Can I clean my bearings without lube?

How do I clean my bearings without lube and how

How could you clean your bearings with lube, you’re cleaning your bearings to get rid of lube.

Your qestion does not make very much sence…

I clean my bearings with lighter fluid and I run them dry (no lube…ever). Hope that clears things up. Also the how part, get a small (prefferably glass) jar that is watertight and put the bearing in there, then fill up the jar with lighter fluid (or denatured alcohol, mineral spirits, ect.) until the bearing or bearings are submerged and then either let sit for about 3 minutes or give it a light shaking or stirring to help clean the bearing.

Remove from solution, spin on tip of a pencil until dry and then enjoy.

Do you mean without a solvent like mineral spirits or without a a lube like YYJ Thin? You can’t clean a bearing without mineral spirits or lighter fluid, but you can clean the bearing and not apply lube.

lube does not clean bearings… count on mineral spirits, paint thinner, lighter fluid, or dish soap to do that… make sure you know how to use those chemicals as the first three are harsh chemicals and are known to cause problems if you touch and leave them on your skin, crack plastic yoyos, and often have laws regarding their disposal… if you use dish soap and water with a toothbrush, then make sure your bearing gets dried properly

and if you want, use a tiny drop of lube to ensure the longevity of your bearings, but beware, it will slow them down

Sorry I thought they sold the lube to clean your bearings :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :’( :-\ ??? >:(

Lube is sold to lubricate bearings.

Don’t confuse that with things like the YYJ thin lube is also designed to break down YYJ THICK lube so you can change your responsiveness. Many people like to use 2 drops of thick lube and 1 drop of thin lube when lubing their Unleashed and Loop900 yoyos.

So if I stick my bearings in a plastic test tube with liter fluid let it sit in there 3min. take it out and… blow dry it, air dry it, towel dry it, rag dry it, sun dry it, paper towel dry it. and this it going to improve it’s sleep time right that’s really what I wanted to know

Be carefull if you use a plastic tube because the lighter fluid will melt plastic so I suggest glass. Also don’t use a towel because the fibers will get in the bearing and make it worse, use the cloth that they have to clean glasses with or to clean electirc appliances because they don’t fray and get into the delicate parts.

If your bearings are perfectly clear of any lubricant, steel against steel, they will gall in a few throws.
If you just use mineral spirits or other mild solvents you are just thinning down the existing oil a bit.

I feel like an idiot for asking a stupid question without looking more into the matter. sorry for wasting any ones time but I think I got the whole thing down. I hope I gave somebody at least a good laugh… :’(

I usually sink mine in mineral spirits on ceramic mug/glass jar for 5-10mins, turning the bearing over and swishing it around then finally I put it on a paper towel, shake it abit(I don’t want mineral spirits to get on my fingers) then spin it dry on a pencil tip or a screw driver(make sure the screw driver isn’t magnetized to avoid your bearing balls getting magnetized).

mineral spirits will melt plastic too right?

Yessir.

Gall means that the balls fuse with the inner race. But it is not limited to bearings, many raw yoyos have galled with there bearings. Just trying to clear that up.