I just had the bearing packed and brake pads replaced on my 2004 Norstar 10' LQ and just about passed out at the bill. They charged me $175 for the brakes pad and 2.5 hours at $85 an hour. $85 an hour seems to be the going rate around here, and 2.5 hours does not seem to long for 4 axles, but $175 for pads for 2 axles? Does that seem about right? Do these trailers require a special brake pad or something? Or should I shop around next time? My bumper pull is do the same work, and I'm hoping the pads won't be that much. It's not a choice to do it myself, and hubby is getting to creaky to do it for me.  The pads had cracked and a piece had even broken off one pad. It only has around 3,000 miles on it, so I am suprised at the condition of pads. I took it in because the brakes were making noise when used. I don't have the controller turned up too high, I've got nice smooth braking.

-Betty

I bought "A" set of generic brake shoes from Camping World for a Dexter axle.  It cost $38.  So multiply that by four and add sales tax.  Doesn't seem too out of line for a shop and all their mark-up.

I needed the set quick so I didn't shop around.  A larger axle will cost more for a set of brake shoes.

Did they charge you for rear seals on the axles?  If they repacked all the bearings, good practice says to replace the seals.

I don't know of any way to confirm the work without pulling the wheel & hub off.  There are two bearings on each wheel.  The bearing closest to the trailer is the rear bearing.  It is behind a grease seal.  To clean & repack the bearing, the seal has to be removed.  I've never been able to reuse the seal after removing it.  (Too much damage)  I suspect your shop just pumped some grease into the hubs and called it repacked.

This is the mess I got from that practice.  You can see the blown out seal behind the bearing cone.

hosspuller, as usual you are right on target with all your info.  One thing I wanted to add was using the axles with a zerk fitting on cap that covers the outer bearing. If an axle is fitting with one of those types of bear covers, everyone needs to know you can over do it by pumping too much grease into the hub assembly and I'm guessing that's what happened in your situation?

Here's a helpful hint that I started years ago on boat trailer axles; if the hub cover has a zerk (grease) fitting, the axle hub can be filled with just about any kind of lubricant you can come up with. Here's the trick; I use to pump warm STP lubricant into my boat axle hubs as an additive lubricant to the already existing grease. Remember not to over do it and if you lose the hub cover on the highway, it makes a mess but a little spray degreaser does the trick for clean up.  I sort of got the idea from "oil bath" axles on heavy hauler trailers.

If anyone decides to add the STP to their axle hubs to help lube the bearings, there's a couple of additional steps that I think need to be taken.

1. Clean everything, inspect the bearings.

2. Repack the bearings and install new grease seals.

3. Clean the bearing cap really good and put a little silicon sealant on the sealing edge. This is a little insurance on leakage and making sure the bearing cap does't pop off going down the highway.

4. Take a clean grease gun, pour some warm STP in the barrel and give the zerk fitting on the bearing cap a few shots. The amount the grease gun is pumping out at one time/stroke is about the equivelant of how much toothpaste you can fit on your toothbrush.  I got pretty brave and started giving my bearing hubs about a dozen strokes of STP to make sure I got good coverage.

Hope this info helps some of the "do it yourselfers" with less bearing maintenance. Happy trails.

How is the system used on the Norstars different than the Dexter EZ-lube axles?  What keeps the seals from being blown out?