Bearing life

I have been throwing my ricochet for atleast an hour a day since it arrived and the bearing started making loud noises so thought I could hook it up with some thin lube to help it out. Well that hasn’t helped and think it spins even slower/less long after applying a tiny amount.

Should I take it and soak it clean then retest? I have a few different bearings on the way so have thrown the chief today and it seems to be wearing out too as in need of cleaning or lube.

I have plenty of new bearings in the mail but surely they don’t need replacing every 20 hours or so do they? Is it just a wearing thing that they now need to be cleaned? If so do I just use them dry after cleaning or add the smallest amount of lube to a clean bearing as possible?

The Ricochet comes with a CenterTrac bearing, which in my experience has been a very good bearing. The loud noises could be the bearing breaking in. Lube might quiet it, but as you’ve observed, it WILL slow down the bearing and the yoyo. You’re adding a viscous fluid into a precision device.

I think your thought process is spot on. I would recommend cleaning out the bearing. I prefer to use acetone. You can use your solvent of choice. How you choose to play your bearing afterwards is your choice. I’ve been having fantastic results using Dry Play. But, in the meantime, if you’re gonna lube, then use the needed/pin dip method. This is where you dip the needle in the lube, then what sticks to the needle forms a tiny drop that yo touch to a ball in the bearing. Spin it to work it through and that should do it.

I’ve put some heavy hours on a lot of yoyos. I have had a few bad bearings, but those have been bad pretty much initially. Sometimes bad bearings won’t reveal themselves for a while. If cleanings fail, it’s usually not worth the effort to try to bring them back. Also, some people claim to have been playing their bearings dry for years with heavy hours and no problems. I don’t have the time in yet to confirm this myself. I suspect those who are saying this are generally calling it like they’ve been seeing it.

Remember, for yoyos, lube merely prevents wear. It otherwise gives a performance hit. A tiny performance hit shouldn’t really effect anyone that much. With lube, less is usually more.

So, following your instinct. Clean them out and see if it helps.

Thanks. Yea I actually put a drop in the bearing which was obviously too much. Will soak and throw it dry.

Did you drop that lube in UNSHIELDED? Shielded, half a drop or less is more than sufficient.

Let us know how it goes.