Just got biltins a month ago and they are already rusting on the outside bit that touches the wheels.
How can i prevent this and why is it happening>
I dont ride in the rain
Thanks
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Its the moisture in the air in Brisbane. I moved up here from Adelaide, my bearings remained rust free in the dry of SA, but now, here in Brisbane they are rusting like you said.
Ive started greasing them rather than oiling them.
just like i said on the phone when you called the shop... accetone to remove all dirt rust and any crap, soak em in the shit for about 20 mins and then let em dry (maybe use a hair dryer, dont get water in them) then grease em up.
things that are metal just rust, its the way it is. sometimes it happens quick, sometimes it doesnt happen, but it does and thats life. theres not much u can do to prevent but its an easy fix...
pah. Best thing you can do to your bearings is leave them the hell alone. a bit of surface rust on the outer race never hurt anyone.
Acetone will degrade the rubber shields on rubber shielded bearings, so yeah go ahead and soak em in that stuff if you want your bearings sheilds to disintergrate.
Stay away from wet, and your bearings should last forever if you install them properly. spacers and washers. Spacers and washers. (UNless you the fancy precision trucks, which have the washers thing built in to the axle)
Builtins are a copy of a poor bearing design from the 70s, the mushroom bearing- used in rollerskates. The problem is the shields are too small and leave a gap between the edge of the shield and the inner race, and loads of crap can get in, also there is no shield on the inside. The best bearings are the ones with no gap between sheild and inner race, and sheilds on both sides. The high end Bones bearings, NMBs and a few other bearings have this feature. I have a set of british made NMBs from the 1970s, 'NMB SPEED bearings' they have rubber shields on both sides. I have been using them for about three years now, never cleaned em, never lubed em, they spin perfectly. (the only difference between these Speed NMBs and regular NMBs is the shields, regular NMBs have steel sheilds)
I are skate nerd
Rust,
It's free !!!
I prefer maintainable bearings with inbuilt spacers to double sealed bearings. I agree Bugs, no need for the second inner seal. The point to maintainable bearings is that you look after them; the Biltins design makes this easy. Avoid rust by regular maintenance (as Jacko said), quick wipe down after heavy sessions (as James said).
To add on to what Mack said: I have been doing experiments with biltins and white lithium grease. Someone on the 'fish suggested that if you put enough grease in (two grains of rice worth) it will fill the space between the bearings and create a temporary 'seal' in the small gap between the bearing seal and the inner ring. I used a syringe from the chemist and Castrol LMX grease, plus a chop stick to push the grease in the gaps between the bearings.
Results: bearings took longer to 'wear in' the grease than other less viscous lubes (logically). They ran smooth but slightly slower (purely subjective, I know, but I did runs outside my house, same deck and wheels just different lubed biltin sets). They seemed to keep dirt out in general but if you lose your board into the dirt they still got dirty (that 'crunchy' sound means dirt got in and you got to clean them). Grease was MUCH more difficult to extract from the bearings for a lube change, took 3x longer to clean them properly. Grease likes to stick around!
Conclusion: I have gone back to using sewing machine oil as lube. I clean and lube the biltins more regularly now but the process is much quicker.
PS - my biltin lube change routine is: kero quick soak, kero shake, hairdryer, 2 drops isoprophyl alcohol, hairdryer, 2 drops of sewing machine oil or road bike lube. Filter the used kero with a coffee filter for next time.
Your looking at it the wrong way.
Get the rust to spread to every bit of exposed steel on your board.
Spray the rest of your board with some matt black primer.
Put some white paint on the outside edge of the wheels(like white walls),
Slap on a "moon equipped" sticker or a couple of those bullet hole stickers, or a bit of red pin stripe work.
and
you got ya self a Rat Rod!
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