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clickscrazy
Senior Member
Joined: 09 Aug 2017
Location: FL
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Posts: 106
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Topic: Stressed about bearings. Posted: 23 Jul 2018 at 9:37pm |
2018 171. Sept makes 1 year since purchase
We have only put about 1,000 miles on it over about 5 trips. A family member got sick and we had to stop traveling for 6 months.
I know the bearings need service, but I am struggling to find a shop, and am confused about what actually needs to be done and the dangers of adding grease yourself.
We have our first longer trip coming up.
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2018 R-Pod 171
2014 VW Touareg TDI
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furpod
Moderator Group - pHp
Joined: 25 Jul 2011
Location: Central KY
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6128
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 8:48am |
I would not do a thing other than go on your trip and be happy.
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GlueGuy
Senior Member
Joined: 15 May 2017
Location: N. California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2654
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 9:28am |
+1 You should be good to go.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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mjlrpod
Senior Member
Joined: 27 Sep 2016
Location: Massachusetts
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Posts: 1215
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 10:01am |
My dealer told me to wait 3 years before having the bearings serviced. (ofcourse if you put 20,000 miles on in a year, that might be wrong). I bought a laser thermometer on amazon, and i check my hubs whenever i stop when towing. I find that they run just about 100 degrees, usually a few degrees less. If you want a little piece of mind, this might help. If you monitor your hubs, and see the temperature higher than normal, It's probably a good idea to get it checked. I also check my tire temps. They say (whoever they are) that your tires should run around 50 degrees higher than the outside temp. Mine seem to run 30 - 40 higher so far.
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2017.5 Rp-172
2020 R-pod 195
2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl
I'll be rpodding
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SteveA
Groupie
Joined: 19 Jul 2017
Location: Sandpoint Id
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Posts: 56
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 10:20am |
Trailer bearings are much like your cars' wheel bearings. Unless they are often submerged in water, they should give you many many thousands of trouble free miles of service. If you are like me and wish to "keep an eye on things", every so often as I'm gasing the tow vehicle I'll take my thumb and lightly touch the center of the trailer's wheels. They should be warm but not hot.
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2017 179 1/2
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jato
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2012
Location: Kewadin, MI
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Posts: 3257
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 5:02pm |
Going on year 8 with our 177. Do a spring 'greasing' before hitting the road. Have only had it apart once (2 years ago) to check on their condition. The result . . . nearly like new. I use a grease with graphite in it and do it myself. Over 25,000 miles on it so far.
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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PodWa
Newbie
Joined: 11 Oct 2016
Location: Cheney, WA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36
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Posted: 24 Jul 2018 at 9:37pm |
We purchased our RP-179 new in September 2016. We waited until March 2018 to have the bearings serviced as we did not use the trailer during the winter. The Pod had less than 4,000 miles when we took it in for bearing repack. The technician found the seals leaking and the backing plates wet with grease and replaced the backing plates. Then electrical problems started with poor connections to the trailer brakes. I finally fixed that problem myself after two unsuccessful trips to the dealer. My point is, just because your trailer is fairly new or with low miles, you can still have bearing lube issues. My manual says to repack the bearings annually, and I intend to follow that advice until I have more experience with bearing lube on our R-Pod. I hope that the better grease that the dealer used will preclude these types of problems in the future.
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clickscrazy
Senior Member
Joined: 09 Aug 2017
Location: FL
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106
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Posted: 25 Jul 2018 at 5:38pm |
I talked with a local mobile RV tech. He said just to wait, and keep an eye on temp. So, I will do that on our next trip in a few weeks and if it all looks good, I will wait until the end of the year.
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2018 R-Pod 171
2014 VW Touareg TDI
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