Seized bearings fix

[dublak2]

So I skated the park post rain from the day prior. There were some puddles that were unavoidable. I shoulda been smarted and gone home but I had to skate and it's too late now.

I got some bearings making the seize sound. Is this fixable with a proper clean and a re-lube or are the bearing done after getting wet?

[JM]

So I skated the park post rain from the day prior. There were some puddles that were unavoidable. I shoulda been smarted and gone home but I had to skate and it's too late now.

I got some bearings making the seize sound. Is this fixable with a proper clean and a re-lube or are the bearing done after getting wet?

The Dr. would know

@Mbrimson88

[logjammin]

Uh...did you try cleaning them? Acetone or rubbing alcohol, shake em up in a small Tupperware or whatever else will work for a container. Repeat til it's no longer dirty after you shake it up good. If they still seize and you didn't pay a fortune for them, just buy new bearings.

[GrapeApeAffe]

I’ve taken seized bearings apart completely, including removing the retainer and cleaned each bearing individually with a cloth.

Takes a little bit of effort to get the bearings back in and spaced out but it’s doable.

Really badly rusted and pitted bearings aren’t going to ever be better, but you’d be surprised what you can salvage.

BTW not everyone wants to take the time, and that’s ok.  I enjoy cleaning my bearings with a beer and good music once in a while.

[Too Frank To Fred]

GrapeApeAffe is correct.

-Take them apart completely.
-Soak the inner/outer races and the balls, in the highest concentration isopropyl alcohol you can get.
-not the plastic cages or shields, which can just be wiped down with a dab of alcohol and dried.
-swish around. soak again in clean alcohol if you want.
-dry with hair dryer.
-reassemble
-add one (2 max) drop of light grade lube (sewing machine oil or some skate specific lube).

sooner you do it after ripping through puddles the better.

[jgonzalez]

My method has been squirt tri flow in them and wipe them. Let them dry for a little. I do this while they’re still on the truck.

If they’re really bad take them out the wheel put them on napkins and squirt tri flow or lubricant oil and let the dirt drip out and air dry them for a bit. Like a day or two or three.

I’ve skated a lot of seized and fucked up bearings. Lots of them work fine the marketing is dumb. Lots of my ball bearings are fucked up but the wheel still rolls fine the whole precision race thing is marketing jargon




Edit:
I use these. Bike chains. Locks. Etc.

[Mbrimson88]

Expand Quote

So I skated the park post rain from the day prior. There were some puddles that were unavoidable. I shoulda been smarted and gone home but I had to skate and it's too late now.

I got some bearings making the seize sound. Is this fixable with a proper clean and a re-lube or are the bearing done after getting wet?

[close]

The Dr. would know

@Mbrimson88

Ha yeah, well any time anything gets a soaking, board runs through a puddle or anything like that, I just spray a little WD40 straight into each bearing while still on the board, one side at a time, then spin them slowly for a bit and it is good to go.

Board itself might sometimes be a bit worse for wear, but I never have any issues with the bearings afterwards.


I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I have used WD40 for over twenty years on bearings that have been in almost any situation other than running smoothly and never had any problems with them, just to get them going again, then if or when they run dry, then lube as needed, but in general I don't really ever need to take the bearings off the board, or even out of the wheels.  Sometimes they are really in a mess, at which time I might take them out of each wheel or pop shields to give them a little more of a go, then shields back on, back in the wheels and skate as usual.

Everyone is entitled to tell me otherwise, but in general WD40 does not harm my bearings and I find that way easier than taking things apart and often never having them spin or perform quite the same again afterwards, as has happened in the past using the so called correct bearing cleaning methods.

Pretty much the same from my usual Bones Swiss, to budget completes I have at the indoor park and everything in between.


Even bearings that were quite seriously caked in rust and seemed to not ever want to move again have often been able to get going again, so as soon as you can, spray and make sure they move freely enough and you should be good.

That's my experience anyway.

[turbo 2.0]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

So I skated the park post rain from the day prior. There were some puddles that were unavoidable. I shoulda been smarted and gone home but I had to skate and it's too late now.

I got some bearings making the seize sound. Is this fixable with a proper clean and a re-lube or are the bearing done after getting wet?

[close]

The Dr. would know

@Mbrimson88

[close]

Ha yeah, well any time anything gets a soaking, board runs through a puddle or anything like that, I just spray a little WD40 straight into each bearing while still on the board, one side at a time, then spin them slowly for a bit and it is good to go.

Board itself might sometimes be a bit worse for wear, but I never have any issues with the bearings afterwards.


I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I have used WD40 for over twenty years on bearings that have been in almost any situation other than running smoothly and never had any problems with them, just to get them going again, then if or when they run dry, then lube as needed, but in general I don't really ever need to take the bearings off the board, or even out of the wheels.  Sometimes they are really in a mess, at which time I might take them out of each wheel or pop shields to give them a little more of a go, then shields back on, back in the wheels and skate as usual.

Everyone is entitled to tell me otherwise, but in general WD40 does not harm my bearings and I find that way easier than taking things apart and often never having them spin or perform quite the same again afterwards, as has happened in the past using the so called correct bearing cleaning methods.

Pretty much the same from my usual Bones Swiss, to budget completes I have at the indoor park and everything in between.


Even bearings that were quite seriously caked in rust and seemed to not ever want to move again have often been able to get going again, so as soon as you can, spray and make sure they move freely enough and you should be good.

That's my experience anyway.

The main reason you hear this is because WD-40 is not a lubricant, it just has lubricating properties. When you go to clean something that’s supposed to be lubricated, WD-40 will displace whatever lubricant that’s present and eventually evaporate, leaving the bearing completely dry.

For 99% of applications, this is a huge dealbreaker, but I and others have ran bearings completely dry with no issue. Not sure if the numbers add up, but I’d guess it probably has something to do with skateboarding bearings seeing less wear than other applications.

If one was really worried about running their bearings dry, they could use WD-40 on the seized bearing(s) skate them until / wait for it to evaporate, then use lubricant but again, I’m pretty certain this is mostly unnecessary. Might eek out some extra life in your bearings, but probably not enough to be noticeable

[WideFeet]

PB Blaster. It’s the fucking best.

[bombsaway86]

When I was a teenager I would soak my bearings in WD-40 a few times a year. I didn’t use any lubricant afterwards and they were fine. I would still get over a year out of my reds back then (way back when they were called china bones).

Nowadays I have the bones bearing cleaner bottle, I soak them with 99% isopropyl alcohol, air dry, then lube with speed cream. This is the way, I have some bones Swiss that are getting close to 20 years old now and still going strong.

[Texas_Tone]

I have a rain setup, like the above poster said, PB if they are completely seized, and then some WD if you feel like trying to protect your shit from the rain, but yea my rain board gets whatever is laying around for lube, I’ve used vegetable oil, my actual setup though im cleaning with alcohol and relubing with sewing machine

[Easy Slider]

Interestingly enough the bearings on my rain set up never seize but when I roll through a puddle with my regular set up, they instantly clog up.

[JM]

Interesting, true story:

My buddy used exclusively WD-40 to clean his Swiss bearings back in 1998. He skated with shields off and never used lubricant, so you can imagine how great they sounded.

 After two years of skating almost everyday, one day the balls fell OUT the races on one of the bearings and scattered everyone mid-session: the balls had eroded down small enough to escape on their own.

[rikki]

WD-40 just intuitively feels like the worst thing one could put into one's bearings. I mean, it attracts dirt like a magnet.

[smellsdead]

my homies had success freeing some up with white lithium grease

but yeah reds are cheap buy two sets next time

[back smith]

WD-40 just intuitively feels like the worst thing one could put into one's bearings. I mean, it attracts dirt like a magnet.

Terrible lubricant, pretty good cleaner, fantastic cologne.

[IusedToSkateMore]

PB Blaster. It’s the fucking best.

Ya i was gonna say the same thing. We used it on anything thats stuck/rusted.

I have had buckets of nuts, bolts, etc soak in white vinegar for a period to clean the rust out as well. Shit works charm with old van parts

[jgonzalez]

[Mbrimson88]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

So I skated the park post rain from the day prior. There were some puddles that were unavoidable. I shoulda been smarted and gone home but I had to skate and it's too late now.

I got some bearings making the seize sound. Is this fixable with a proper clean and a re-lube or are the bearing done after getting wet?

[close]

The Dr. would know

@Mbrimson88

[close]

Ha yeah, well any time anything gets a soaking, board runs through a puddle or anything like that, I just spray a little WD40 straight into each bearing while still on the board, one side at a time, then spin them slowly for a bit and it is good to go.

Board itself might sometimes be a bit worse for wear, but I never have any issues with the bearings afterwards.


I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I have used WD40 for over twenty years on bearings that have been in almost any situation other than running smoothly and never had any problems with them, just to get them going again, then if or when they run dry, then lube as needed, but in general I don't really ever need to take the bearings off the board, or even out of the wheels.  Sometimes they are really in a mess, at which time I might take them out of each wheel or pop shields to give them a little more of a go, then shields back on, back in the wheels and skate as usual.

Everyone is entitled to tell me otherwise, but in general WD40 does not harm my bearings and I find that way easier than taking things apart and often never having them spin or perform quite the same again afterwards, as has happened in the past using the so called correct bearing cleaning methods.

Pretty much the same from my usual Bones Swiss, to budget completes I have at the indoor park and everything in between.


Even bearings that were quite seriously caked in rust and seemed to not ever want to move again have often been able to get going again, so as soon as you can, spray and make sure they move freely enough and you should be good.

That's my experience anyway.

[close]

The main reason you hear this is because WD-40 is not a lubricant, it just has lubricating properties. When you go to clean something that’s supposed to be lubricated, WD-40 will displace whatever lubricant that’s present and eventually evaporate, leaving the bearing completely dry.

For 99% of applications, this is a huge dealbreaker, but I and others have ran bearings completely dry with no issue. Not sure if the numbers add up, but I’d guess it probably has something to do with skateboarding bearings seeing less wear than other applications.

If one was really worried about running their bearings dry, they could use WD-40 on the seized bearing(s) skate them until / wait for it to evaporate, then use lubricant but again, I’m pretty certain this is mostly unnecessary. Might eek out some extra life in your bearings, but probably not enough to be noticeable

Yeah, it is a funny one hey, but if or when people only used WD40, then they often have issues.

For a board that has been in the wet, or especially bearings that have been for a swim, it is the simplest and best thing to keep them rolling, then at such time as needed, re lube if dry and running smoothly.

I get why a lot of people have issues with the product though.  It is never meant to be a single fix on its own.