Trailer hubs shedding grease caps

[nisaacs]

They can vary by brand/application/capacity.

 

[RandyT]

Yeah I kind of ignored the suggestion as there is no cotter pin and I did not want to call it out so I just said nothing.
To the best of my knowledge EZ lubes never have cotter pins, maybe some do but not to my knowledge as the cotter pin would go right through the grease channel and block it so they use either a tang washer (not a fan of) or a special spindle nut retainer (which is really kind of cool device).

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The EZ Lubes on my Sure-Trac with Dexter axles use an offset drilled cotter pin. So the grease goes through the center but the cotter pin is off to the side of the passage.

 

[dj1701]

I agree with WinterDeere. "DIY mods or hacks of a well-engineered system are rarely if ever an improvement"

I don't own a trailer, so I have no experience with these hubs. That being said, here's a story.

I used to run rotary presses where I worked many years ago. Being mechanically inclined, I took to it quite well. I came in one morning to relive the midnight crew. I noticed one of the presses had cardboard duct taped all over it. I asked the midnight guy, what's up with that machine? He says, she's acting up, but I fixed her. He said parts were flying off the table and not going down the shoot. The cardboard catches the parts and directs them into the hopper.

Knowing he was a few IQ points above a salamander, I hit the stop button and ripped off all of his artwork. You should have seen his face. He said I would be sorry I did that. I smiled and said, go get some sleep.

After less than 1min. I found the lower tooling was not adjusted to come up even with the table. It needs to do this to push the part out of the die. The parts were catching on the side of the die and being flicked off the table. I simply turned the adjustment knob, and she ran like she was designed to.

The moral of the story is, if three of the hubs work fine, and the fourth is not, putting cardboard and duct tape on it won't solve the problem.

Dave

 

[Silvic]

The EZ Lubes on my Sure-Trac with Dexter axles use an offset drilled cotter pin. So the grease goes through the center but the cotter pin is off to the side of the passage.

Interesting my 9 Dexter axles total for 18 hubs don't have the offset cotter pin. Wonder if those offset are on heavier duty or lighter duty axles than mine. I have 4- 6K, 3- 7K and I think two are 5.2K from many years back.

 

[RandyT]

Interesting my 9 Dexter axles total for 18 hubs don't have the offset cotter pin. Wonder if those offset are on heavier duty or lighter duty axles than mine. I have 4- 6K, 3- 7K and I think two are 5.2K from many years back.

From the Dexter parts catalog they claim the cotter key wasn't used after 2002, but I have them on my 2011 Sure-Trac. So either Sure-Trac has some old axles laying around that they are still using or Dexter is supplying old axles for sale.

 

[Silvic]

From the Dexter parts catalog they claim the cotter key wasn't used after 2002, but I have them on my 2011 Sure-Trac. So either Sure-Trac has some old axles laying around that they are still using or Dexter is supplying old axles for sale.

I saw your earlier post about Sure-Trac and thought that must be a Dexter axle model of some type but it sounds like that is not accurate. Never heard of Sure-trak. Googled it and it seems to be an east coast (Tenn) manufacturer. NO wonder I never heard of it before. Probably like you have never heard of Great Northern trailer either.

All my axles are post 2002 manufactured and that makes sense as to why I know nothing about offset cotterpins.

 

[organicfarmernd]

I had this problem recently. Lost about 7 caps. I tried the solid caps and the ones with a removable rubber plug. Lost both styles so I don't think it was a venting issue. The last time I installed them I added a super thin layer of rtv gasket maker to the edge of the cap before pounding the new ones on. So far I haven't lost one since.