Grease or gear oil for a 20ton tag trailer

[mikey]

Hey guys, I know there are members like John Appel that use trailers similar to mine on a regular basis and I was hoping for some advice.

I've got a 20ton Eager Beaver, with Dana D22 axles, that recently blew a hub seal. The gear oil ruined the brake shoes and now a $20 seal is costing $600. A friend of mine who works with heavy equipment said that based on my use I should be able to replace the gear oil with grease. I'll use the truck about a half dozen times a year. I may haul between 7 to 12 tons. It may be a few miles, it may be a weekend event or mv show with a 10 hour round trip.

Does anyone advise against changing over to grease?

Thanks!

Mikey

 

[porkysplace]

When was the last time you changed the seals ?

 

[mikey]

The trailer is an 88, but I just bought it. The seal blew the 1st time I used it. Yes, I'm having all 4 seals replaced now. But I'm still considering grease over gear oil.

Mikey

 

[quickfarms]

If they are original seals it was just there time.

Last time I lost a seal it soaked they brakes but the shoes and drums cleaned up real nice. The cost was for the labor to do both axles. In addition to seals and hub gaskets he also replaced the rollers, springs, s cam bushings and slack adjusters.

This is an ongoing debate.

The seals are different between the grease and oil seals. There are cheap and really good oil seals.

The oil seals my mechanic uses cost a lot more than $20 his price no markup

 

[porkysplace]

I prefer oil but they get a annual inspection and new seals.

 

[topo]

You can use the same grease you use on your 5 ton or 2 1/2 military trucks wheel bearings .I have two large trailers that use grease .A seal leaking gear oil will get you put out of service by the DOT . With grease it's not going to leak .

 

[rosco]

OTR Fleets went to oil, because there is less maintenance. Seals today are good for at least several 100,000 miles. Little trailers like you have get little or no attention by most Folks. They don't look back. A basic Service policy will get you long maintenance free intervals. The hub caps have a window for a visual check - it doesn't get any easier with oil. I'd use oil - less mess, and more likely to get a proper job. Packing a bearing takes "some" thought, and help has to get their hands dirty. I'd use oil. '88 till now? Thats a long time - your trailer did well with oil. Use it again, and it will finish you out.

 

[mikey]

I definitely don't want this thread to become another deuce transmission fluid debate

I'm leaning towards grease. I know gear oil was Eager Beavers choice in 88 and I do like the fact that you can check the fluid level in the hubs with gear oil, but I would also like to know that I won't be stuck on the side of the road with a blown seal in the future. While I could pour gear oil in there all the way home, my main concern was the brakes. I was less than 15 miles from home, with a deuce on the trailer, when this seal went. My A driver noticed a tremendous amount of thick black smoke coming from the trailer when we were braking down a steep incline. We got out and inspected and smoke was still pouring from the drum with gear oil dripping from the rear of the drum. We took a break and let it cool down and I had a gallon of SAE30 in the truck so we filled it up and hobbled home. Had we been further out, I would not have risked a brake fire or damage to the wheel bearing.

While grease may require a bit more maintenance, and new grease seals, I need to replace all four seals regardless and I'm hoping grease will make the trailer a bit more reliable in the future, even if I have to get dirty repacking it every few thousand miles.

I'm posting here to see if anyone can give me a good reason to absolutely avoid grease. I trust my friend, as he's been moving heavy equipment for ten years, but this site has a combination of thousands of years of experience. That's what makes this site invaluable.

*edit*

I did not mean to imply that opinions regarding sticking with gear oil are not welcome. Please by all means feel free to share any opinions. Even if I'm leaning towards grease, someone else who stumbles across this thread in the future may not be. Also, I'm learning from each post. I had no idea there were separate grease seals

Thanks everyone for your input!

Mikey

 

[tennmogger]

Lose a seal with oil on a long trip and you can have a bearing failure. Lose a seal with grease and nothing happens. You might investigate grease with NLGI 0 rating. This grease is non-flowing unless it is mechanically stirred. With stirring, as in bearings, it is a fluid, so it distributes like a fluid lube. It will not flow out a bad seal. John Deere 'corn head' grease is one variety and there is a video on the John Deere site and maybe on Youtube. Wheel bearings is one of it's recommended uses, and i use it.

 

[mikey]

That's exactly where I'm at tennmogger. I like the idea of the reliability of grease. And yes, I was planning on using an NLGI 0 grade. I use JD cornhead grease in my deuce winch and steering box and I have a case of it in the garage.

Pro's of gear oil are less maintenance, 100k mile changes, manufacturer design.

Grease needs to be repacked every 15k, but is more durable and won't strand me on the side of a road.

For anyone else interested, this is about the best service reference I've found so far:

http://www.arcticmfg.com/pdf/d22p22.pdf

Thanks again everyone. Looks like I'm going to grease

Mikey

 

[rustystud]

For the limited amount of use your trailer is seeing I would just go with grease. I figured you had already made up your mind even before posting and just wanted some validation. So yes, go with grease.