Re: Dexter EZ lube Axle
Very common axle, in my opinion one of the best designs. Instead of a classic bearing-buddy setup which does nothing more than create positive pressure, the zerk in the middle of the EZ lube hub sends grease through a tube in the center of the axle shaft, then the grease actually feeds directly to the inside bearing first. After filing the inside bearing, it passes toward you through the center of the hub, then feeds the outside bearing, then it oozes out right about where you're pumping it in. The concept is that you can sit there and pump away like a maniac with a ton of grease, and the old grease will ooze out around the zerk fitting as it's being pushed out from behind by the fresh grease. You can fully repack the bearings without removing them while all the dirty grease is being pushed out of the center of the hub and you can scoop it up with a paper towel. Once the grease starts glooping out clean and fresh looking, both bearings are fully repacked with fresh grease. <br /><br />It works great in theory, but I have found that doing so will occasionally cause some seepage past the inside seal, thus possibly blowing the seal, especially if you do this in cold weather with cold grease. It takes a lot of grease to do a complete flush...not uncommon for this procedure to take 30 to 80 pumps of a grease gun to get it to flush out well. Plus, a very important step of bearing repacking is to inspect the bearings for pitting or wear...obviously this is not possible. So Dexter's owners manual says that the EZ lube grease flush is no substitute for regular bearing disassembly and inspection the old fashioned way. Doing so is pretty similar to any other hub, but there's no cotter pin retaining the hub nut...instead there's a bendable tab washer to retain the nut which Dexter says is a one-time use only. Shhhhh....don't tell anyone, but I re-use mine a few times before replacing.<br /><br />Not sure how old your trailer is...on some of the early ones, the hollow grease tube in the center of the axle reportedly created a weak spot, and word on the street was that these had a tendency to snap the axle right off on occasion. I have never seen this myself, but I've heard of it on a few occasions. The newer ones supposedly improved the design for greater strength. Sorry I don't know which years were good vs. bad.<br /><br />That's about all I know about 'em. Hope that helps you a bit. I have one on a 4 year old snowmobile trailer and it's been trouble-free for me for a LOT of miles.
