Getting away with recycled wheel bearings

[Ed no-more-lemons]

As always Sheldon has the answer (AASHTA)?
I feel like a bit of a plonker, doubting the great mans word, but no one is infallible. As I found with Sheldons cotterpin removal advice.
I am concidering reusing some loose bearing I've been collecting for my 700c back wheel.

Has anyone out there got away with this successfully?

I would of course try and select the better bearings and clean them as thoroughly as possible.
What I'm hoping is that this would work for more than just a few hundred miles and not ruin the hub innards.
Or am I on a hiding to nothing, for the sake of not ordering fresh ones.

 

[sidevalve]

If you mean to use a selection of assorted balls gathered from other bearings then the best answer is don't. Oddly despite their hardness bearings do not all wear at the same rate and some will be fractionally smaller than the others, thus some will bear more of the load than others creating more problems than the saving is worth. You MAY get away with it on a headste bearing with less rotational movement but even so, for the cost of a bearing it's not really worth a gamble.

 

[palinurus]

Just use fresh balls, they don't cost much. I've rebuilt hubs before with less-worn bits from others, they work for a while, good fix to keep riding while I get it together to sort out a proper repair but it's not usually long before the hub starts complaining again.

 

[Davidc]

Trouble is that even good ones will be slightly distorted or roughened.

New ball bearings are cheap and the bits round them aren't.

 

[Manonabike]

Just use fresh balls, they don't cost much. I've rebuilt hubs before with less-worn bits from others, they work for a while, good fix to keep riding while I get it together to sort out a proper repair but it's not usually long before the hub starts complaining again.

You can get the bearing balls from ebay pretty cheaply.

What are the tell-tale signs of a hub beginning to fail?

 

[accountantpete]

The first thing you should do is check the races in the hub - if they are shot then it's new hub time.

Also check the cones for pitting.

Then get some new bearings and a tub of pristine grease.

 

[guitarpete247]

Always use the best balls you can get. Never, ever reuse balls collected from previous bearing rebuilds. As has already been said. Bearings are much cheaper than the parts that rely on them to work properly. I always throw used balls away so I don't get the old mixed up with new. Take them out, count them, throw away and count out equal number of new ones.

 

[bobg]

Mind you, even new bearings vary hugely in size. Buy a packet and check them with a micrometer, you'll be amazed.

 

[User6179]

Mind you, even new bearings vary hugely in size. Buy a packet and check them with a micrometer, you'll be amazed.

You must live an exciting life!

 

[andrew_s]

Mind you, even new bearings vary hugely in size. Buy a packet and check them with a micrometer, you'll be amazed.

They are sorted before being packed, so the balls in a packet should always be the same size within a limit set by which grade of bearing you get. The variation between packs is up to about 10 times what it is within a pack.
What isn't a good idea is mixing balls from different packets. If you end up with just a couple of larger balls, they can take all the load, which is good neither for the balls nor the cups & cones.

The grade is the size and roundness tolerance in millionths of an inch, so ball in a grade 1000 pack are within 1/1000" of each other, and balls in a grade 25 pack are within 25/1000000 = 1/ 40000" of each other. You shouldn't use worse than grade 100, Campag use grade 25.

 

[Arjimlad]

If I didn't use new bearings, what would I use in my catapult ?

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

Wow
Thats the business, thanks one and all.
There's no beating first hand accounts, which seem to tie in with some of my past endeavours.
I'm sure I cut some rudimentary corners in the dim and distant, keeping hacks on the road and
off it! Having rekindled an interest in vintage rebuilds and not just mininmally servicing low end
tat, I'm looking at a more forensic approach.

Over the last year or two I have overhauled several bottombrackets, while retaining the
original bearings and this has seemed to have worked satisfactorily.

Similarly I have recently adopted this approach on a pair of vintage 70's 27-1.1/4 hubs which
seem OK, but have not yet covered a huge mileage. Happy as cones, races and bearings all
looked sound and were presumably built to last (as I am ordering some 1/4 inch bearings I may
as well change the back wheel bearings?).

My main concern is the year old 700C narrow back wheel, as the bearings supplied with it were
badly pitted even thought the dust caps are a good fit (poor cone adjustment probably?).
Hence the posting as I well remember grief with various back wheels and would rather not
repeat any catastrophies.

So new quarter inch bearings ordered and scrapping several hundred old ones acquired over a
couple of decades (a hoarder who had scant reference material back in the day).
Any criticism, feedback to this rant, gratefully recieved.

Bigger bearings for the catapult please.

 

[Davidc]

That you can get away with reusing bearings doesn't make it a good idea. I've done it and I'd put a few quid on most people on here who do their own maintenance having done so as well.

If the same good bearings are put back in a repacked bearing all it usually does IME is mean that the next service comes necessary a bit sooner than it might have. If their condition isn't good the refettled bearing doesn't last long.

I enjoy restoring old bikes and other machines too - good luck with them. I find that the better the original quality of anything the easier it is to bring back to a good state, and the better that state is.

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

OK, I lied. I havn't got around to ordering these bearing yet.
I was a bit surprised to see grade 1000 on Ebay, when 'Wiki' states anything over a 100 is only semi-precision, which claimed to vary by less than one micron.
I am also thinking case hardened bearings may be the better choice, as they are allegedly less brittle.
Then of course the AISI ratings lead to more confusion. There are a couple of listings for AISI 420 which I see from the 'Wiki' AISI page are "ferritic and martensitic chromium" cutlery grade.
In short can somebody recommend the better choice, as only getting 18 or 24 balls seems a bit pointless, when a job lot should last a good while?
As you say Andrew_S, G100 or less seems like a good idea. As do case hardened bearings of the AISI 420 alloy?