers i can not understand.

I'm running a 33' 30Loft on 5200# axles! Cant say I was too pleased to find this sticker when I know my dry weight is 9205 and GVWR is listed at 11380!!
I have no idea what they were thinking!?! I may be giving Lippert a call as well once I check the wheels before the next outing....

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I agree.

How do they figure out what axles to put under a trailer? Kind of curious.

OK - called Lipperrt this morning and gave them axle info. and that I needed new bearings. They said they do not have the bearings and instead will ship new axles, u-bolts, seals, bearings, etc.,. - basically everything but the brakes which can be taken off the old axles. They would not budge about an upgrade to 6K axles. (my dry weight=9300k and gvwr=12100k). Here is my questions: the manual for the SBS says for a 32mm bearing (assuming this is what I have) you can have .090" of tilt at the tire tread (tire diameter x tilt value or 30"*.003") The rr tire which seems to be the common failure that I have read has about .070" at the tread. This is within tolerance but would it be safe enough to take a short trip on? We have one planned this weekend - about 150 miles roundtrip. It is the first time we have been able to use the camper since May and we are(maybe were) looking forward to it. Please share your opinions. Thanks

Great deal on the new axle, etc....... except they won't ship the ones rated for 6,000 lbs. I guess they don't think you need them. Could you have paid the difference in price to get an upgrade to 6K?

Tater

I have been watching this Post since BobnPi started it on 13 Aug and telling myself DO Not Respond but after jsk's last Post I have to put in my .02 worth. The Main reason we went with Keystone after having the 29RLBS was the axles, rims and tires. If you do a search on the old Wildcat (or possibly this one) Forum you will find my old post. We were on our 3rd set of axles plus on one trip had to have them aligned due to tire wear. Could not get FR or the dealer to discuss upgrading to 6,000 lbs axles. Our 29RLBS was never overloaded and was weighted to prove it. Other than the converter going out we had no major problems and we fulltimed over 2 years of the 5 years we owned it. The dealer where we purchased our WC told us our 29RLBS was not built for fulltiming. The practice of subtracting the pin weight to come up with the GVWR has never made sence to me either.

Being a new owner of a used 09 WC this post had my neck hair standing up...most of you saw the pics on my intro last week...its gonna take me a while to feel comfortable pulling again....although I will say the first tow with a fifth wheel seemed great!

I do have 5200 lbs axels but have grease zirks.... I am pulling all four hubs to check condition and manually pack and inspect the bearings...I have never trusted the easy lube style hubs...it seeems to me that the back bearing may not always get the grease plus unless you pull them your always gonna have the old nasty mung inside the hubs...but thats just me...its just a thought I have and cant really back it up, so take that for what its worth...

Does anyone know what makes a 6000lb axle versus a 5200lb? is it the entire tube that is beefed up or is it just the hub and bearing set up...my thought is can you just replace the bearings and hub assy onto the spindle? maybe the spindle is the difference in conjunction with the hubs and bearing...

Thats probably a hard question to answer its just that Hub assemblys are generally pretty cheap.

jsk that was the problem i was having .Was worried about having a problem while on the road as its not that easy of a road side fix. So for the 45 dollars it cost for the bearing it was just one less thing i had to worry about.

Scruffy and Tater wrote: Could you have paid the difference in price to get an upgrade to 6K?

Tater

They would not allow me to pay the difference. I stated my case, was put on hold, and then told that they could only send what was already on the unit. I guess the right rep. will offer the upgrade. The current axles should be ok--my GVWR - (5200*2)-dry pin weight=0.

Does anybody offer any opinions about the question in my previous post?