Conversion to Oil Bath lubrication - Anyone done it/advantages/disadvantages??

[Guest]

The "Big Rigs" would hold a quart or two compared to our little spindles holding a cup or two. The bearings in the big trucks are around 6" or so in diameter compared to our puny little 2" diameter ones. The hubs are about 18" around and weigh 40 or 50 pounds or so. On these big trucks there is a lot more surface area for cooling not to mention the tires are around 36" diameter so the bearings are actually spinning slower than our trailer bearings. Although many may think the oil bath would be a good upgrade there are some things that are just not nice. If a seal fails , oil all over the place. If there is any maintenance required , oil all over the place. I agree that the grease we have to clean and replace is a mess but oil is not quite nice either. The oil seal that is 2 pcs. can not be reused. This also needs to be installed with a special tool that presses on the outside as well as the inside at the same time , if not the seal can be damaged.

Brian

I have not seen issues with the oil lubrication on heavy truck in both the front axle as well as the full floating rear axles which are found on the one ton trucks folks here are driving. But a spindle as small as our trailers? I would not recommend it largely due to the tolerances being less forgiving. I'm far more confident in the greased hubs.

Jim

[TheNescios]

Both oil bath & grease have pros & cons, and I think a number of good points were discussed.
Another to consider is they typical RV probably sits much more than it moves, the oil would gradually leave the metal surfaces above the oil line and potentially corrosion could occur.
With grease most of the bearing surfaces are lubricated at all times where an oil bath needs a certain amount of movement to get the oil distributed throughout the bearing & bearing races.
Granted, these examples are on the extreme side of things that could potentially have an impact..... but food for thought?
Chris

[bertschb]

...the oil would gradually leave the metal surfaces above the oil line and potentially corrosion could occur.

I used to store my boat for the winter with the tires jacked up off the ground. Whenever I walked by it, I would spin the wheels for just this reason. I loved the oil bath system in that trailer. Maintenance was sooooo much easier than grease.

[Cate&Rob]

The most significant benefits of “hand packing the bearings” are inspecting the brakes when the hub & drum are removed plus cleaning and inspecting the bearings and races. None of this happens with replacing the oil in an oil bath system.

Rob