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A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil

Yahoo Message Number: 40095
A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil Hi Folks,

The front bearings are lubricated by the 80W85W90 oil used in the front axle hubs.

The rear axle bearings are lubricated by the differential oil.
Changing the hub oil often can guarantee those bearings will not wear out prematurely leading to vibration and wobble. I change hub oil with every grease job. The technique requires use of a suitable syringe (60CC works well) with a 4 inch ΒΌ inch OD plastic hose attached.
After removing the hub cap and noting its position so it can be replaced to the same orientation, remove the plastic-rubber cap by rotating first, then pulling it sideways. Removing the oil takes patience as you want to remove the last small amount that contains most of the fine metal filings and specs. Total amount removed is about 160CC.

Adding 60CC of fresh oil at a time, I like to get the oil to the level of the opening - this takes time for the oil to drain into the bearing volume. Note ? this coach takes 160CC, some coaches may take more if the axle is larger. After refilling clean the opening with a lintless cloth and replace the cap and rotate.
On the hub cap, consider using a glob of Shoe Goo on two of the fasteners and reattach to the rim center careful to get an even level all the way around.
Fred Kovol
30593

Re: A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 40105
Quote from: fredkovol
A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil > Hi Folks,

The front bearings are lubricated by the 80W85W90 oil used in the > front axle hubs.

The rear axle bearings are lubricated by the differential oil.
Changing the hub oil often can guarantee those bearings will not

wear

Quote
out prematurely leading to vibration and wobble. I change hub oil

with

Quote
every grease job.
Your "change at every lube" made me wonder about my Prevost. So I just spoke with my local private bus company that services my Prevost. On their over-the-road Prevost's they change the hub oil evey 100,000 (which is about 14-15 months). ON private Prevost motorhomes they recommend changing it every 3-5 years, unless you are at 100,000 miles. With good bearings there should be no metal particles if you are using good lubricants. And they suggest using synthetic bearing oil as it keeps the bearings cooler. So since my bus is there right now for service we are changing the hub oil to synthetic, but definately not planning on doing it at every lube job.

bill n barb-poconos of pa, 1998 country coach prevost 40'xl

Re: A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 40116
I change my front hub oil with synthetic gear oil every year (3000 to 4000 miles), and I'm always amazed at how dirty the oil gets. The front hub is so tiny that it takes only one quart to do both front hubs. It only takes a few minutes to pump out the hubs and refill them - it's easy. Considering the number of problems people have with burning out front hubs, I think the small cost of doing this every year is well worth the comfort of knowing that my front bearings are well protected.

Bob Kumza

2003 Intrigue
 

Changing Front Axle Hub Oil

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 40126
I spent a good many years of my life selling heavy duty front and rear axles as well as transmissions and pneumatic brakes including pneumatic ABS.

IMHO there is no reason to change hub oil so frequently. In the most maintenance conscious fleets of over the road heavy vehicles the strongest recomendation we ever made was to change front and rear axle as well as manual transmissions at 5K miles. This was not to remove exhausted oil but to remove all of the microscopic metal particals from the manufacturing process and the initial break-in period.

All manufacturing processes leave small particles behind. And while all manufacturers attempt to clean this matter out of thier products they never get 100%.

In addition new bearings, gears and spindles shed small amounts of metal when they are mated together and run under rated loads on the highway until they are "run-in". The metal filings are most abundant during the first few thousand miles and while most never cause a problem we could not argue with the fleets willing to absorb the cost of flushing the barely used oil out and replacing it with new (preferably synthetic like Amsoil, Mobil or equivalent) so long as they also went the extra step of cleaning all of the cavities and internal parts to free them of the minute metal fragments.

While not necessary it was an extra safety margin for those willing to do it. Once the 5K mile change was done we always recommended that it was wasteful to change the lube oil more than once every 100K miles. Wasteful not only in $$$ but also to the environment.

Of course there are exceptions like contamination, extremely harsh environments, etc. While an RV is considered a harsh environment for an engine primarily due to dilution by fuel and humidity it is not considered a harsh environment for axles or transmissions unless they are run considerably overloaded.

Personally, I changed my front and rear axle lube to Amsoil at roughly 5K miles and intend to do it at every 100K after that (which really means I'll likely never do it because my coach will never reach 100K miles before I trade or sell it. Modern synthetic lubs do not break down like their petro chemical counterparts.

FWIW

Joey & Debi

1998 CC Intrigue #10540

The amount of

Quote from: bikerbill44"
[quote author=fredkovol"

>

> A Technique for Changing Front Axle Hub Oil > > Hi Folks,

> The front bearings are lubricated by the 80W85W90 oil used in the > > front axle hubs.

> The rear axle bearings are lubricated by the differential oil.
> Changing the hub oil often can guarantee those bearings will not > wear

> out prematurely leading to vibration and wobble. I change hub oil > with

> every grease job.

Your "change at every lube" made me wonder about my Prevost. So I > just spoke with my local private bus company that services my > Prevost. On their over-the-road Prevost's they change the hub oil > evey 100,000 (which is about 14-15 months). ON private Prevost > motorhomes they recommend changing it every 3-5 years, unless you > are at 100,000 miles. With good bearings there should be no metal > particles if you are using good lubricants. And they suggest using > synthetic bearing oil as it keeps the bearings cooler. So since my > bus is there right now for service we are changing the hub oil to > synthetic, but definately not planning on doing it at every lube

job.