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Post by nvguy on Sept 17, 2018 0:00:44 GMT -5
As I was backing the Durango into the parking spot next to the house, my spotter ( the DW) noticed & told me about a scraping noise from one of the wheels. Since she is familiar with how things are supposed to sound, I looked into it. What I found rattling around in the bottom of the RT FT drum was a broken brake adjuster spring along with a ground up adjuster. Since the lining and magnet friction surfaces were't grooved or damaged all I really needed was a spring and adjuster.
I called Dexter's warranty line, told them what I needed (since I was going to do a bearing pack, I asked for enough replacement springs for all 4 wheel positions). Lo and behold about 5 days later I get a box full of adjuster parts- more than enough to replace all 4 springs and adjusters.
Great service from Dexter, no arguments, they got me even more parts than I requested (future spares) in a reasonable amount of time.
Now the fun begins..installing all this and packing the bearings...
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Post by Chuck on Sept 17, 2018 11:19:56 GMT -5
Wow, pretty cool, I have read on other forms the same thing, they seem to be very customer orientated Thanks for sharing  Chuck |
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Jeff
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 22
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Post by Jeff on Sept 17, 2018 23:21:37 GMT -5
May I ask as you show to have a 2018 Durango why you would be repacking the wheel bearings? I have read that you should do it about every 12,000 miles and possibly you may have traveled that distance just wanted to make sure I am not missing something I should be doing.
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Post by capemayal on Sept 18, 2018 8:15:59 GMT -5
Since Lippert bought out Dexter, I'm surprised you got that kind of service. Its good to see that Dexter's reputation is still intact.
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Post by lynnmor on Sept 18, 2018 8:55:42 GMT -5
May I ask as you show to have a 2018 Durango why you would be repacking the wheel bearings? I have read that you should do it about every 12,000 miles and possibly you may have traveled that distance just wanted to make sure I am not missing something I should be doing. Since there is no way of knowing how well the bearings are packed, and if improper grease was used before delivery, and the quality of the bearings and the correct assembly adjustments, there is no way I will put a trailer in service till I do a complete service. These things are marginal at best with cheap Chinese bearings and extremely poor design. |
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Post by Chuck on Sept 18, 2018 10:20:27 GMT -5
May I ask as you show to have a 2018 Durango why you would be repacking the wheel bearings? I have read that you should do it about every 12,000 miles and possibly you may have traveled that distance just wanted to make sure I am not missing something I should be doing. Jeff
As you might have read nvguy had a problem with his brakes an thus while he had his drums off why not repack his bearings ...
I would do the same thing as a precaution an peace of mind... I repacked my wheel bearing right after we bought our trailer (2017 Durango Gold G384RLT) an then after 9k last year knowing I was going to put another 6 or 7k on our trailer this past
summer, I also upgraded to Timken wheel bearings races do to the fact they are a better bearing in my mind ...
I will repack them again in this coming spring knowing I will be again putting on another 6 or 7k next summer, I do the same
thing with my 20ft flat bed trailer I haul equipment on, this again for peace of mind so I won't be sitting along side the road
with a burnt up wheel bearing an damaged axle ...
Also as lynnmor stated you might think Dexter would put enough grease into the axles but one never knows, so it's sort of like a Boy Scout always being prepared an doing that preventive maintenance (PM) that has been driven in my head by my first father an then the Army for many years
Safe Travels
Chuck
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Post by kaboom on Sept 18, 2018 10:55:29 GMT -5
I had the same problem with the brake adjuster and spring. In my case the drum and pads were damaged.
Dexter stepped up and sent a complete brake assembly at no charge. My trailer was out of the warranty period.
I believe as other have posted, That the bearings and brake components should be inspected and the bearings packed when first purchased and yearly after that.
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Post by nvguy on Sept 18, 2018 22:25:10 GMT -5
Have an update. Since the trailer is up on stands due to the brake issue, I figured it was time to upgrade the suspension (Morride CRE300 & wet bolt kit).
I am glad I did because I found several issues. First being the brass bushings in the Lippert Equa Flex equalizers were shot, starting to wear into the steel housings, and of course the plastic bushings in the spring ends were worn as well (at 8,600 miles).
I also found that someone (selling dealer? Delivery driver?) went all nuts with the grease gun on the easy lube axles and forced some grease past the seals and into the brakes. Not enough to foul the brakes, but got the magnets a bit greasy.
I didn't expect to find the excess grease in the brakes or the badly worn bushings in the equalizers (while they didn't have wet bolts, some grease during assembly would have helped & extended their life, there was no evidence of assembly lube) I did expect to find the worn plastic bushings.
End result is I am glad I did the bearing pack now rather than next spring as I planned. Yes, I probably should have replaced the Chinese bearings, but I plan on doing the disc brake conversion eventually, so I pack the bearings and cross my fingers.
And yes, doing a bearing pack & inspection every year is a good idea.
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Post by nvguy on Sept 18, 2018 22:35:42 GMT -5
Since Lippert bought out Dexter, I'm surprised you got that kind of service. Its good to see that Dexter's reputation is still intact. Dexter is owned by KPS Capital Partners, not Lippert. KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds that in turn controls private equity limited funds. As of the end of 2014 over $5.7 billion of assets were managed. Wikipedia Headquarters: United States of America Founded: 1991 Total assets: 5.7 billion USD Key people: Michael Psaros, David Shapiro Subsidiaries: TaylorMade, Chase Brass and Copper Company, Kodiak Mfg., Inc. Type of business: Privately held company |
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Post by lynnmor on Sept 19, 2018 2:17:04 GMT -5
I found that my Equa-Flex had brass bushings that were bone dry and no way to add grease, so I made custom wet bolts.
Your report shows the need for immediate service and others hopefully will learn from that. It is my opinion that these things are not ready for prime time and cannot be trusted for long distance travel till serviced as you did. If you follow thru with the disc brakes, I believe that they come with the cheap Chinese bearings that need swapped out.
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Post by Chuck on Sept 20, 2018 12:09:17 GMT -5
I like nvguy we have also changed out the spring hangers an suspension to the MorRyde suspension, some owners
like ronc have changed out to the MorRyde Independent suspension (IS) an other owners like I did put on the
SRE 4000 suspension an wet bolt kit or like nvguy went with the SRE 3000 suspension an wet bolt kit ...
We did find as nvguy the bushing were on the verge of needing to be replaced, don't think they would have lasted
another year of high mileage so I'm glad i replaced everything when we did ...
I guess maybe we should put in the wish thread that Kz put on the MorRyde suspension wet bolt kit either as a standard, or offer it as an option at sale for the larger 5th wheels such as the 2500 series an the Golds or Venom toy haulers since
they have the same frame setup per the Kz factory ...
I know it's a little more money for the MorRyde suspension wet bolt kit an Kz is trying to stay in the mid range 5th wheel market, but when you are spending forty, fifty or sixty thousand for a 5th wheel adding another $1200 I believe is not a deal beaker if explained properly while selling such ... It also sets Kz apart from the rest of the market with a higher standard unit an possible less warranty work up front... Even thought Dextor an Lippert are on the hook for such for the 1st year an as seen even after that they will stand up for there product ... But even if they stand up for their product the owners are out the time they could be traveling while a unit is in the shop being repaired, why not avoid the issue all together an lift the standard higher in the mid range 5th wheel market ...
Safe Travels
Chuck
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