Wheel rotation?

[MillerTime247]

Just curious about this.

How many of you guys have ever changed your bearings?

Changed your wheels?

Rotated your wheels?

I personally have never done any of this and have had my goal skates for almost 2 years now. I have cleaned the bearings once.

[Vision]

Simple,

Bearings cleaned once a month and replaced once a year. Wheels replaced once a year. I never rotate my wheels, makes cleaning the bearings a little slower but what the heck.

[avatarkava]

Rotate/Clean everything once a month, generally.

[Mr6Vezinas]

The first two years i had my skates i think i cleaned the bearings once. It should definately be done a lot more often than that. I would say once a month.
I only recently changed my wheels/bearings because the team that I am on is sponsored by Ninja, and we all got free bearings.

[big dog daddy]

Avatarkava,

What type of surface are you playing on that has you rotating your wheels every month. I'm like like the other guys, I've never had to rotate my wheels. The bearing cleaning I can understand but he rotation is only necessary if the wheel are worn. The forwards and d-men don't even need to rotate their wheels that much on my team.


Not a rant on you, just wondering if your dong too much work?

BDD

[GoalieRick]

At my rink, I rotate my wheels approx. once a month (every 6-7 games). I play on an IceCourt surface and the tiles in the goal crease are silicon impregnated (to allow for better side-to-side slip) so the goalies use much softer wheels than most surfaces. I use 72A. The harder wheels just make it more difficult to stop and cut when you leave the crease to play the puck.

[SUPERSTAR3531]

I didnt' rotate my wheels in three years you can just imagine all the dirt that was in there when i finally got new goal skates.

jeff

[jer35gohabs]

I have a question along the same lines. How do you clean your bearings? do you use solvents, water, or do you just wipe them off? I have no idea. I'm clueless when it comes to caring for roller hockey skates.

[avatarkava]

Been outta this thread a while:

BigDogDaddy,

I play all of my team's games on SportCourt or a similar tile surface, but our practices are on a roll-on surface. My "game" wheels rarely, if ever, need cleaning - the "practice" wheels, on the other hand, need a lot of maintenance or else they are junky in short order. If you play exclusively on SportCourt, I don't think rotation would be a problem, but dust and grime can definitely come into play if the rink doesn't keep the surface clean - just look at your wheels after coming off a dirty rink and think about what it's probably doing to your bearings!

Generally, I open the bearings up and use a degreaser on them, wiping off any debris I can find. Then I regrease the bearings with white lithium grease (available in just about any decent hardware store). That keeps them in pretty good shape without being too much of a hassle.

[gizmo]

I rotate and clean about once a month, we play on roll-on surface, clean and re-lub pretty much the same as avatarkava.

[Bernie]

Gasoline works great for cleaning bearings.


The way I do bearings (ever 2 or 3 months- and I rotate the wheels too) is this:

On new bearings, I open ONE Seal of the bearing and I discard that seal. I clean the bearings in solvent or gasoline and then dry them thoroughly. I also use White Lithium Grease for lubrication. Oiul doesn't have the longevity.

When assembling the skates, I place the bearings in the wheels so the OPEN FACES OF THE BEARINGS FACE EACHOTHER. This means the next time I do the bearing service I don't have to fumble with the stupid seals anymore- yet because the open faces are inside the wheel they stay clean.

I have a cordless screwdriver that I have an allen attatchment for so my dis/assembly is really rapid. I generally replace my bearings and wheels every year whether they need it or not.

[King]

Speaking of rotation...

Do you guys flip the wheel to the other side AND rotate? That is, do you turn the inside to the outside when you rotate?

Second, what is a good rotation pattern? Front to back and shift all other wheels forward?

[hroark2112]

Hey!! Search works!!! :::golf clap:::

When I was wearing the 47mm wheels, I would flip them occasionally. I also rotated the interior wheels to the front & back when it became necessary. I change bearings every time I change wheels (depending on the wheels, 3 or 4 times a year).

Now that I'm in the 59mm wheels, I change them when they break. I hate the :::thud thud thud::: feeling of a chipped wheel while I skate.

[King]

Yes...Search is amazing...

OK...so you do pop the fronts to the rear? I imagine that the middle wheel in a 5 wheel setup is not wearing as bad as the front and back. Thanks.

[elite]

I have the five wheel chassis, and the front and back wheels can get pretty bad. So I just rotate them into the middle without switching around. The middle wheels never get cracked or pitted (at least in my experience), so there's little need to switch them around. Only time I switch it to the middle and around is when a wheel pits. Then I put it at the fourth wheel from the front and switch it around.