How to put some grease in trailer axle bearings, without taking them apart?

If you get to much grease or oil, it will make them run hot and start leaking.

Alot of the newer ones are factory set and sealed and don't require any grease or oil added till they start leaking.

 

Jack it up and release the brakes. Push and pull on the tires to feel for bearing end play. A little movement is normal, very little. Spin the wheel and listen by the hub cap. A clicking noise is dry bearings.. If you feel excessive end play or hear any clicking noise, pull the hub and check the bearings.

Do you know what hubs you have? Are they grease packed, or are they unitized? A unitized hub uses sealed bearings that cannot be serviced. Any problems with a unitized hub will require a hub replacement.

 

And that my friends is when you call the axle doctor and shell out lots of money!!! Or you can just change out the whole axle housing.

 

That's the idea of proper checking. If you catch a hub starting to make a clicking noise, you have a good chance of saving the axle. When that clicking turns into a grinding, then you're in trouble.

 

It depends on what hubs you have. If they are standard bearings, it'll be the same as changing wheel seals, but a little added labor of getting all the grease out and the cost of new oil bath hub caps.

Some hubs have a snap ring groove for metal shields that are supposed to help hold the grease in the bearings. Otherwise, they are the same and those shields can be removed when switching to oil. If you can see the rollers, then you probably do not have them.