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SURFSKATE

Surfskate maintenance

How to clean bearings and bushing on your skate

Bearing cleaning is something that all skate owners tend to put off but the day comes when it is no longer possible to ignore it. I have decided to make it their own in these days of the second Lockdown.

My skates needed them, they asked me and they've been showing it to me for some time when I used them. Slow, noisy and too dirty ... it seemed to go with the brake on! At some point, cleaning is essential in order not to damage the bearings.

If the wheel stops spinning or turns badly there are two cases: either the nut is too tight or simply this is the symptom that the dirt is creating friction inside the bearing. If the bearing loses the lubricant inside or if it is full of dust and dirt it risks being scratched or broken and at this point it will have to be replaced. This is why periodically do a complete cleaning of wheels and bearings.

So here's a step-by-step guide to cleaning your surfskate bearings

1. REMOVE THE WHEELS

The first thing to do is remove the wheels. The thing is very simple just unscrew the only nut there is. You can use the dedicated skateboard multifunction key or any other suitable key

2. REMOVE THE BEARINGS

Surfskate maintenance

Each wheel has two bearings inside. In addition, you will generally also find a spacer and / or a washer. So a total of 8 bearings for each skate plus the other small pieces not to be missed!

Once the wheel has been removed, we need to remove the bearings. To do this you can use a normal screwdriver. Putting the screwdriver sideways inside the wheel (the tip of the screwdriver must not pass the second bearing but remain inside the two bearings) make a small lateral pressure to push the bearing out. 
Same thing to remove the other bearing.

Do the same work for the other three wheels.

3. DISASSEMBLE THE BEARINGS

Surfskate maintenance

The bearings of the Skateboard are composed of various parts:

1) Outer ring
2) Inner ring
3) Cage (delrin) where the balls are housed, which in the case of surfskates are generally 6 or 7.
4) Shielding: the ring on the outside of the bearing that protects it from dirt.

The bearings are generally identified by a code: ABEC 5, ABEC7, ABEC9 and so on. Unlike what many think, Abec does not indicate the number of balls inside or the speed of the bearing but the ABEC scale is a system for classifying the construction tolerance of precision bearings. On the ABEC scale, bearings are marked with an odd number from 1 to 11 higher number = smaller tolerance = more expensive bearings. So even if the ABEC number does not actually indicate the speed it is generally directly proportional to it as a better quality bearing will also be faster.

Regarding the balls inside the bearing, these are generally made of steel, but there are also ceramic ones.
Without going into technicalities, we can simply say that ceramic balls have the advantage of not heating up, are generally of better quality and tend to be faster, however their cost is much higher. 

But let's get back to cleaning our bearings now

Once all the bearings have been removed we must open the panel that protects the bearing from dirt (the shield). To disassemble it we can use the tip of a knife by prying on one edge.

The bearing has two sides: on one side there is the plastic cage which serves to keep the balls in position, on the other the shield that we have to open to clean. If you have mistakenly removed the side of the cage, close it again.

4. CLEANING THE BEARINGS

We come to the cleaning of the bearing. Ever since I was a kid and rollerblading I have always used gasoline for cleaning. It has so many advantages. In addition to degreasing and completely removing any residual dirt, it must not be rinsed with water and evaporates quickly. 

If you don't have gasoline on hand, there are many other things that you can use with excellent results: white spirit, white petroleum, nitro thinner or a good degreaser for bicycle chains. 

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The degreaser, unlike gasoline, must be rinsed with water after use, so it is important to make sure that no traces of water remain.

But let's proceed step by step.
Once the protective panels have been removed, take a jar of petrol and immerse the bearings for 5/10 minutes. You will see that after a while you put the bearings in the jar, the petrol will change color and turn black.

After 10 minutes remove the bearings from the jar and one by one try to rotate them. You will see that the bearing will already turn much better than before.

If necessary, you can also scrub them with a toothbrush. Once they are shiny again, dry them well with a rag. Also help yourself with an air compressor or a hairdryer to dry the bearings perfectly.
It is essential that they do not stay wet because humidity can cause them to rust and rusty bearings have a short life.

After they are perfectly dry, pour one / two drops of lubricating oil for each bearing. The top is the W40. 

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Try spinning the bearing again. If you hear strange noises or if the bearing turns badly it could be damaged and in this case it is advisable to replace it. I recommend in case of replacement to replace all the bearings or to choose them the same as those you already have. 

If everything went well, you can now refit the protective shield.

Since you also cleaned the wheels before reassembling the bearings. Use the degreaser ... so you will feel like you have your new skate back.

5. REFITTING THE WHEELS AND BEARINGS

At this point, refit the bearings on the wheels. It is a simple operation. Insert the outer bearing into the wheel and apply pressure. To reassemble the other the simplest thing is to place the bearing on the track, then the spacer and finally the wheel with the external bearing already mounted. Put the pressure on and that's it. Repeat for the other three wheels.

Once you have cleaned all the bearings, while you are at it, also clean the truck. Of course, the operation will be slightly different depending on the surfskate truck you have.

Cleaning of Carver CX type trucks

Let's start with the simplest case: cleaning Carver's CX trucks.
The great thing about the CX truck is that you don't have to remove it from the deck to clean it. Unscrew the central nut (both front and back). The truck is composed as follows: nut, repairella, bushing (conical), hanger, bushing (cylindrical or conical), repairella.

The reverse sequence is the one you will need to use to put everything back in place after cleaning.

Take paper and degreaser. 
This time we will not use gasoline because gasoline and rubber do not absolutely agree! Clean well and remove any dirt and grease (if you have used it). Also clean the pivot bushing.

Once disassembled you can take the opportunity to clean the grip of the board. I use some degreaser and a plastic brush. Be careful not to get the deck too wet and not to leave it damp.
There are also some species of specific rubber for cleaning the grip that work very well.

Once cleaned, reassemble the truck following the reverse sequence described above. I advise you to put a pin of grease between metal parts and bushing. As a grease the best to use is high performance marine grease.

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The grease improves the feeling of the truck and avoids noises during use, as we have already said in this post on the set up of your surfskate .

The same procedure must be repeated for the front and rear trucks.

We are done. Your skate is clean and ready to use !! 

Varianate overhead trucks YOW, carver C7

If you have a front tilting type truck, such as the Carver C7 or Truck Yow S5, for the rear follow the guide above while for the front it becomes slightly more complicated. Nothing dramatic, just that you have to remove the truck from the deck because all the mechanical part of the truck is only accessible in this way. 
Usually this part hardly needs major cleaning as it is well protected, but it may need to be oiled and greased.
For the rest proceed as for the CX. The Yow and C7 carver trucks also have a bushing set in addition to the swing plate. These must be cleaned (if they need it) as I explained above.

TRUCK SLIDE S3 VARIANT

The S3 truck slides must also be disassembled to be cleaned and oiled internally.

But here we don't have any front bushing. Once cleaned and oiled you can reassemble it to the deck and proceed to clean the rear truck.

 

Pubblicato il 19 novembre 2020 | Blog > Technique: SURFSKATE

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