Bearing Weirdness.

My bearing was making some noise so I put some lube in it. I played on but it kept making that noise. So I put another drop of lube in. The noise is still there. Is it something other than my bearing? Is there something inside it?

That means it’s dirty.

Remember, lube doesn’t actually clean the bearing.

Clean it, then lube it.

Clean it in Alcohol, or Peroxide.

Then lube it slightly.

So I put a drip of alcohol in it? This would be my first time cleaning a bearing so I have no idea how to do so.

I haven’t tried acohol yet but using acetone to clean your bearing is one good way to clean your bearings.
And, remember, after you clean it. You must wait until your bearing is completely dry, then lube it with just a very little amount of lube, if you apply too much lube, your bearing will become responsive. :wink:
Bye.

Find a video. You have to soak it in the cleaner. I use mineral spirits. Then after like 5 minutes you take it out, spin it on a pencil until it is dry, and put a drop of lube in, or no lube at all.

I wouldn’t use alcohol or peroxide. The former can accelerate corrosion. The latter I just don’t know anything about as a bearing cleaner.

The most commonly recommended solvents for cleaning are acetone, mineral spirits, lighter fluid (there are two kinds; you want whichever Zippo uses). These will remove the lube you’ve added, as well as whatever debris is causing the noise.

Not just a drip. You deshield the bearing, put the solvent in a suitable container (acetone will dissolve many plastics, so be careful!), and agitate the bearing in the solvent (ie. shake it, or if the container has no lid, at least vigorously stir it!!).

Before lubing, ensure the bearing is dry with both time and “flicking” it on the end of a pencil (which never works for me) or a japanese-style chopstick (which always works for me!) or anything that can hold the bearing snug while you flick it. It sometimes takes a minute of flicking for a wet bearing to gain some speed and for some of the noise to smooth out.

If the noise is then gone, you’ve removed the debris, and you can go to a TINY amount of lube if you want, or keep it dry. Reinstall the bearing.

If there’s still debris, try again. Maybe investigate ways to do a more thorough cleaning (packing with automotive swirl remover, using the “paper slip” method, for example) if it doesn’t help on second try.

If nothing seems to be working, get a new bearing and throw that one out. It’s not worth your energy trying to resuscitate something that may have simply worn out or otherwise become “broken”.

I’ll use these suggestions and tell you my results.

Well I used lighter fluid to clean the bearing. I let it sit for 45 mins after doing the chopstick spin for like 3 mins. I then added a drop of YYF thin lube. Re-installed the bearing. No more noise. Thanks everyone for the help!