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Anyone popping off the nylon cage before cleaning?
I just use the blunt end of a toothpick to press them out.
I would recommend it in general unless you for sure know the material of the cage. PTFE is sometimes used and doesn’t pair well with acetone and it will affect the plastic. The other plastics used are generally ok but in my opinion it’s just better to be safe, and as said above it helps you get a deeper clean. I tend to just use soap and water on the shields cause acetone will affect some plastics, and those not affected can be affected by isopropyl alcohol.
I think you have to be careful once they are out, if all the balls go to one side, they can pop out. I recall pulling all the cages, putting the bearings in a jar full of acetone and shaking vigorously.....all of them just fell apart.....left the lid....straight into the dumpster....
This actually happened to me. You can get the bearing back together, just takes a bit of patience, which I had to develop because I was 14 and the bearings cost like $60.
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But a pro skater says it's true, and we all know they're very well educated and are highly respected for their mastery of mechanical engineering!
Somehow every time I think this bigwheelbite guy couldn't possibly say anything stupider than what he's already posted he goes and one-ups himself. The only thing running a bearing dry does is make it sound "cool" and die faster. If you're basing your perception of bearing performance on how they sound then you're a dipshit (aka the bronson target market).
Quick tip for full breakdown and reassembly (i apologize if this has been mentioned already i didn't read the full thread) - use an old towel or something similar on top of a hard surface as your workbench. It will prevent balls from rolling away when you pop out the inner ring and when you reassemble you can use the slight amount of "give" to line the balls up in the outer race groove and then just kind of slide the inner ring into place without forcing anything. It makes things way easier, especially on bearings with very tight tolerances. I've even taken off a sock and used that when doing emergency surgery on a bearing in the field.
lol chill out man, it's just an opinion ffs so whats the issue? Let people have their say without getting butt hurt over nada. Living in a damn society where ppl can't have a diff of opinion without someone acting all high & mighty...
Nah, he’s got a point. Saying that unlubed bearings perform better are just wrong. It’s not an opinion, it’s a factual inaccuracy.
Not using lube leads to bearings failing far quicker, and is the main source of bearing failure. I’ve had the same set of bearings for years and they still perform the same as when I got them specifically because I lube them.
Lube allows the parts to move relative to each other without friction and wear and tear. It also helps with heat transference.
Grease doesn’t need to be used for skateboard bearings, and in fact shouldn’t be used when we have oil. High speed, low torque applications are far better suited to oil. If your bearings have grease, I would recommend cleaning them and replacing it with oil. They will need to be cleaned and oiled more frequently however, as grease is used for longer life applications, like cars.
Source: 4 years of mechanical engineering education and 10 years of engineering experience.
Topic: Cleaning bearings tips (Read 9644 times)