Will it effect play if you run a bearing with one shield removed??? Thanks
No. Many people remove both shields on purpose. Having none, or just one, or both… none of these will affect the bearing unless the shield is improperly installed.
Some even come to you deshielded when you buy them. I’ve actually had occasions where I cleaned a bearing buy neglected to check the shields before replacing them, only to find debris getting lodged in the bearing that had been on the shield before. I just like them shielded for identification purposes and to lower my chances for debris entering them.
Shields main purpose is to keep lube in.
So if you keep your yoyo bearing heavily lubed you will want to keep them on the bearing.
Otherwise the yoyo its self shields the bearing so they are perty well useless.
I have 10+ year old bearing that haven’t had shields on them the whole time. They are fine.
On the flip side I don’t take them off till I have a problem with bearings. Most of the time when I finally do take them out there are balls of string fiber lodged into the bearing because there was no way for it to get out. With out the shields they may fall in but they fall right back out. With the shields in they get stuck, since the only way out would be for them to move to the center of the bearing and out the gap that sits there.