Bearings, spend time on them or not

[fierocious1]

Some people spend a considerable amount of time on tearing down, cleaning and oiling/lubricating bearings. Is it necessary or is it necessary only for certain types of bearings?

Should ceramics be ran in hubbed wheels only?

Referring to bearings better than ultra cheap junk shell race bearings like hartfords. Even I don't run those.

[chuckboucher]

I haven't ever cleaned the set of Bones Swiss bearings that I have had in my quads. They're over 15 years old. Granted, I skate maybe a few times a year on them, but still...

For my inlines, I buy sets of 8mm NMB double shielded bearings from Randy Welch, who runs the Second Chance Skates Facebook page. I get them when he runs the 3 sets of 16 for $50 deals, so they end up being pennies over $1 per bearing. I use them in both pairs of speed skates that I use for both practices and competitions. When a bearing gets crunchy, or I get caught in the rain, into the trash they go.

[emtdpf]

I clean my bearing a few times a year.
I have a set of 8 ball fafnirs from the 83 era, and a set of bones swiss from the same era.
I dont have a prefrence, they roll excellant enough for competition.
I skate a couple of times a week for 5 or 6 hours per day. Constant skating.

Back in the day I used to run the 7mm hartfords on my clunker skates,, used them outside, used to play indoor soccer with them, floor hockey... you know just junker skates.... I did maintain them, couldnt really kill them if they kept maintained.

Maintenance is all in what you deem critical. My bearing come Nationals time, get cleaned and oiled, tight around the same time that I polish my boots after a long year of practice.....

Mind you I did stop skating for 18 years, but I still use these bearing todate...

YMMV

[Beyaut]

I run mine without shields... (cuz they look cool) haha they get serviced every time they come off for wheel cleaning usually weekly / after 2-3 sessions.. Maybe im just anal ! If they get crunchy and dont spin....clean em!

[fierocious1]

every day to rebuild bearings..... all kinds of equipment! Polish the bearings, the races and the cages. Fill with speed cream.... Awesome stuff! LOL So much time tearing down well running machines....

[Mort]

I usually just add like a teaspoon of oil, spin them to suspend particulates, then turn them seal side up to drain or if I'm in a hurry, a lint free cloth on the raceway and I turn the outer race to purge the excess.

If I do that often enough they stay damn clean, and it only takes a few minutes. Doing a deep clean is almost a waste. For the time spent doing it I could work a job and make the money to buy brand new stuff.

The problem is getting quality 688 bearings lol. So I try to maintain them as needed.

[fierocious1]

Originally Posted by Mort

I usually just add like a teaspoon of oil, spin them to suspend particulates, then turn them seal side up to drain or if I'm in a hurry, a lint free cloth on the raceway and I turn the outer race to purge the excess.

If I do that often enough they stay damn clean, and it only takes a few minutes. Doing a deep clean is almost a waste. For the time spent doing it I could work a job and make the money to buy brand new stuff.

The problem is getting quality 688 bearings lol. So I try to maintain them as needed.

Back in the day (in my teens) I would tear down my old loose ball bearings every weekend. The cones definitely would wear. Once precision bearings came out, I never did any work on the bearings. I still have enough sets to last me and wife a lifetime, so...

[dvw]

Originally Posted by fierocious1

Some people spend a considerable amount of time on tearing down, cleaning and oiling/lubricating bearings. Is it necessary or is it necessary only for certain types of bearings?

It really doesn't bear a lot of overthinking. You very quickly reach the point of diminished returns.



I take a very simple approach. Put the bearings in an old pickle jar with some low-voc mineral spirits. Let 'em soak maybe 10 minutes, then shake them around. The goop suspends in the spirits. Take out the bearings and let dry on a paper towel. The mineral spirits can be strained through a paper towel or a coffee filter and reused. Do them twice if they're real nasty. Add your favorite lube.



No compelling reason to use anything exotic. 3-N-1 works as well as anything. So does corn head grease. You need something that will protect the metal and not shear. The exotic stuff is fine if you're going for a world title or for winning snack bar bets, but once you do a lap or two any oil or grease will be so well liquified it won't matter.

[fierocious1]

Originally Posted by dvw

It really doesn't bear a lot of overthinking. You very quickly reach the point of diminished returns.



I take a very simple approach. Put the bearings in an old pickle jar with some low-voc mineral spirits. Let 'em soak maybe 10 minutes, then shake them around. The goop suspends in the spirits. Take out the bearings and let dry on a paper towel. The mineral spirits can be strained through a paper towel or a coffee filter and reused. Do them twice if they're real nasty. Add your favorite lube.



No compelling reason to use anything exotic. 3-N-1 works as well as anything. So does corn head grease. You need something that will protect the metal and not shear. The exotic stuff is fine if you're going for a world title or for winning snack bar bets, but once you do a lap or two any oil or grease will be so well liquified it won't matter.

I have a lot of old 7mm bearings. Removed from antique rentals around here in a box. I'll have to dig them up for 7mm lovers to clean...

[EoinCuinn]

I use Bones swiss in anything 8mm, mainly the girls blades

I use roll-line abec 9 race bearings in anything 7mm, 4 pairs of artistic skates

I strip and clean my art ones every 3-4 months, as they get used for a minimum of 10-12 hrs a week on a dusty rink.

I strip and clean my outdoor 7mm's every 3-4 months, and I will typically relube them at the half way point

I strip and clean the girls art skates / blades every 6 months because they skate a lot less

All my bearings are $80-$100 AUD a set, and I look after them primarily because the better they are looked after, the less I need to push.

I clean a lot of bearings every year..... hahaha

[PRFunky]

I probably don't run with really good bearings. When I was buying them,
I'd usually just get Bones Reds. Through buying and selling a bunch of
skates and wheels, I've ended up with quite a few sets of Vanilla bearings
too.

Basically, I have a maintenance schedule which revolves around rotating
my skate wheels. After about 8 sessions, I rotate. The first time, I just
rotate my wheels on the same skate. The second time, I swap skates
with my rotation. On that second part is when I pop the bearings out of
the wheels and clean them with Goo Gone all purpose cleaner. It's a total
bath in a used 16oz juice bottle. After I've let most of the cleaning solution
drain off the bearings, I give them a quick dunk in 91% isopropyl alcohol.
(I know; there's still water in that) I kick the bearings off of the long bolt
I have anchored in the juice bottle cap and smack as much alcohol off on
paper towels as possible. If I'm in a rush, might even blast 'em with the
hair blow dryer. Once I'm pretty sure they're dry, I hit them with the
lubricant and put the shields back on.

Most of the bearings that I've had to throw out are units that I got used.
My measure for that is if they have any roughness in spinning by hand,
like if it moves and then has a slow spot that takes more effort to move,
then I consider it a clunker and it goes into the pitch can.

I watched several maintenance videos over five years ago when I got into
this roller skating thing. I kindof mix-matched what I liked and what seemed
sensical from several different people. This video here provided me with
the choice of lubricant I use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYvytItPXq8