Front Axle Bearings

[Gil_Johnson]

I have a 2008 Contessa and wonder what the right maintenance interval is for repacking the front axle bearings.  Given the weight on the front axle, I don't want to wait too long.

Gil

[Richard And Babs Ames]

You probably have oil seal  front axles which are lubricated the same as the rear end. They use 90 wieght gear oil not grease for lubrication. You watch the oil leveel on the plastic cover in the center and change in accordance with the owners manual reccomendations.

[Joel Ashley]

Many coaches don't have oil bath hubs up front, and the bearings just need repacking occasionally.  A general purpose guideline I got from Beaver Coach Sales indicated repacking annually or every 30,000 miles.  I'd personally use the 30,000 mile figure, Gil, whether I was fulltiming or not.  Your Beaver owner's manual should have a Scheduled Maintenance section you can check also.

-Joel

[Gerald Farris]

Most, but not all, Beaver coaches that were built in 2003 or later (Monaco built) do not have oil bath front wheel bearings. These coaches have to have the front wheel bearings repacked as part of their regular maintenance.

The front wheel bearings on these coaches can be converted to oil bath design when you have them serviced. The conversion is fairly inexpensive and it will eliminate the need for regular bearing service. The only downside to having oil bath bearings is that if the hub oil seal starts leaking, you can loose enough oil to cause bearing failure much quicker than with bearing that use grease. So you should check the sight glass regularly to verify oil level.

Gerald

[Tim Westman]

My '09 Contessa Owner's Manual states that the front wheel bearings should be repacked at 30,000 mile intervals.  My first one is coming up and I plan on switching over to oil bath.  Based on my preliminary research, the cost to convert is about the same as repacking.  

[Jerry Carr]

Who can do this change over any recommendations

[Gil_Johnson]

Thanks all!

My Contessa does not have wet hubs.  I took my coach to Register RV in Spring Hill/Brooksville FL today.  With almost 17K miles there was no play in the hubs, pads looked like new, and the disc showed no abnormal wear.  The bearings were not repacked because they didn't have wheel seals on hand and it would be Monday before they could get them and get them installed.  I elected to wait given the results of the inspection.  The folks at Register RV were easy to work with.  They only have a couple of techs and have all the right equipment to include several drive on lifts with axle lifts on the drive ons.

Gil

[Bill Sprague]

Who can do this change over any recommendations

Cascade Diesel in North Bend is close pretty close to you.  You can see a Cummins sign from the I=90. I have some monaco owning friends that use Cascade Diesel for all their chassis maintenance.  I've used them for "annual service" a couple time myself.  It is a second generation business that has serviced diesel trucks and motorhomes for decades.  I was told the parents were traveling in their motorhome when I was there the last time.  

[Bill Sprague]

I had mine switched to oil by Cummins Coach Care in Coberg, OR.  

The price was the same as having them repacked plus the cost of the oil style hub caps.  Service for both grease and oil need new seals so that part is about the same.  Labor is about the same too.

A really long time ago I was in the truck parts business and sold the Stemco brand of seals.  At the time the conventional wisdom was that for equipment that got a lot of use, the oil was better.  If use was infrequent (perhaps like a motorhome!), grease was better.  The logic was that if you let it sit for months at a time the oil sits at the bottom, oil drains from the bearings and the top part of the seals dry out. The bearing could corrode and the seal start leaking.  With grease, it stays put.

If you drive frequently enough to cause the oil to circulate, you can save a lot of money not having to repack the bearings.