How to use a roller skate bearing press
Replacing or cleaning the bearings of your roller skates or inline skates is a very common operation. But this operation can damage the bearings if you do not use the good method. The use of a bearing press can be useful in the long term to preserve the material...
Par alfathor
The roller skate press bearing: a little known but often useful tool
The Australian firm Bont sent us two models of roller skate bearing press. A first one dedicated to inline skates and a second for “classic” roller skates (also called quad skates). Few skaters use this type of tool yet. Yet they can be useful.
Manual mounting can damage bearings if done unproperly
Inserting roller bearings into the wheels is one of the most stressful times for bearings. Most skaters force to insert them into the wheels. They often use an inappropriate tool to push the bearing in the core of the wheel, such as an Allen wrench. Thus, the flanges of the bearing can be deformed. These damages might reduce the smoothness of the bearings.
The advantages of a bearing press
A bearing press has the advantage of pushing the bearings in a correct axis, without damaging them. The tool does not press on the “soft” parts of the bearings (the flanges). The press presses directly on the bearing bore.
A press is especially useful when you are using wheels with an aluminum core. Indeed, it is often much harder to insert the bearings into it!
A bearing press: how does it work?
Bearing press instructions
There is nothing like a video to see how a press works.
- Open the press bearing by lifting the lever and the axle
- Insert the first bearing on the axle, followed by the spacer
- Insert the wheel
- Put the axle back in alignment
- Pull the lever to compress the bearings and spacer.
- The bearings line up naturally in the wheel.
- All you have to do is remove the wheel from the axle and move on to the next one.
Did you know that you can also easily extract a bearing from a wheel with the press?
The press is equipped with a lug on the opposite side. Simply :
- Put the lug into the bearing bore
- Wedge the wheel against the edges of the press
- Pull the lever so that the bearing comes out in the axis
This method is much less brutal than using Allen keys. In fact, most skaters gradually lift the edges of the bearing by levering the wrench in the center of the bore. By using the press, the life of the bearing is extended.
