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Comments: Hi PRO! Thanks for the help with the "How To" dye rc parts. It worked great! Here's my next question: How do you clean your car's bearings? Is there any way of performing this task with readily available tools or is this something, that should be left to the pros? Response: There are two ways to clean the ball bearings in your car, the "good way" and the "bad way".
The "good way" to clean and lubricate your ball bearings requires more time but the benefits are well worth it. First, you must remove one of the dirt shields on the ball bearing. There is a tiny C Clip between the shield and the outer race of the bearing. This shield must be removed. To remove it you need a sharp exacto blade to snap the C Clip out of place (be sure not to loose the C Clip in the process). Once the C Clip is removed the shield will fall out. Once the shield is removed you spray the entire bearing (including the removed shield) with contact cleaner. Since the shield is removed all dirt within the bearing will easily be flushed out. After the bearing is clean, you re-pack the bearing with grease. Use a white lithium grease available at your local hardware store for a very reasonable price. Use your exacto blade again to push the white lithium directly onto the balls within the ball bearing. Once you have packed the internal parts of the ball bearing with grease you can install the shield again. this is easily done by placing the shield onto the bearing and snapping the C Clip in place again. It is as simple as that. As I mentioned, this method can be very time consuming but you will now have a ball bearing that is in exactly the same state as it was when you first received it from the manufacturer. Another note, many companies are using a Teflon sealed bearing now. The Teflon bearings offer a very good seal. I NEVER clean Teflon sealed bearings. Once they start to feel gritty in any way, I replace them. They will last much longer than a metal shielded bearing as it is very difficult for dirt to enter them. Let's take off a few tenths per lap, "PRO" Contact us | Pro Racer Secrets | Racers Corner Copyright 1998 - 2000. Sirace Services, all rights reserved. |
I'll
cover the "bad way" first. The simple way to clean your bearings is to
just spray them with a contact cleaner of some kind (like brake cleaner or motor
cleaner). This will remove some dirt from them and all of the grease (ball bearings
come from the manufacturer pre packed in grease so they don't require any further
lubrication). Once you are done spraying the bearings with cleaner you apply a light
oil and allow it to enter the bearing through one of the slots between the dirt shield and
inner race of the bearing. This method just explained is the "bad way" to
clean bearings and this is why.... First, when you spray a sealed bearing with
contact cleaner not all of the dirt is removed, a lot of the dirt within the bearing gets
forced against the opposite bearing shield only to fall back into the moving parts of
the ball bearing once it is used again. Second, when a solvent such as a contact
cleaner is sprayed into the bearing all of the pre packed manufacturer grease is removed
and the bearing is left dry. To solve this problem we put drops of light oil in the
bearing which easily flies out (which attracts dirt) and does not provide sufficient
lubrication to the moving parts of the bearing for any length of time. This means
that constant re-oiling and maintenance is required to keep the ball bearing performing
well. Way too much work for an inferior performing ball bearing.