Long story short, my little girl LOVES to roller skate. She has her own skates and goes at least once a week. The skate wheels have a bearing on each side (8 per skate) and they are greased. But, when she skates for an hour + at a time they must get hot, because they've melted the grease out and it is picking up all kinds of gunk. Mostly hair, but they are gumming all up and are hard to turn.

Anyway, I got her a set of replacement bearings, but the old ones I think would be okay if I could just clean them up better. I think maybe I could soak them in something to dissolve the grease, then use some 3 in 1 oil or something on them to lube them back up.

I know I could just replace the bearings every so often, but that gets kinda expensive.

What do you all think?

 

I've always used mineral spirits...works for me.

 

Best bet is to get the double sealed bearings and wipe them off after each use. If you don't keep them cleaned off at least a little the hair and junk will get under seals and cut them. A rinse with simple green does wonders on the sealed bearings and it also cleans the wheels.

Ones with just shields need a good cleaning every few times out. Solvent wash and regrease. Don't spin them with the air hose however. You will get messy with the regrease but it's what you gotta do. Don't leave too much on the outside as it will come off and either you or someone else can run over it and take a nasty fall. Some guys used to use MC spray chain grease. Nasy stuff but it stays put.

I used to skate a lot in the old days before the funky music.

 

Good ideas. It would help if she didn't skate around the house all day while I'm at work too. Both she and my wife have pretty long hair, so it get wrapped up on both of their skates. I have been cleaning them pretty regular to keep the majority of stuff out, but there was one that got pretty bad. I do have sealed bearings, but the grease is coming right out of the old ones.

I'll have to try the simple green and see how it goes. I think I've got some of the spray chain stuff, so I might give that a try.

I personally stay off the rink so as not to endanger myself and any children who might be in my path, but both of them like it, so us boys (my 10-month old son and I) watch from the outside.

 

Isn't that what ya buy skates for .... skating ???

An aerosol can of brake-clean will blast out the gunk ... you'll have to re-lubricate afterwards.

Cheers,
PISTOL

 

Sealed ABEC 5 bearings will last longest and provide the best bang for the buck. Also there are issues on how the trucks (wheel carriers), wheels and spacers are made that affect bearing life.

Go to a skate specialty shop and you will see all the hardware and maintenance stuff for skates.

Below is a link with cleaning instruction

http://www.edsbearings.com/

 

Pull off one shield per bearing to make cleaning and relubing easier. That's what I used to do in my skateboarding days. I used mineral spirits to clean and lubed with motor oil. Reinstall with the intact shield facing out of the wheel, of course.

 

ah, ha. a skateboarder on here? back before i got to old for that, i used swiss bones bearings (abec 7?) slick as a wet cat.

 

Well. . .yes. But the long hair from each of them gets on the floor, then on the skates. I don't think it's quite as bad at the rink. It does give me a chance to wrench on something and she thinks it's pretty cool to take them apart, so it's not all bad.

They are ABEC 5 bearings that I put in there. They're the same size as many skateboard, rollerblade, etc., so I found a place online that specializes in them for much less than the rink wanted for replacements.

I know there are better quality and smoother bearings out there, but my little girl is only 4, so I don't want anything too slick out there. She'd end up looking like me on skates. I spend more time inspecting the floor for flatness than anything.

I do appreciate all of the advice and will give it a try on the old bearings. If it doesn't work, then we do have a new set installed now and will do a better job with them. We're all learning here. My wife told me she thought they were working good, they had started making the snap-snap-snap noise like all of the skates at the rink. I nicely explained that those were dry bearings and that wasn't a good thing.