bearing Maintenance(home brew)

[jmiro 55]

Been a while. I see they have all sorts of kits. I am interested in the home brew style. We use to just pop the covers (if they had covers) put them in paint thinner, gas, mean green or something to dissolve the old grease and dirt. We let them sit for a day or so. Shake before we took them out. Wipe and let dry. Some guys let them soak in motor oil then put the shields back on and wipe them. Some guys just soaked them in motor oil. I pack mine with bearing grease from napa (like packing a bearing on a car or motorcycle). Wonder what you guys do.

[Vet88 674]

Depends how bad the bearing is.

Regular maintenance is to take the shields off, soak them in isopropol alcohol overnight, next day give them a good shake and spin in a clean isopropol solution, leave them to dry then lube with speed cream and put the shields back in.

For a really bad bearing the shields come off, the bearing holder and bearings come out, everything gets wiped down with isopropol (including the bearings) then reassemble. Takes me a few hours to work through 16 bearings. Any signs of rust in the race and I toss the bearing (full ceramics deals to the rust problem). Also if you do this DONT mix the ball bearings up between bearings. They are all fractionally different in size and ideally you try to keep them in the same order as they were in the holder.

[Wicked3Aussie 68]

I use a bones bearing cleaning unit with bones speed cream.

I take the races out every time instead of the shields, takes longer but a bit more thorough.

I usually use methylated spirits but having recently swapped to bones Swiss ceramics I'm going to start using acetone.

I cleaned my 2 year old alkali Swiss bearings once a month and they still perform and look brand new.

[kovalchuk71 212]

This video is awesome. Use what they tell you here. Worked like a charm for my bearings.

[henryb 4]

All of the ideas presented are all good. The key element is making sure that you get all of the "cleaning" fluid out of the bearing before you put new lubricant back in... otherwise, the cleaning fluid will continue to break down the new oil you put in! I use an "air-blaster" aerosol can (used for cleaning circuit boards).... and hold each bearing in the center to allow them to spin and give them a really good blast of forced air! That dries them out in no time! Then you can be sure they are completely dry before you put your Speed Cream or whatever bearing lube you choose in there.

[Hat_Trick_Hokie 49]

I use the Sonic bearing oil.

I also have been using the Sonic "wash" system. Any suggestions for replacement cleaner to put in there? If there is a good cheaper off the shelf product, I'd like to do that then paying $9 for an 8oz bottle.

I use an "air-blaster" aerosol can (used for cleaning circuit boards)

I just started doing this, and the pressurized air helps a ton to dry out the bearings.

[henryb 4]

I try to get as much use out of one of those Sonic Citrus Cleaner bottles as possible! So I empty the contaminated contents of the cleaning fluid into a cup... Then I clean out the Sonic Turbo Wash jar out. Then I use a paper coffee filter to pour the citrus cleaning fluid back into the Turbo jar! This works amazingly well, and I just top up the jar... It really extends how many times you can use that fluid.

[crispy92 14]

I use the sonic bearing cleaner and some citrus cleaner I got from the grocery store. Actually haven't cleaned them in a while, they haven't gotten much slower.

A little off topic but I have a set of brand new bones swiss bearings laying around that I haven't used since getting them(probably two years ago). When the time comes to actually use them should I wash and relube them or can I just start using them

[Vet88 674]

If they are still in the packet or as long as they have been away from dust and dirt, just start using them.