Funny noises coming from the bearings on my 28. A sort of ticky clicky noise like there’s grit in there or they’re worn.
How do I remove and replace them? Will I need a puller? Will I need a press? Do I just buy the bearings or will I need circlips or anything? Is there any hope of flushing the grit out?
They are the standard bearings as supplied on the uni which is a Nimbus (US = Yuni) from Unicycle.uk.com.
Thanks
This might help.
http://londonunicyclingclub.ca/bearings.htm
I think I’ve seen another post like this somewhere, but I’m not sure. Anyway, this one’s pretty good.
Thanks
Interesting. I decided to have a look this evening. I removed the wheel, removed the crank, and therefore had access to the bearings. I don’t yet have a puller.
As an experiment, I picked out the rubber ring that conceals the bearings themselves. The balls were in a metal cage, rather than the rubber holder that the link seemed to suggest. There was no obvious contamination, but the bearings were a bit dry. I couldn’t work out how to remove the cage without causing damage. Maybe I need to attack the bearig from the other side, which would mean removing it completely with a puller.
I had some spray grease that I used to use on my old motorcycle and I applied some of this. Bearings moving freely, but still some slight noise. Obviously a bit worn, but not badly notchy.
On the basis that I couldn’t make things worse, I stood the wheel over the sink and flushed the bearings, dried them, then applied more spray grease.
The situation is now:
I know there is no significant grit or other contamination in there.
I know that the bearings have some grease in them.
I know that the bearings now spin more smoothly than they did before.
There is still some slight noise, which is uneven. I put this down to either uneven wear on the bearing surface, slight dinks caused by occasional drops down kerbs etc, or possibly the bearings being slightly oval. (I am always careful not to overtighten the clamp bolts, but it’s not an exact science.)
So, the uni is working perfectly well, and everything is clean and greased, but there is still a slight noise.
Perhaps this is one of those noises that’s always been there and I’ve just “dialed in” to it, maybe because the new tyre is so much quieter than the old one. It is irritating, but obviously not urgent.
I just changed the bearings on the 24" Nimbus Muni. It’s a straight forward task once the tools are purchased. The instructions found in this thread are very helpful.
Those bearing are on there. I had to hold the bearing puller still with another 2 foot long wrench while I screwed down the puller with a small breaker bar. I thought this step would be much easier.
As expected the new bearing went on very tight. Forget the rubber mallet, it was hammer time. Of course I pounded on a small piece of steel tubing and not the bearing. I don’t know that PVC tubing would have held up.
No damage was done, and I’m rolling again. I didn’t use the lock-tight because the bearing fit so tight to begin with. Things worked out for the best.
I’d like to take apart the old bearing, only I don’t know how to remove the inside metal cage which wrapped around the bearings. I’ve cleaned up the inside but I haven’t found what makes the bearing so clunky. I’d be prouder if it were a broken bearing than dirt, but if it’s dirt I’d like to clean it up for reuse.
How do I remove a metal bearing cage without damaging it?
Another trick I’ve discovered about making sure the bearing puller goes on straight…
Attach it upside down (wheel parellel to the floor, bearing puller pulling up towards the wheel as you tighten) You can more properly judge what is straight doing it this way, as gravity helps the top (now bottom) of the bearing puller centre itself with the axle.
i’m not sure what you mean about a metal cage…
Hello Brian,
Thanks for the great instructions and tips.
What I’m calling the metal cage: After removing the rubber sides of the bearing, I can see that there is a steel band around the balls which sorta looks like metal braces on teeth. It must be like what you called a ‘rubber bearing guide’ in your instructions, but it is steel.
I have just carefully cleaned up and inspected the bearing, can see that it the steel bearing guide has a tiny rivets between each ball. I now think the guide is two pieces, one on each side of the bearing, securely fastened together. I don’t think the guide/balls are removable.
As long as you can wipe clean and grease the bearings, there is no need to remove them from any sort of housing they are secured in
OK, this bearing still turns very crudely. It’s trash.
Thank you for help.
