Comparing Benefits of Greased Hubs vs Oil Bath Hubs

Updated 05/09/2019 | Published 05/08/2019

Question:

I purchased a disc brake conversion kit for my fifth wheel trailer. It came with oil bathe type rotors which I thought would be cool. I wasn’t expecting this option. After reviewing oil bathe bearing vs greased bearings, I feel the oil bathe type have a lot of issues. If they leak and you don’t catch it, you could be stuck for weeks waiting on a axle to be made. I think repacking the bearings every year is over kill. Any way, if you had a choice, what would you do? Thanks.

asked by: Jeff C

Expert Reply:

For most RVs greased hubs are a better option than oil bath hubs, and for the exact reason you mention. While it is obviously not good to run your greased hubs without a full load of grease, this tends not to result in catastrophic failures, mostly accelerated wear and higher operating temperature. Oil bath hubs are less forgiving of leaks and they tend not to do as good a job as greased hubs at keeping water out of the hubs.

If you check out RV forums on this subject you'll probably find an equal number of bad stories about both types of lubrication.

Re-packing hubs is not fun but we do recommend doing so annually. The linked article on trailer maintenance offers guidance for the service intervals of many trailer components.

expert reply by: Adam R