Bearing Maintnance?

Eroick said:

Should you lube your bearings in any way to help them out? Is WD-40 a
good idea?

WD-40 is a bad idea for healthy bearings. Although WD-40 displaces
water (good) it also dissolves grease (bad) so you should keep it away
from bearings that you don't plan to carefully pack with grease
afterwards. WD-40 acts as a lubricant for a short period of time after
which it evaporates.

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harper

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Would regular axle grease that you find in auto parts stores be ok for
bearingsand axles, or should I use something else?😕

--
terrybigwheel

Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".

Uni is just a cycle I'm going through. 😎

You -can- "Tune a fish". You simply adjust their "scales"! 😄
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terrybigwheel said:

Would regular axle grease that you find in auto parts stores be ok for
bearingsand axles, or should I use something else?

Yes, if the bearings aren't sealed they're easy to pack and axle grease
is fine. The seals can be popped off of them and popped back on pretty
easily if they are sealed. Depending on the bearing, it might be so
cheap that it would be better to just buy new ones. I can't think of
why you would want to grease an axle other than to put a crank on.

--
harper

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

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How would you go about popping off the seals ??????

--
polyphonic Hippie
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polyphonic Hippie said:

How would you go about popping off the seals ??????

Most people use a club:
[image: http://www.harpseals.org/gallery/mpegs/hunteryellowjacket.jpg]
Personally, I prefer using a handgun, but that's just because I like to
take every opportunity to pop a cap.

--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
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polyphonic Hippie said:

How would you go about popping off the seals ??????

A typical pick that you find at the hardware store works just fine,
just be careful not to damage the seal.
The attached pics (tee hee) are presented at the McMaster-Carr website;
there are a bunch.

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'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
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U-Turn said:

A typical pick that you find at the hardware store works just fine, just
be careful not to damage the seal.
The attached pics (tee hee) are presented at the McMaster-Carr website;
there are a bunch.

Why the heck would you want to open -sealed- bearings? Aren't they
sealed for a reason? Do they actually need maintinence, cleaning and
repacking often, or at all? 😕

--
terrybigwheel

Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".

Uni is just a cycle I'm going through. 😎

You -can- "Tune a fish". You simply adjust their "scales"! 😄
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terrybigwheel said:

Why the heck would you want to open -sealed- bearings? Aren't they
sealed for a reason? Do they actually need maintinence, cleaning and
repacking often, or at all? 😕

Well, if your uni landed in salt or even fresh water, or you ended up in
a lot of sand, it might pay to remove the seals, wash out the bearing
with degreaser, blow out the bearing well, repack it (squirt in more
bearing grease), and replace the seals. If you rotate the bearing, and
it has a gritty feel, then it's possible that the above procedure will
help smooth out the bearing once again. If, of course, a ball is
broken, then repacking will not help and you need to replace the
bearing.

The seals on the bearings we use are more like impediments, not actual
watertight compartments. They kinda keep the dust out, and the grease
in. This keeps the cost of the bearings way down.

Another reason to repack a bearing set is to use a different grease for
extreme environmental conditions, such as extreme cold.

There may be exceptions to the above procedure, so if you have specific
questions, you are welcome to email me at 'LiveWire Unicycles'
([email hidden]).

The SKF website has many good pages on bearing seals if you are keen on
the topic.

--
U-Turn

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
'LiveWire Unicycles' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com)
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'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)
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U-Turn said:

The SKF website has many good pages on bearing seals if you are keen on
the topic.

Alms? Alms? Alms for the poor?

...er...

Links? Links? Links for the lazy?
[image: http://exsane.info/files/images/alms.preview.jpg]

--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
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maestro8 said:

Alms? Alms? Alms for the poor?

...er...

Links? Links? Links for the lazy?

'SKF Bearings' (http://www.skf.com/portal/skf//home)

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-Greg Harper

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My bearings are lubricated with smooth, slippery mud and maintained with
the power of ignorance. I find that the resistance they add even when a
bit gritty is next to nothing compared to the tyre on the road and my
awesome speed against the wind.

When they eventually become so stiff that they won't turn when left in
the garage for a few days, they just get replaced, none of this faffing
around with trying to unseal the seals...

Phil

--
phil

"Cattle Prods solve most of life's little problems."
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maestro8 said:

Most people use a club:
[image: http://www.harpseals.org/gallery/mpegs/hunteryellowjacket.jpg]
Personally, I prefer using a handgun, but that's just because I like to
take every opportunity to pop a cap.

I don't think it's funny.😠
I hate people who hurte animals for no reason or for there fur and it's
nothing to make jokes of!

--
Probailer2

Originally Posted by john_childs
Mmmmm... Sexy welds.
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harper said:

'SKF Bearings' (http://www.skf.com/portal/skf//home)

I was hoping for a link to the articles U-Turn had mentioned... I found
the home page but I found the site/search hard to navigate...

--
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maestro8 said:

I was hoping for a link to the articles U-Turn had mentioned... I found
the home page but I found the site/search hard to navigate...

Just click on Products and look around, there is lots of material to
look at. The articles discussing seals, sealing technology,
lubricants, etc etc etc, are spread all over the place. There's a
small entry fee for this information -- a little time to get to know
the place. It's not like a textbook where pedagogical techniques are
used to carefully time the material.

--
U-Turn

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
'LiveWire Unicycles' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com)
'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)
'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)
'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)
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