How to Clean and Lubricate Skate Bearings

bearingsClean bearings are going to roll smoother, roll faster, and will last much longer than dirty bearings. Dirt and grime foul the bearings and can cause pitting which make rotation uneven and rough. The following paragraphs have instructions for cleaning bearings with removable shields. If you do not have removable shields, then skip the following instructions. Cleaning and lubricating your bearings often will make them last a long time. Also try to avoid getting your bearings wet or sandy, as both of those are particularly bad for bearings.

The tools that you are going to need for this process include a straight pin, a small bowl or a metal pan, a bearing cleaning product, a small brush for cleaning such as a soft or a medium toothbrush, paper towels and clean towels or shop rags.

When dealing with removable shields you are going to want to insert the very tin of the straight pin into the C-rings end, which is responsible for keeping the shield in place on the body of the bearing. You should just gently pry away the C ring toward the middle of the bearing and work the pin around the circle. Now you can remove the shield as slowly as you can, making sure that you are not causing damage.

Now place the bearing in a container and flush it with the cleaner to get rid of contaminates. Citrus based cleaners work particularly well for this purpose. Use the toothbrush to remove grime and dirt. If the bearings happen to be particularly dirty, then this step may need to be repeated. Make sure that the solvent is changed with every rinse.

Once the bearing has been cleaned, make sure that it is patted dry gently using a towel that is clean and free of lint. Place the bearings on a paper towel and give them time to air dry. Now make sure that all of the water has had a chance to evaporate away before you move on to the next step in the process.

Once the bearing is completely dry you can add between one and two drops of a high quality lubricant to the bearing’s inside. A little bit of lubricant can really go a long way. Now you should rotate the bearing in such a way that the lubricant is worked into all of the moving parts, and make sure that all of the balls have been completely and properly covered in the lubricating agent for the best results.

Now replace the shield, placing it on the bearing and allowing the C ring to slip back into the groove that is just next to the shield. Now you can work the C-ring’s remaining length gently and slowly along that fitted groove until it has completely and fully snapped back into place. Now you can put your brand new clean bearings right back on your skates. Make sure that you spin them a bit to make sure that the lubricating agent is distributed evenly and to ensure that all of the wheels are spinning as smoothly as possible.

Photo Credits: joelogon

Originally posted 2009-11-23 03:30:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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ABEC ratings: Is higher really better? Pt. 1

stockwheelsIn the worlds of inline and board skating, you will find many areas of much debate. However, one of the most contested areas you will encounter is that of skate bearings. German? Swiss? Ceramic? Stainless Steel? ABEC rating? So many choices, and so many opinions on what is better and what is not. When I was in grade school and into skateboarding, most boards had one of 2 types of bearings: cheap, crappy “American” bearings universally known by their shape which could be described as either mushroom, or T shaped like the Tetris piece, or “German” bearings, which were flat in that profile.

Needless to say, “German” bearings were the bees’ knees. They rolled smoother, longer, and generally faster. They were of much higher quality through and through, while the “American” bearings had cheap shields, generally a press fit cap style. They were sloppy and wore out quickly, as well as being slow in general. If you were rich, you could buy a pack of Bones “Swiss” high precision ceramic bearings, and you would get all the notoriety that came with it, provided you could skate worth a darn. One of the terms tossed around with the “German” bearings was “German Industrial Grade 3” bearings. Those, per all of my skateboarding buddies, were the best, bar none. They made you roll faster, ollie higher, kick flip more accurately, and anything else that could be attributed to such mythically awesome bearings.

If only us kids knew then what can be known now, we would have saved ourselves and our friends some cash, which we could then have spent on more important things like Garbage Pail Kids, marbles, skate shop stickers, and M.U.S.C.L.E. men, among other things. But I digress. Today’s ABEC ratings share a lot of similarities with the bearings of old that I and my friends knew, especially when it comes to sales pitches. Most notable of all being that a higher number equates to a better bearing. Now this is not entirely a lie. In certain industries, a higher number is indeed better. But this would be for reasons that pretty much mean jack for inline skaters and skateboarders alike.

You see, ABEC ratings cover a whole load of tolerance requirements for a bearing, but not much in regards to component quality, lubricant types, or any of that. So basically, ABEC ratings mean next to nothing for skaters at all. The tolerances and precisions that ABEC ratings deal with get mangled in the first few minutes of the bearings life by the simple act of getting on and riding down the sidewalk.

What am I talking about exactly? Well, let us just use the facts: ABEC ratings only specify the eccentricity of the bearings inner ring, or rather, its out of roundness. ABEC 1, the lowest grade, the max allowed out of roundness is .0075mm. As you can see, that’s pretty darn precise already. ABEC 3 is .005mm, ABEC 5 is .0035mm, ABEC 7 is .0025mm, and ABEC 9 is .0012mm.

Continued in part 2.

Photo Credits: Josh [unemployed IT dude]

Originally posted 2009-09-21 03:15:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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