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Eazy_b97

Bearing help

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Hi, I've played roller for many years now, but haven't been able to pick up alot of the specifics on the upkeep of roller blades. I know that I need to oil up my bearings and such, so I plan on getting some supplies as soon as possible. I have a pair of VSi Vibes, that came with the Mission Mini speed bearings, I put on a pair of red-star wheels and ever since I've had alot of difficulties with the bearings not spinning as well as they were in the original wheels. Is there a special was the bearings need to be put together? Is it just the differnt wheel width? I came from the Millenium grippers that come standard with the skates.

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When you changed wheels, the width of the inner shoulder of the wheel hubs may be different. This has happened a lot with different manufacturers over the years...

When you look at the inside of your Red Star wheel hubs you will see a little plastic ring around the middle of the outside of the hole in the center. If the width of this little ring is not smaller than the spacer (shorter in length measured across the wheel), this will cause the bearings to bind. The width of that little shoulder should be around .002" - 004" smaller than the length of the spacer which goes between the bearings. Some wheels were built where this shoulder is .004" - .010" larger. When you tighten the bearings the inner race is forced to distort before the insides butt up against the spacer ends, causing the bearings to bind.

The same thing will happen if you forgot to put the little spacers back in as well.

Some Milleniums had the same problem (not all) some Hypers too a while ago anyway, Rink rats when they first came out..better to look for a different set of wheels maybe. This all ssuming that your bearings are free spinning before you mount them.

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They spin fine with the Milleniums in there, I'm hoping to get new skates soon, so hopefully this won't be a problem for much longer. I'd really hate to get new wheels for maybe one or two skates, especially since I'm getting away from the Mini-bearings. On the plus side it'll be much nicer to have bearings that spin. I was fairly confident that the width on the wheels was my problem, they seem a bit thicker than the Milleniums.

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As long as the wheels are not touching the chassis, it's not the width of the wheel that is the problem, but the width of the bearing shoulder inside the hub. Like I said before..that is a fairly common problem with various wheel manufacturers and many have had the same problem. It's not every set that had the problem either..like a couple of years ago..the Blue Milleniums had it, but the Purple and Orange were ok. People might remember the "specials" on Milleniums a while ago, while they were still the "hot set up" from some of the retailers...but whenever they arrived they were always the "Blue ones". I have seen it with different Labeda's, Hyper's, Rink Rat's, and some non brands which we tried over the years.

Most times the manufacturers catch the problem and correct it.

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I have the same skates getting new ones soon but last year i need new wheels and the same thing happend to me. If you want to take them out and clean and oil them just take a needle and poke the red lil rubber thing and pull the cover off...its really easy

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