what do you use to lube your bearings

C omplete W acko B oarder · Newbie Joined: 10 Jan 2004 Posts: 42 City: Dublin

twitch88 · Posted: Jun 05, 2004 1:00 pm Post subject:

used to use powell speed cream but now i just use 3 in 1.

Blabelmooch · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 212 City: San Diego

Clean with WD-40 and lube with speed cream.

C omplete W acko B oarder · Newbie Joined: 10 Jan 2004 Posts: 42 City: Dublin

Yeh i was usin WD-40 but i was wonder if speed cream is good

twitch88 · Posted: Jun 11, 2004 2:56 pm Post subject:

simple green works great for cleaning.

Blabelmooch · Outlaw Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 212 City: San Diego

WD is good but it strips away the lube that your bearings need. That's why I hit them up with speed cream.

The sure do roll nice after doing that though. Not to mention I have Swiss bearings.

colefooter · Posted: Jun 11, 2004 5:06 pm Post subject:

I do exactly what Blabelmooch does. Works like a charm.

Zara · Criminal Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 68

DO NOT USE WD-40 TO CLEAN/LUBE/ANYTHING YOUR BEARINGS... the formula is actually corosive to the bearing and causes faster wear and tear to the bearing.

...sorry about the caps, I just wanted to convey the seriousness of the matter. A wet cloth and some Q-Tips should clean out all the gunk quite nicely...

Zara

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

what are you guys talking about cleaning your bindings? I've never cleaned mine or felt the need to.

Elevation · Posted: Jun 16, 2004 6:35 am Post subject:

read the topic.... bearings not bindings

because you use bindings on a skateboard. Rolling Eyes

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

oh, yeah I have a tendency of not reading all of the letters in a word Rolling Eyes

Tarcisius · Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 10

here is how you do it right

These are instructions that come with Rockets bearing, the best in the world, seriously, better than bones guys...

Instructions:

Keep your Rockets clean ! The internal clearance of your bearings is .0003-.0005” . It won’t take much dirt and contamination to slow your bearing down. The Rockets with its Special Labyrinth Inner Ring/Seal design will keep your bearings cleaner and lasting longer than any other 608 bearings out there. However, the oil will run out and the bearing will get dirty over time. As soon as you hear you’re bearings making any noise, not spin freely, or gets wet. STOP ! Don’t continue to use the bearings. Don’t rotate dirty bearings. You are now due to clean and relubricate your bearings. I relubricate mine after every 50 hours of riding. The oil will run out usually before the Rockets get dirty. Your bearings must be kept clean and lubricated to keep them alive ! How long the bearings last depend on you.

Method:

1) Carefully remove the non-contact seal with a bent paper clip or something similar. The paper clip must be small enough to fit between the cage and outer race. Push the seal out with the end of the paper clip or tool from the opposite side of the seal by sliding the tool through the opening between the ball cage and the outer ring. The seal should pop-out easily. Be careful not to bend seal. Seal must stay straight. Extra Seals have been supplied with your bearings in case the seal does get bent or torn. Always re-install the seal on the Open Ball side of the cage, and install 1 seal only for ease of cleaning and lubricating later.
2) It is not necessary or recommended to completely disassemble bearing. Your Rockets have a special ball cage with special clearances that can be damaged when removing the ball cage. I recommend NOT removing the ball cage and balls. You can clean the bearings just fine with the bearing “open”.
3) Soak your bearings in your cleaning solution. What solution…Good question and a lot of people have opinions. Unlike most cleaning instructions I’ve seen for bearings, I will not use anything but solvents. Environmental people may not like to hear that but I’m concerned what is best for the bearing! DO NOT use Water based cleaners, detergents, Citrus base cleaners or WD40! Some of these aqueous type cleaners use “surfactants” to clean the bearings. Surfactants and penetrants can hurt the “wet ability” of the steel, not allowing oil and grease to stick to the surface of the steel properly. I recommend using kerosene or mineral spirits as a Preliminary wash. Don’t use Isopropyl Alcohol for your initial wash however we are going to use it later. With kerosene and mineral sprits the bearings can even be soaked overnight if needed, however, with low concentration Alcohol 70%, left overnight, bearing could rust. Soak bearings for at least a few minutes at least to give Solvent a chance to dissolve the dirty lubricant and contaminants. I like using a little Stainless Steel Strainer with one or two bearing at a time and “dunk” them and “agitate” them in the solvent. Try to skim on top and let oil/dirt fall to bottom. Repeat process in clean solvent in new container. After bearing is completely clean and free of foreign matter switch over to the Isopropyl Alcohol, the higher the concentration the better. The sole purpose of the Alcohol will be to “Rinse” the bearings and remove all “solvent residue”. This step is important to assure the surface of the steel is ready for the lubricant. Shake or agitate the bearings in the Alcohol, remembering not to leave in Alcohol for very long. No soaking is required at this point. The Alcohol should evaporate and leave you a “bone dry” bearing. Use a blow dryer and make sure bearing is COMPLETELY dry and cooled down before adding lube. This is very important.
4) Do not wash seals in solvent. Very carefully wipe seal down with a little alcohol on a lint free rag if necessary. Replace the seal making sure it seats in the inner and outer ring grooves.
5) Add 2 Drops of Rocket Propellant or Equivalent Oil. Use Grease if you are only going to sidewalk skate. Only add enough grease to fill three ball pockets.

For the Record your Rockets Skateboard Bearings were cleaned and relubricated:

a) Through a 5 step wash including Ultrasonically cleaning in AK-225 cleaning solution costing $170.00 a Gallon and filtered to ½ Micron.
b) With Rocket Propellant specifically designed for pool and vert skating application, filtered to .045 Microns.
c) Lubricated, Packaged and Preserved in Class 1000 Clean Room along side bearings being lubricated for Boeing Commercial Aircraft and Department of Defense Contracts.

you can pick these up at www.californiabearing.com/skate.htm

Elevation · Posted: Jun 21, 2004 10:37 am Post subject:

man sounds too complicated and long to me i just take mine out and wipe the grease off every once in a while.

Tarcisius · Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 10

ok then, heres the simplified version Razz

step #1 take bearings out of wheels, then take rubber shield off

step #2 soak bearings open side faced down in a pot of your solution
...soak 3 mins

step #3 dunk bearings into isopropyl aclohol and shake them around(you can find all this stuff anywhere)

step #4 blow dry your bearings dry

step #5 add two drops of speed cream(Bones) or anything like it in every bearing

enjoy

People, the bearing companies WANT you to burn up bearings fast and buy new ones

the truth is your bearing when properly taken care of will last so damn long and be so freaking smooth.

Elevation · Posted: Jun 21, 2004 2:55 pm Post subject:

that is probably a really good process but it seems like too much work for me even though i like that kinda stuff, id rather just skate.
my process is....

1. take the wheels off
2.take all bearings out of the wheels
3.use a rag and wipe all the grease off the bearings, spacers, and inside of the wheel
4. if im lucky use some speed cream or lube from ona my friends
5. put stuff back in and skate