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Inline Skate Bearing Maintenance
by Dicky Williams - EPuck.com
September 2002
Bearing Removal
Shield Removal
Proper Bearing Cleaning
Proper Bolt Adjustment
Introduction
Mike: Dicky Williams is the founder of EPuck.com. He has been involved in hockey for the last 9 years as a player as well as a youth coach and currently is involved with the creation of all content on the EPuck site from product reviews and descriptions to articles and interviews.
EPuck.com is one of the recommended shops for buying hockey equipment via the internet on our shops page - see link to the left.
Bearing
Removal
Removing your bearings can be quick and easy if you know
a few tips and tricks. Right out the gates, you need to determine whether you
have a standard bearing spacer or a “floating” bearing spacer. The
easiest way to determine this is to look closely at the hole the axle goes through
and see if there is a seam between the bearing and the spacer or if there is
smooth metal all the way through. If you have a seam, you are the proud owner
of Floating bearing spacers. If you have smooth metal all the way through (with
no seams) then your skates are equipped with Standard bearing spacers. Now that
you’ve determined the type of spacer you have, go to the section below
that applies to you.
Removing bearings with a Standard Spacer
Popping a bearing out of a wheel with a standard spacer
ranges from very easy (with the use of a bearing tool) to a little tough (without
the use of a bearing tool). If you have a bearing tool such as the Pro Tool
or Speed Tool, your job is easy. Simply put the tool into the end of the bearing
and push. If you don’t have one of these handy little gems, it gets tougher,
but is not impossible.
- Take
small flat screwdriver and then carefully place it right on the edge of the
bearing spacer (then innermost ring when you are looking at the side of the
wheel. The trick is to catch that without catching the bearing.
- When the screwdriver is in place, push on it until the
bearing pops out of the other side. Be careful that you do not stab yourself
if the screwdriver slips.
Removing
bearings that have Floating Spacers
If you have a floating spacer, since there
is no shoulder to push on, the easiest way to remove the bearing is to “twist”
the bearing out of the wheel hub.
- The
trick is to use a small flat screwdriver or Allen wrench.
- Insert the screwdriver into the end of the bearing and
place the end of the tool right on the seam between the bearing and the spacer.
- Pry up enough to move the bearing a little, then rotate
the screwdriver or wrench a bit to the side, and pry again.
- Repeat until you can easily pry the bearing out of the
wheel.
Alternate method:
Some wheels hold bearings really tightly, and because of that twisting them out can be difficult. Instead push the screwdriver through to the center of the wheel, and push the self-centering spacer over slightly until you can place the screwdriver on the inward-facing side of the center bearing race. You can then push on that to pop the bearing out the other side of the wheel.
Shield Removal
Cleaning a bearing properly requires that the side shields
be removed. Removing the shields takes some patience but if you follow these
suggestions, you should have minimal problems.
Many skaters remove only one shield from one side of each bearing, and then after re-lubing they don't replace it. Instead they put the bearings back into the wheels with the open side inwards, where the wheel, axle, and the other bearing prevent any dirt getting in the open face of the bearing anyway. Of course you have to be a little more careful to ensure you've flushed all the muck out of the bearing with this method.
For bearings with metal shields:
The trick to removing metal shields lies in getting the “C” clip out of the bearing. To remove the C clip, use a push pin. The C clip is located on the outer perimeter of the shield, tucked up under the edge of the bearing. Once the C clip is out, the side shield will come out easily.
- Look closely
at the side of the bearing and locate the c clip. Look for the opening on the
c clip and you will notice that one end of the c clip is tapered in and one
end is tapered out.
- Insert your push pin behind the end of the c clip that
is tapered in and pull back against it to get it out from under the edge of
the bearing casing.
- This takes patience, and good eyes - but it is do-able. After the C clip is removed, the side shield will pretty much fall right out. Keep after it, because the first one is pretty tough. After you get the hang of it the process goes a lot easier.
For bearings with nylon shields:
Consider yourself lucky – these are very easy to
remove. Simply use a push pin to pry the nylon shield out of the bearing. If
one spot is tough, try another until the shield pops off.
Proper bearing cleaning
Cleaning your bearings properly is a labor of love. It
takes time and some persistence, but can pay of in smooth spinning, quiet bearings.
The key is to follow the procedure carefully. Here are a few easy steps that
will make things a bit easier:
- Remove the side shields from at least one side of all bearings. See the Side shield section if you are not familiar with how to remove the shields.
- Clean the bearings. The best product we have seen for cleaning
bearings is the Turbo Wash. This thing makes cleaning your bearings not only
easier, but you can do a much better job of it. Be sure to clean the bearings,
filter the cleaner through a paper towel, and then clean them again. Once you
can re-clean the bearings without making the Citrus cleaning liquid dirty again,
you are ready for the next step.
- Dry the bearings completely. There are two ways to do this.
Either leave the bearings out to dry overnight, or use a blow dryer to dry all
solvent from the bearings. This is very important. If any solvent is left in
the bearing during the re-lube phase, the new lubricant will break down much
sooner than anticipated.
- Relube the bearings with the oil of your choice. For clean
dry surfaces, a lighter oil will work fine and spin great. Keep in mind that
lighter oils do not last very long and must be relubricated regularly. If you
don’t like to clean and lube your bearings often, go with a Gel style lubricant.
These gels won’t hurt the spin of your bearings noticeably and will last
much longer.
When should you clean and relube?
We recommend cleaning your bearings only when you start
to get bearing noise and develop a scratchy sound. The less you fool with them,
the better they will last. Depending on how clean your surface is, you may be
cleaning your bearings often or hardly at all. It is not unusual to go as long
as a couple of years without cleaning and relubing your bearings.
Proper Bolt Adjustment
When reinstalling your wheels, adjusting the bolts properly
is important to a good spinning wheel. The way to determine the correct tightness
of the bolt is this:
- Tighten the bolt just a little then grab the wheel and twist it in the chassis laterally. Notice the play in the wheel? You will feel a definite bumping as you twist the wheel.
- Keep tightening the wheel until you just barely eliminate the play in the wheel. This is the correct tightness.
- If you have trouble with your bolts staying put at this tightness level, go to an auto parts store and get a product called Loctite. Get the "Blue" version. This will hold the bolts steady and you can still get them out later when you need to.
A quick note on wheel spin:
One important thing to know is that a wheel spinning in
mid air really well does not necessarily outperform a wheel that does not spin
as well in midair. With your weight on it, the bearings themselves will produce
the spin. When holding the skate and spinning the wheels with the bolts loose,
the bearings are not producing all the spin, but rather the whole unit is somewhat
spinning around the loose axle. None of that loose spin (slop spin) helps you
when you are actually skating. So, don’t be afraid to remove the play from
the wheels – even if it take some of the mid-air spin away. The “clicking”
you hear while skating will go away and a more solid feeling skate will result
in proper bolt adjustment.
©2002 EPuck.com; All Rights Reserved.
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