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Advice needed - cleaning thrust bearings - can it be done?

Tereci

Plastic
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Hi,

I was restoring an old jewelers vise thingy that was pretty rusty and came with two small thrust bearings (General Bearing 4451).
I messed up as I was cleaning up the rust using a scotch brite pad + wd40. It cleaned it pretty well but I managed to get some of the slurry under the cover of the bearing. It still moves but noticeably worse than before.
This is the type of the bearing:
bearing.jpg

Would anybody know if there is some way to clean it?
I didn't find online anything about if these bearings can somehow be taken apart and cleaned (similarly as ppl clean skateboard bearings) or if I can flush it with something..

Thank you!
Tereza.
 
If you have an ultrasonic cleaner you can try using a cleaning solution that's appropriate, and agitating the bearing through the solution by loosely wrapping a stiff wire around it and hand sweeping it. Rotate the bearing frequently to keep from trapping debris, and change the solution if too many particles remain in suspension.

But if that bearing is available commercially, I'd just replace it.
 
Thank you for the idea. I do have an ultrasonic cleaner for jewelry... so I could try. What would be an appropriate solution for this job?
 
You can start with whatever you use for jewelry, just be sure to thoroughly dry the bearing and coat it with oil when done.

I have used solvents (alcohol, etc.) in ultrasonics, but you need to be very cautious, as the risk of fire is real. Try to use water-based cleaners where possible.
 
Thank you.
I used the ultrasonic with just a distilled water, bit of vinegar and bit of dishwashing liquid and let it hanging in there for about 20 minutes. I didn't see any debris floating around in the tank but it did remove some of the grease.
So next I thoroughly dried the bearings and took a white lithium grease and pumped it in from one end until it started to come out the other end.

The bearings are definitely not like new but smooth enough for what I need them for. So a success. Thanks!
 








 
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