Cleaning Your Bearings

Over time your bearings can collect dust and dirt which builds up inside and on the outside of your bearings. So what's the big deal about dirt in your bearings? The inside of your bearings are a bunch of little steal balls, whenever dirt gets inside it causes friction and doesn't let them roll as fast.

Cleaning your bearings is very overlooked by most skaters but they're the most important part of your board. With clean bearings you can roll better and not have to push as much making your skateboarding more enjoyable.



Here are a few things you'll need to get started. You board of course, some paper towels, and a 1/2 inch wrench or socket and some lubricant. 

 
1. Take off a wheel by using your 1/2 inch socket or wrench. 


 
Here you can see how diry the bearings are. 


 
2. Take your wheel and stick the last 1/4 of it in the axel of your truck. 


 
3. Pry the bearing out by pulling on the wheel at a 45 degree angle. 


 
4. Now you should have the bearing in your hands and you're ready to start cleaning it. 



 
5. Take the paper towel and clean off all the outside of the bearing, taking off any grease or dirt. 


 
6. Now that all the dirt is out take your lubricant and apply a thin coat around the bearing. Make sure you apply it to both sides. 


 
7. To make sure the lubricant gets inside the bearings spin it in your hands for a few minutes. You may need to apply lubricant again. 



 
8. Once you've spun the bearing around for a bit you'll noticed more dirt comes out. Your bearings should still have lubricant on them. 


 
9. Now you need to take off the excess lubricant and dirt. Take a new, clean, paper towel and rube the extra dirt and lubricant off the bearings until they're clean and dry. 


 
See the difference between dirty and clean bearings?

10. Repeat these steps for all your bearings until they're clean and lubricated. Now you have nice clean bearings that are good as new and ready for a few more weeks of skating.

Tips: Make sure you put down some newspaper underneith your work area. It's better if you can do this on a hard floor, don't do it on carpet because you'll stain it and it's impossible to get grease out.

Also change your paper towels often, after cleaning a wheel get a new peice and use seperate peices to take off the excess lube.