Dipping frame bearings into Putoline chain wax.

Stupid idea?
Currently use Silkolene Pro RG2.
Wally (yes – name was chosen for a reason)

Spider sense says – walk on and go out for a ride.

Not going far enough. You could dip the whole bike. Just fill the bath with chain wax, stick some tealights underneath and leave them for a few hours…

Or you could pop the seals off very carefully and pack in some more high quality grease, but you knew that already.

What kind of bearings? Sealed cartridge? If so, I wouldn’t bother. Bearings come with enough grease in. If they fail, it’s not because of poor grease, on an MTB it’ll be due to dirt ingress or wear leading to play leading to more dirt ingress.

Bearings come with enough grease in

LOL 🙂

Buy better bearings or a frame with better seals

LOL

Got any info on that besides LOL?

Got any info on that besides LOL?

Have seen countless sealed bearings have virtually no grease in them from new. Seems to be completely random.

Got any info on that besides LOL?

didnt the bearing guy on here once write up how when he pooped em they had virtually nowt in em so he used to pack em full ?

pretty sure the reason for this isnt bing skimpy on grease

I have a mate who works for SKF he seems to mention they arent being tight its more to do with greas causing drag when the bearing is rotating at its design rating , whereas ours do about about 10 rpm depending on how old fit you are

Bearings come with enough grease in

IME it’s completely random. I think putoline is probably a bit excessive, but y’know…if it makes you happy. 😀

I think the benefit of doing g it with plutoline is in the process you would hopefully be flushing the bearing through and removing dirt and moisture. Whether it works or not is another question.

Are we talking metal sealed bearings or rubber?

didnt the bearing guy on here once write up how when he pooped em they had virtually nowt in em

He did what to them?!

Oh and my nice Californian designed wunder bike is 4 years old with a lot of use and still had clean grease in the bearings/axle it’s possible to design good seals

Bearings are so cheap I just treat them like disposable items.

They last more than a year, cost bugger all. Life is too short to waste it faffing about on bearings.

I always pop the seals off and pack them with castrol bearing grease. My theory is that if it is full of grease then water or grit can’t get in because there’s no room!

I generally go on the same theory as davewalsh, if the bearing is full of (waterproof) grease there isn’t room for anything to get in. The little extra drag is worth it as it’s not spinning at 30,000rpm.

Didn’t strip and re-pack the bearings on a new RF BB . The bearings lasted about 150 miles. Never pressure washed, just hose on sprinkler and a soft brush to clean.

The BB was feeling a bit rough so stripped it to find DS bearing a bit rough with some grease in, and the NDS bearing seized and no sign of any grease. The only movement on the NSD was rotation in the top hat. So I wouldn’t assume that bearings come with enough grease for wet/muddy MTB applications.

The BB was feeling a bit rough so stripped it to find DS bearing a bit rough with some grease in, and the NDS bearing seized and no sign of any grease.

Hope BB, 4 years old and to this point I’ve lost my BB tool as I’ve never needed it

Often people say “bearing manufacturers know best” but the thing about most bearings is, they’re not designed for our application. A full grease full is wrong for high speed in a relatively clean environment, so most bearings we buy half a half fill or less, and that doesn’t work well for us (IME, but frankly it’s night and day and I doubt anyone who’s actually tested it will disagree) Dead easy to empirically test this, just fill one hub bearing with grease and leave the other standard.

I don’t think putoline’s the right material for bearings, though. I use silkolene rg2 because I like the colour, lots of people recommend XHP222

Have seen countless sealed bearings have virtually no grease in them from new.

How much does a bearing actually need?

As per Northwind, in a clean environment a bearing just needs enough grease to minimise friction and wear while not imposing unnecessary drag. On an MTB grease needs to do the lube thing but also minimise dirt ingress. I take the seals off new bearings and pack as much grease as possible in.

molgrips – Member

How much does a bearing actually need?

IME full fill is the ideal for us. It’s definitely better than the 1/3d fill that seems standard in SKF and FAG bearings. It’ll slow the bearing slightly but not by an amount you’ll ever notice except when you’ve got it in your hands.

It’s really easy to test if you’re not convinced.

I wonder if there are any studies?

How much does a bearing actually need?

As much as possible given the environment we use them in and the slow speed we spin them at.

In case it leaks out or what?

I think, more to create as little space for anything else as possible. Goes the thinking.

Yep, just barrier protection.

Often people say “bearing manufacturers know best” but the thing about most bearings is, they’re not designed for our application.

+1.

If you consider the environments most bears are designed for (electric motors being a good example) they are operating in clean conditions under constant loading.
anymore than 1/3 fill of grease and they start running too hot, and bearing life is reduced.
We deal with this stuff at work, and general consensus across the rotating machinery industry is that when running in ‘design conditions’ too much grease is as bad as not enough.

For MTB applications (especially frame pivots) I’d say pack as much grease in there as possible.