Another sealed bearing gone!

[mrkgrysngr]

I sure would like to get some feedback on this.

Last Wed. on I-30 almost due north of Six Flags in Arlington, TX I had another wheel bearing go out on our 2007 Mobile Suites. this is the second time in less than 600 miles. We only have about 9800 pulling miles on the coach.

Lippert so far has been wonderful and they are sending a crew from Longview, TX to get us and going. they are shooting to get it all done by this Friday. We will see.

Any thoughts about why this might be happening? I ordered the rig with the highest upgrade possible on the chassis. It has 9,000 lbs. axles, 17.5 tires, and aluminum wheels. I also make sure the bags for the trail are are parallel. This is normally about 66lbs PSI. I only have 12,300 on the axles so I know we are not over weight.

I travel sing gospel Music and this is the 6th rig we have had in 28 years. We love it but I am getting a little paranoid now about taking it back on the road even when it is "fixed."

Thank in advance for any comments that might be useful.

In His service,

Mark Gray
Psalms 104:33

[Okie]

This only brings up some questions. Was it the same wheel bearing? Have you checked the axle alignment? Have you balanced your wheels? The next thought is was this a bad lot of bearings?

Good luck!

Okie

[bstark]

JMHOpinion, but, assuming you have the larger opposed Timken style bearing hubs with applied pre-load torque, my guess is all manufacture related faults in 3 categories; 1/bad bunch of chinese bearings. 2/ Incorrect pre-load set during hub assembly. 3/ Forgot to load hubs/pack bearings with required amount of lube.

There can be any number of other causes for this situation but would not suspect mis-alignment or suspension setting issues being among them as your trailer is relatively lightly loaded and the tires would show effects of these conditions long before those humongous bearing sets ever did. Those hubs represent a quantum leap forward in trailering technology in that they put the relatively light duty of RV usage on similar types of hubs as the commercial traffic uses with all of the torsional stresses being borne on the centerline of the wheel/hub combo.

Lippert sending a tech'y to assist you shows how concerned they must be as they have a lot riding (pun not intended) on those hubs being a failure resistant component.

[jcasey]

I passed on your issue to Kent Mickem at DRV (Mobile Suites) and here is what he said:

Please responded to him and have the repair center call me for help. They need to check the torque on the hub nuts on the other wheels Lippert had a time when they were over tightening the nuts causing premature bearing failure. The hub nuts need to be torque to 150 ft lbs.

Kent Mickem
Customer Service & Warranty
(260)562-1075 ext. 3305
fax: (260)562-1078
kentmickem@drvsuites.com (This is a new e mail address.)

[mrkgrysngr]

Thanks to those who responded with their thoughts. Lippert came out this morning and will return in the morning to finish the job. They sent one wrong caliper otherwise it would have been done today. I am not complaining though. I am very impressed with Lippert in how they helped since the first time this happened. John Carpenter at the Indiana Lippert plant has been a wonderful help and they have done exactly what the said they would do. I found out there has been an upgrade made to the bearing assembly since I first got my rig. The first replacement had this new assembly in the rotor. So... after all is said and done I will have 2 new axles, and all new rotors and bearings.

Again thanks for all the thoughts.

Mark Gray

[47hook]

mrkgrysngr, glad to hear that you are being taken care of...in a good way!

Since we have the same year MS, could you please elaborate on the upgraded part? Such as when the new better bearings were installed as OEM? Also, how did you determine the bearings were shot? My last GM TV had a frt bearing going bad and it made a rumbling noise. Don't suppose I could hear the MS from the TV!!!

Thanks and Merry Christmas to all, Gordon.