New Life for "Non-serviceable" Type Skate Bearings

Wednesday, 24-July-2013 - Veghel - I wasn't satisfied with my bearing cleaning job yesterday--a lot of grit was still trapped in the bearings.  After some research, I came up with a method to get my "non-serviceable" bearings (see note) clean using a 10 percent-solution of the  limonene-based degreaser Dasty in water.  This is a temporary method until I have my own supply of environment-friendly home-made citrus cleaner.  I first had to remove the second bearing shield. I then installed serviceable bearing shields from another set of bearings on one side of my cleaned bearings. Before I got started on the bearings, I finished cutting the grass (I had started yesterday evening after skating--I was expecting rain today).  The mower blade had loosened up a bit, causing a distressing knocking sound, like the piston getting ready to break through the engine head. I then cleaned the dried sand from my skates and gave my wheels a bath.  Later in the afternoon, I stopped by 't Vincentje Re-cycling Thrift Shop and De-Wit Sporting Goods, before installing my freshly-cleaned bearings. pics (58)

Note 1:  Many bearings have metallic shields, which are not made to be removed.
New Life for Non-serviceable Type Skate Bearings (1:21)
serviceable type bearing shield removal  (1:33)
non-serviceable type bearing shield removal (2:45)
bearing shield and seal removal_ratvision (2:09)
bearing cleaning_ratvision (7:36)
home-made citrus cleaner