Steer and Tag Axle: Lubrication Thinky
The steer and the tag wheel bearings in our coaches generally use something like 85W-90 gear lube—a liquid. The sight gages make it easy to check the lube level and the process to empty and re-fill is relatively simple.
However, a friend of mine who owned a trucking company for thirty plus years gradually switched over to packing the wheel bearings with 100% synthetic grease. He did this to stop the possibility of the seals leaking. That is, the seals now function primarily as a dust shield.
The idea being: Do it once and never fool with it again.
His rationale for the switch:
A leaking seal would have the truck shut down by the highway safety guys until repaired.
There was a greatly increased chance of fire with the leak that contaminated the brakes—particularly on the steep grades out west.
Best practices also dictated the replacement of brakes that had been soaked by the fluid.
My Liberty has disc brakes on the steer and tag so soaked brakes probably would not be a factor other than the pads themselves.
An occasional bum seal is the fate for many of us but I am tired of screwing around with it. I have a slight leak on the tag now that looks like hell.
At any rate, I think I will do this conversion next month.
I know some of you all were in the trucking business and I suppose many of the rest of you all are attuned to this issue.
What say you?
Comments? Opinions? Recommendations?
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