How to Clean/Maintain Bearings, by "Rockin Ron" Foster.
1) KEEP DRY, STAY AWAY FROM WATER. Water will destroy your bearings immediately. If for some odd reason you need to ride your bearings through water you should lube the bearings with grease. Grease will protect the working components longer then oil. Oiled bearings are faster but will also rust if exposed to water.
2) DON’T TOUCH THE SEALS WITH THE SKATE TOOL OR WRENCH WHEN INSTALLING!! When installing the bearings tightening down the nut, DO NOT TOUCH THE SEAL. Skate tools can crush or smash the seal. Only put the skate tool over the nut enough to turn the nut and keep the tool from touching the seal, at all, during installation.
3) AS SOON AS YOU HEAR YOUR BEARINGS MAKING NOISE, NOT SPIN FREELY, OR GETS WET STOP!!! Don’t continue to use the bearings. Don’t rotate dirty bearings. You are now due to clean and re-lubricate your bearings.
Lubricate your bearings after every 50 hours of riding. The oil will run out usually before the bearings get dirty. Your bearings must be kept clean and lubricated to keep them alive! How long your bearings last depends on you.
1) Carefully remove the non-contact seal with a bent paper clip or something similar. The paper clip must be small enough to fit between the cage and the outer race. Push the seal out with the end of the paper clip or tool from the opposite side by sliding the tool through the opening between the ball cage and the outer ring. The seal should pop out easily. Be careful not to bend seal. Seal must stay straight.
2) It is not necessary or recommended to completely disassemble bearing. You can clean bearings just fine with the bearing “open”.
3) Soak your bearings in your cleaning solution. What solution…Good question and a lot of people have opinions. Unlike most cleaning instructions I’ve seen for bearings. I will not use anything but solvents. Environmental people may not like to hear that but I’m concerned what is best for the bearing. DO NOT use water based cleaners, detergents, Citrus based cleaners or WD40! Some of these aqueous type cleaners use “surfactants” to clean the bearings. Surfactants and penetrates can hurt the “wet ability” of the steel, not allowing oil and grease to stick to the surface of the steel properly. I recommend using kerosene or mineral spirits as a Preliminary wash. Don’t use Isopropyl Alcohol for your initial wash however we are going to use it later. With kerosene and mineral spirits the bearings can even be soaked overnight if needed however, with low concentration Alcohol 70% left overnight, bearings could rust. Soak bearings for at least a few minutes to give solvent a chance to dissolve the dirty lubricant and contaminants. I like using a little stainless steel strainer with one or two bearings at a time and “dunk” then and “agitate” them in the solvent. Try to skim on top and let oil/dirt fall to bottom. Repeat process in clean solvent in new container. After bearing is completely clean and free of foreign matter switch over to the Isopropyl Alcohol, the higher the concentration the better. The sole purpose of the Alcohol will be to “rinse” the bearing and remove all “solvent residue”. This step is important to assure the surface of the steel is ready for lubrication. Shake or agitate the bearings in the Alcohol, remembering not to leave in alcohol for very long. No soaking is required at this point. The alcohol should evaporate and leave you a “bone dry” bearing. Use a blow dryer and make sure bearing is COMPLETELY dry and cooled down before adding lube. This is very important.
4) Do not wash seals in solvent. Very carefully wipe the seal down with a little alcohol on a lint free rag if necessary. Replace the seal making sure it seats in the inner and outer ring grooves.
5) Add 2 drops of skate lubricant. Use grease if you are only going to sidewalk skate. Only add enough grease to fill three ball pockets.
If you clean several sets of bearings at one time, you can often use the same degreaser for all of them, then a single bottle full of alcohol to "rinse" each set in succession.
__________________ Relax, Don't Worry, Ride Your Longboard.
Rocket Cleaning Instructions will soon be obsolete. Why ???
In a couple weeks we will have availabel the "RocketWash Bearing Cleaning System" I will cost around $10-14 and will efficiantly clean your bearings like nothing else youve seen. No more shaking the dirty solution back in the bearings. Real Scrubbing agitation action!!
These should help everyone alot with cleaning bearing. We plan to have an Free Instructional DVD as well to show you step by step. This has been long overdue.
for solvents lik acetone/xylene/kerosene etc, pour into a clean container , pouring thru a fine filter like a old coffee filter cone and paper filter. this way you have MINIMAL waste (dispose of sludge by letting dry and tossing in garbage in a glass capped container), and you can reUSE the solvent for a long time, just top up with fresh solvent once in a while....
most paint rcycling center take back used solvents BUT only in the original containers!
Andrew, they still need to be cleaned and lubed, they just stay clean longer. You can remove the seals with an X-acto blade to get in there, and I think you should take both sides off. Then, clean as described here or with a "$1.25 Bearing Cleaner", lube & rebuild.
__________________ Relax, Don't Worry, Ride Your Longboard.
How to Clean/Maintain Your Bearings
