[jeb]

Hellooo, i own a Ellsworth ID, can i regrease the bearings in the rear???
-i thougt of taking the bolts off, and pry the dustcovers off, and then blow
them clean with air, but any advice would be nice.

Thanks jesper

 

[Bob the Wheelbuilder]

Hellooo, i own a Ellsworth ID, can i regrease the bearings in the rear???
-i thougt of taking the bolts off, and pry the dustcovers off, and then blow
them clean with air, but any advice would be nice.

Thanks jesper

Try the Ellsworth board, we need the activity.

I haven't needed to do anything with my Moment's bearings yet, but usually you remove the dust seal, degrease with something like WD40, blow the bearings dry then force new grease into the bearings and replace the dust seals.

Don't just blow air into the bearing without cleaning them first with something.

 

[CU-Murph]

Hi! How do you go about removing the seals? Any suggestions on what grease to use? Thanks!

 

[Jayem]

Hi! How do you go about removing the seals? Any suggestions on what grease to use? Thanks!

You want to remove the bearings, which requires a bearing remover, punch or blind bearing puller/slide hammer setup. It's not all that hard, you can usually fashion what you need with washers, sockets, threaded rod, bought from the hardware store. For grease, basic Park brand bicycle grease is fine. To remove the seals, you can use a lot of instruments, but I find the best to be a set of automotive picks (used to remove interior panels).

 

[milehi]

https://www.enduroforkseals.com/products/rear-suspension/suspension-pivot-bearing-kits/SBKELL1A.html

 

[Taroroot]

Dental picks style tools. I have a set of Craftsman picks that are like dental pick shape, but thicker and stronger points.
Note that extracting bearings stresses the bearing surfaces, not recommended to reuse, although you can probably get away with it. I have in the past. Slide hammer extraction is putting impact forces on the balls and races, which is even worse. If you're going through trouble of extracting the bearings, might as well replace.

 

[CU-Murph]

Thanks, for the advice folks. I guess, I will need to fashion some puller from hardware store stuff. I guess it is better to just replace the bearings and not clean and not repack out them with grease? In reading some other threads, it looked like others suggested servicing the bearing once, or twice a year. That is of course depends on bike use and trail conditions. I’m new to being more proactive in maintaining my bike and not riding it into the ground. LOL. So any advice is greatly appreciated.

I’m glad that I can still find seal kits. Is $50 expensive for eight bearings?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Jayem]

Thanks, for the advice folks. I guess, I will need to fashion some puller from hardware store stuff. I guess it is better to just replace the bearings and not clean and not repack out them with grease? In reading some other threads, it looked like others suggested servicing the bearing once, or twice a year. That is of course depends on bike use and trail conditions. I'm new to being more proactive in maintaining my bike and not riding it into the ground. LOL. So any advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm glad that I can still find seal kits. Is $50 expensive for eight bearings?

Thanks again everyone!

Generally, if your bearings are rough, you can get a little more life out of bearings by re-packing them, but the harder it is to take a bearing out, the less practical this is. It's often not too bad for bottom brackets, but it's only slightly extending the life of something that is already worn and it may not even give an improvement. The little balls grind away at the races, oxidize, the grease gets contaminated, the bearings pit due to limited rotation, and so on. They are wear items. So much of the time, it's better to just replace.

$50 for 8 bearings is cheap. Bearings come in different grades and quality. Less expensive ones would be junk.

The mods should have moved this thread to Suspension, you'd likely get more hits and information there.

 

[CU-Murph]

Thanks for the info. My bearings seem pretty smooth. The interesting thing is with the shock and wheel off, the linkage likes to rest in a certain spot. It’s a smooth upward curve in amount of force needed to go back away from that spot. Same scenario in either direction. I let go of the linkage and it will go back to that spot. My local shop suggested one possibility maybe the bearings races might be notched in the main pivot point bearings. Anyone else had that? (I’ll cross post this the suspension forum, too.)

 

[Taroroot]

Thanks for the info. My bearings seem pretty smooth. The interesting thing is with the shock and wheel off, the linkage likes to rest in a certain spot. It's a smooth upward curve in amount of force needed to go back away from that spot. Same scenario in either direction. I let go of the linkage and it will go back to that spot. My local shop suggested one possibility maybe the bearings races might be notched in the main pivot point bearings. Anyone else had that? (I'll cross post this the suspension forum, too.)

Yup sounds like its notched, one of the probs with suspension bearings, they only move a small amt so develop wear in one spot. Replacement is best for that.

 

[CU-Murph]

Yup sounds like its notched, one of the probs with suspension bearings, they only move a small amt so develop wear in one spot. Replacement is best for that.

Ok. Thanks. Any suggestions on how I can test it to make 100% sure? Test each bearing individually?

 

[Taroroot]

Ok. Thanks. Any suggestions on how I can test it to make 100% sure? Test each bearing individually?

Yeah, testing individually implies youre extracting them. Once a bearing is out, you can turn it by hand and it should be pretty obvious when it hits the notched position. Actually if you can seperate the linkages you should be able to turn the bearing(s) by hand while theyre still inStalled in the linkages.