Ball Bearing Maintenance: How do you go about it?
 

Greetings,
Every week or so I will strip my 04 to clean up and check for damage, and cleaning the bearings of the diffs and hub carriers is annoying... What I'm doing right now is a large blob of BlueTack (think putty) to get rid of all the stuff that's stuck in there. But I'd appreciate some tips on how to keep my bearings in tip top condition.

Thanks!

Regards,
Alvin

There are several methods of cleaning bearings some are a pain in the ass but effective, others are easy but not so effective;

1. Pry out the side cover from one side of the bearing so it exposes the balls, blast with motor spray. Install the bearing with open side on the inside of the hub. Most effective way of cleaning but bearing can die quicker!

2. Buy a bearing/glasses cleaner (one of those ultrasonic vibration things!) soak bearing in thinners and vibrate.

3. This is one of my favourite! Drip bearing oil onto one face of the bearing, spin the bearings, use a tissue to clean. Keep repeating until the oil flowing through the bearing is clean.... this can take forever but it leaves very clean, lubricated bearings!

On each one of the above, don't forget to lube afterwards with bearing oil! The easiest method is probably 2. but does not get rid of all the dirt.

I was wondering if there is an ultra large size ultrasonic cleaner so that you can put the whole car into the cleaner without dissemble the car. :batman: :ha: :ha:

i pry open the seal ... all of the bearings and place em in a bottle
spray wd40 and make sure it covers all the bearings ....shake it slowly ... and then remove bearings and flush the bottle ...
i keep on doing it ... untill the wd40 comes out clean ...
then i take the bearing individually and shake it again to make dubble sure everything is clean after then i soak al bearings in a solvent called CRC 2-26 ( its kerosine) OR Soft 99 oil spray which is also kerosine to remove the sticky feeling that the wd40 gives after its dried up ... do not leave the bearings around after washing it with wd40 u will ruin ur bearings ... after washing it with the solvent ... i place em under the sun to dry em up and later i will take a small amount of 5w mobil 1 engine oil and soak the bearings in it ... then i will take them out and replace the seal while leaving it on a KITCHEN tissue to soak up the excess oil
i did this 2 years ago and all my bearings is still running fine....:)
the only ones i changed are those which is holding the main drive shaft which holds the SPur gear and thats because the shaft is bent and the bearings screwed up together with the shaft ...
replaced the shaft and bearings and no problems at all after that

:ha: :ha: :ha: Yes, mount an off-centred motor onto your bath!!!!:D :D :D

You can speed up the "sun" bit by using a hairdryer!

Dudes, some questions!

a) dtm: What's bearing oil? Any links about this? I have this "ZX1 Micro Lube" will it work?

b) imaquito: how do you remove the seal anyway? And can they be re-sealed?

Thanks!

~Alvin

Trinty makes a good bearing oil, it is reddish in colour use to be called "royal oil" but I think it has changed its name. Bearing oil is just very thin oil.

If you look closely on the side of the bearing you will see that the seal is held in place with an internal C-clip, pry this out with a sharp knife (be careful!) and the seal will pop out!

as far as bearing oil is concerned, I find the serpent one-way lube works best with bearing. the best way to test it is to dyno a motor before and after appying the serpent lube. ;)

Manticore- Stop giving me more ideas for 'tests' my schedule is too full with GP already! :D :D :D

um .. like dtm said theres a C clip if u look carefully ... well maybe u wont see it but its there and its removable and it can be fixxed back

Ok after so many passes at the ball bearings, i FINALLY noticed, indeed, there is a "C-clip" around the bearing edges! Ok dumb, but I was looking for "E-Clips" bwahaha.

Ok I'll gotta try prying 'em open next time I clean my car totally. I only managed to lub my bearings with the ZX1 oil mentioned above. Indeed the car is now much smoother with the bearings lubed.

question
 

Why it will ruin my bearings with WD40 if I leave it like that?

The best bearing lube I have EVER used is sold by Big John Zubak. Its called Speed Lube. Works wonders.

ea

Re: question
 

WD40 leaves a brown residue after a while!