Dexter 'Nev-R-Lub' or Regular Bearings

[halimer]

I have to get new axles for my 2006, 25' Classic. The Alaska Highway has provided me with a bent spindles on the right side. This is causing rapid wear of outside edge of the right side tires.
Question: If there any advantage to getting an Dexter axles with 'Nev-R-Lube' bearings or with conventional bearing? Nev-R-Lubes are a priority Dexter part and are not readily available in some remote areas; aka the state of Alaska.
I spoke to one person at Dexter and did not get a definitive answer.
Nev-R-Lube have a 5 year warranty and conventional bearings on new axles are 2 years. Conventional bearing have greater availability and can get replaced more easily. Are the spindles stronger on one or the other.

Mark

[87MH]

Originally Posted by halimer

...any advantage to getting an Dexter axles with 'Nev-R-Lube' bearings or with conventional bearing? Nev-R-Lubes are a priority Dexter part and are not readily available in some remote areas; aka the state of Alaska.

I went with the Nev-R-Lube axle when I put new axles on the '78.

When I pulled the Nev-R-Lube hubs for a brake inspection recently I found the wheel/bearing assembly to be a relative breeze to pull. The hub/bearing assembly pulled right off. To me, torqueing and untorqueing the spindle bolt to 150 ft-lbs was easier than messing with grease, inserting the front bearings, and torqueing and pinning a castelated nut as on a conventional bearing, plus there is very little danger of screwing up the rear seal on a Nev-R-Lube assembly.

The picture below is of a #11 Nev-R-Lube spindle after about 2 years and 10,000 miles. Note the ruptured brake wire - I believe the wire was thrown into the spinning hub when a POS ST tire exploded - had two tire explosions about 6 months apart - both on the same hub. Replaced a third when obvious signs of tire separation occured (wires showing between the treads). I very recently replace ALL of the ST tires (including the "new" ones) with the heaviest rated P metric tire I could find. Replacement tires are General 235/75/15 Grabber HTS 109T rating - 2271 lbs per tire.

Originally Posted by halimer

...Nev-R-Lube have a 5 year warranty and conventional bearings on new axles are 2 years. Conventional bearing have greater availability and can get replaced more easily. Are the spindles stronger on one or the other.

The 5 year vs 2 year warranty should tell you something. The picture below is of a 30 year old Henschen 3200 lb spindle. These days (finding myself old, fat, and grumpy) I wouldn't attempt to replace the rear bearing or seal myself - I would take it to a shop and have them press the parts out and replace the new parts with a properly centralized tool.


Even here in the "lower 48" you would have a tough time finding anyone with a Dexter Nev-R-Lube bearing in stock - I don't know how much each one weighs - couldn't be more than a couple of pounds - might be worth your while to carry a spare or two with you if you are that much concerned.



Truthfully, I have never experienced a catastrophic bearing failure. You usually get a bit of notice with some noise, a heat indication, or during a visual inspection during a brake job. If you WERE to experience a catastrophic failure, I would suspect that it would mess up the spindle also.

The spindle and support areas of any axle are usually pretty tough - are you sure the axle is not bent somewhere else or otherwise out of alignment? I would suggest taking the trailer to a professional shop (OTR trailers?) specializing in axle alignment for a second opinion before swapping out axles. Most repair shops do not deal enough with light trailer axles to make an investment in alignment tools worthwhile.

[halimer]

Axles are not bent, no leaking from the bearings. Bent spindles are nothing new up here in Alaska, especially on the AK Highway.
I spoke to one of the head tech guys at Dexter. I will go with the Nev-R-Lub. Longer warranty and it will be a hassle to remove my disk brake rotors each time to repack conventional bearings every 10K miles or 1 year. Also I'd need a new style yoke and a different hub. The tech said if I am that worried to carry an extra hub with the NRL bearings installed in it. It is somewhat specialized to remove and install into a hub. A lot of shops just don't do it a lot.
Thanks for the info.

Mark

[Bluto]

Did the tech give you an idea as to what a new ner-v-r lube hub w/bearing set will cost?