How to Clean/Maintain Your Bearings

[1009photo]

making an agitator out of a gatorade bottle and a long axle bolt+nut through the cap works like a charm, saves you a lot of solvent too.

http://www.silverfishlongboarding.co...aring-cleaner/

[Steve D.]

the rocket cleaner , IMO is a big time consumer only cleaning 2 bearings at a time, but i guess if youre going to race or something spiffy, the time spent cleaning may be worth it

[baden69]

to clean dirty or rusty bearings just take the covers off and soak them in a tub of asetone and they work as good as new no joke it is like the best bearing cleaner EVER but make sure to lubricate afterwards.

[SRskater]

I just read the Rocket Rons bearing cleaner......Im ready to go do u think i could just pop the bearings back in without having to lube them...i dont have any lube.

[king edward]

Go get some. Then go skate.

[i eat it ALOT]

Originally Posted by BambooFish

how do i know if the bearings are bent?

i think it'd take some monstrous force to actually bend the actual bearing

are you talking about the shield/seal??

[emgeemann]

Just wondering, is the process any different for Biltin bearings? What with the built in spacers/washers...my buddies and i want to clean our bearings today but not sure if the process is different for Biltins, don't want to dive in not knowing what we're doing.
-edit-
Also, I have some lube that is intended for biking, it's a dry silicone lube with teflon...wondering if this is an okay lube to use

[GPymp]

I never take Biltin's apart. I put mine in a quart cup with a cleaner or 99% alcohol. I swirl (with lid ON) for a minute. I spin dry a couple times then place on a paper towel for an hour or two. I then use a can of air to blow out anything else. I then put 2-3 drops of Speed-Cream for each bearing.
Others have other methods.

Plastic quart cup can be had at a paint store or clean out a PowerAde bottle-save the lid.

[Ryno]

Thanks for all this info in here. Very helpful to someone new like me that has no idea how to maintian things like this.

[gustasonfrever]

What do you mean by only adding enough grease to fill 3 ball pockets?

[Bushman]

^ just a small dab is all you need.

[calebb57]

an exacto blade works good to pop the rubber bearings off

[Vannin']

Has anyone ever used white lithium grease, i put some in today but haven't ridden on it yet

[faceplant expert]

Originally Posted by Captain Hampton

Anybody have some environmentally friendly cleaning instructions? Does anybody know of proper ways to dispose of solvents like acetone?

Thank god somebody made this a bloody sticky!

Pure Acetone is an organic solvent. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It evaporates quicker than alcohol, but is much more flammable. At work, i used to fill my zippo lighter with it when i ran out of lighter fluid.