Spacers

[ajd91187 0]

Is there a major difference between floating spacers and standard spacers? Any speed/ performance differences or anything?

[stevoc 0]

I've been experiencing problems with bothtypes of spacers not fitting correctly in the hubs. The spacers tend to be slightly longer than the hub width, which causes the bearings to pop in and out of the hub while skating. Although they don't come out that far, they make a loud click sound. Anyone else have this, and have you been able to solve it?

Sorry ajd91187...didn't mean to go slightly off topic on you. I recently started using micro bearings which have the floating spacers, and they have the same movement as the standard 608 spacers. Outside of that, I don't notice any differences.

[MDE3 0]

I've been experiencing problems with bothtypes of spacers not fitting correctly in the hubs.  The spacers tend to be slightly longer than the hub width, which causes the bearings to pop in and out of the hub while skating.  Although they don't come out that far, they make a loud click sound.  Anyone else have this, and have you been able to solve it?

Sorry ajd91187...didn't mean to go slightly off topic on you.  I recently started using micro bearings which have the floating spacers, and they have the same movement as the standard 608 spacers.  Outside of that, I don't notice any differences.

The inner spacers must be slightly longer than the hub shoulder width, or the bearings will bind in their bores because you will preload the bearings when you tighten the axles if this is not true. Normally the spacer(for free floating spacers) or the length of the spacer/axle shoulder(the ones which go right through the bearings and use a bolt and screw assembly to tighten) is supposed to be about .004" longer than the width of the plastic shoulder you see inside the wheel hub.

The clicking you hear is just the little bit of side movement that the bearing/wheel assembly can make when the inner race is tight(as it is supposed to be) and the outer race can move a bit because it has .002" of gap beteeen the outer race and the wheel hub shoulder on each side. If all is "normal" the wheel can pop back and forth about .004" total. This is as it is supposed to be. If there is no play the bearing is probably "locked up" and does not spin freely due to a mismanufactured wheel hub (fairly common over the years), or spacer...only occasionaly.

[koivulchuk 1]

so a little bit of clicking is good? i always tighten my wheels until i hear no more clicking...but they still spin freely...do i have them too tight?

[MDE3 0]

so a little bit of clicking is good?  i always tighten my wheels until i hear no more clicking...but they still spin freely...do i have them too tight?

Not too sure what you mean by "clicking"? If it's a sound made when you simply spin the bearings, it usually means you have some piece of dirt stuck in the bearing. If you mean the bearing makes a little sound when you skate occasionally, that can be normal.

If they are correctly tightened and everything is normal, you should be able to take your wheels and "pop" them back and forth very slightly. It may take a lot of force to do this if the bearings are very tight in the wheel bores. I believe some manufacturers may have tried to make their wheel hubs exactly the same shoulder width as the spacer, and when this is true, the wheel will have no play but still spin freely. With light lube, and clean bearings, I like to see at least 30 seconds of free spin, although I know others who will argue this.

However the manufacturing tolerances allowed for this type of injection molding will more probably have one wheel just a little bit tight, and one just a bit loose if you try for a "0"/"0" fit. That's why they try to make the spacer shoulder about .004" larger than the wheel hub shoulder(the ring inside the wheel hub)..so there can be no binding.

Did you ever notice that sometimes when you change wheels or bearings or simply take them out to clean them, and when you put them back in and retighten, some wheels do not spin as free as they did before you removed them?

If you can simply force these wheel to "pop" it will usually spin free once this happens. All you are doing is simply centering the bearing in the middle of it's "play". You should be able to tighten your wheel axles as tight as you want, and it will not effect the bearing free spin if everything is as it should be.

[stevoc 0]

Not too sure what you mean by "clicking"?

I can hold my skates on my lap and push the wheels back and forth on the chassis and get a descent sounding pop. I can even see the bearing move out of the hub.

I don't want to sound like I am picking on one company, because I have seen it from time to time on other manufacturer's wheels. But, it seems that no matter what type of wheel I buy from Labeda, they always have what I consider "over play" in the bearing movement.

[MDE3 0]

If the play is more than I mentioned, then the problem may just be the dimensions of the wheel hub. I have seen the hub shoulder .005" - .010" too large before in different wheel makes, so it would not surprise me to have some wheels where it is .005" - .010" too small as well. Maybe some one read .040" as the tolerance instead of .004". This happens frequently when manufacturers change suppliers of their wheels components. Hubs are sometimes made at a different factory from the wheels themselves. Have you tried wheels from other manufacturers? Do you have access to micrometers? That's how I have identified the exact problem before. Makes it much easier to get satisfaction if you can be precise about the problem.

The measurements on wheels and spacers I just did for an old Labeda Gripper Snapper...spacer .400", wheel + bearing assembly, without spacer...400"

The problem with this is if the molding is off by say .0005", then the wheel could be tight when you tighten the axle. This did happen with some of these older wheels.

Same measurements on a 2004 Rink rat: wheel + bearings, no spacer

inserted: .394" Spacer: .400"

Same measurements on a 2003 Trinity wheel+ bearings: .396" Spacer: .400"