How to Change Your Skateboard Bearings (and clean them!)

Backstory first:

One of my nearest and dearest friends in high school loved skateboarding and often asked me to go skating with him after school. I didn't skateboard at all and the only board I had was a warped hand me down from my younger brother, but eventually, I started skating after school with this friend. He taught me how to ollie and drop in on a ramp and I found myself enjoying skating.

Fast forward to the summer before my third year of college. I hadn't skated since my senior year of high school, but wanted to get back into it since I enjoyed it then and wasn't living on campus, where you can get a $150 fine for skating. Every summer, I like to learn how to do something new, and even though it wasn't super new, both Courtney and I decided that we would relearn how to skate.

I had to relearn how to ollie because I had completely forgotten how and it wasn't until recently I finally was able to ollie over a garden hose. I know it seems stupidly easy to ollie over a garden hose, but it was a very large accomplishment for me and I still have to do a million terrible ollies every time I skate before I can start doing some good ones. I also had to learn how to drop in again. This came a little easier to me, but I needed a skate park to go to to practice this, so Courtney and I would go to a skate park near our house in the middle of the night or early morning because we didn't want to run into any kids who are actually good at skating.

ANYWAYS...

I really enjoy skating. I'm really terrible at it, but I enjoy it a lot. I'm really high energy and some nights when I have too much energy to fall asleep, I'll just go outside and practice ollies and attempt kickflips until I'm tired. I also enjoy getting back in shape by not going to the gym because I'd rather be learning a skill than endlessly lifting weights or whatever.

Recently I turned 21 and with some birthday money, upgraded from that same warped, hand-me-down board to a mini Creature. I got new wheels as well since the old ones were falling apart, literally, chunks of plastic were chipping off.

I did not get new bearings even though I really could've used a new set and to try to extend them, I decided to clean them out.

I ended up caving last week and shelling out $20 for some reds and sweet lord, it's so nice to ride with bearings that don't suck.

So,

Here is a tutorial on how to change your bearings by yourself if you get new bearings and also how to clean your older bearings if they get all sticky and nasty. 2 tutorials! Woo!

How to Change Your Bearings:

All you need is your skateboard, a socket wrench that fits the bolt at the end of your wheels, a bowl (to put all the bolts, spacers, bearings, etc in), and the bearings you want to change.
I don't change from old to new bearings in this tutorial because I cleaned my old bearings and put them back in.
Understand that each wheel has 2 bearings, so you have 8 bearings total and the harder your wheels, the harder it is to take out and put in bearings. (ex: it's easier to change bearings on long board wheels than vert wheels because long board wheels are softer)
The tool I use is a bones bearing tool and it's pretty handy, but you don't need it to take your bearings out, you can just use your trucks.

Ok.

Start with you skateboard.

Unscrew the bolts at the end with a socket wrench and put them in the bowl.

Take off any spacers (if you have them) and put them in the bowl so you don't lose them.

Take out your bearings using the bearing tool or your trucks. (See below!)

Put in new bearings or your cleaned old ones. (See below!)

One at a time, put your wheels back on by sliding them on the trucks and screwing back in the bolts with the socket wrench. Don't screw so tight your wheels can't move!

That's it!

Using the Bones Bearing Tool:

Pick up a wheel.

Click the little button at the top of the tool and insert into the bearing.
Using a motion similar to that of opening a bottle of soda, pulling up at an angle,  pop out your bearing.

Now do this seven more times.
To put the bearings back in, click the button at the top of the tool, slide a bearing over the tool, and holding a wheel, push the bearing straight back in.

Do this seven more times, homeslice.

Using the End of Your Trucks:

Turn your board side ways so the end of your trucks are sticking up.

Pick up a wheel.
Holding wheel, put the wheel with the bearing over the end and using a motion similar to that of opening a bottle of soda- pulling up at an angle, pop out your bearing.

Do this times seven!
To put bearings back on, slide a bearing onto the end of a truck. Pick a wheel and press the wheel over the bearing to pop it back in place.
Times seven that shiz!

Cleaning Your Bearings

I have been told that it's better to use a razor and pop the outside of the bearings off to dry clean the inside of the bearings with a q-tip, but I was not told that until last week. This method I'm about to explain has worked well for me though and if you're bearings aren't working so hot, this could help them run a little longer until you get money in da bank to buy some new ones.

Needs:

Skateboard bearings (duh)

Acetone (Nail polish remover has acetone in it unless otherwise specified)

An old rag

A plastic container with a snap tight lid
Bones Speed Cream (optional)

Steps:

Take off all your bearings.

Put them all in the little plastic container.

Pour acetone over the bearings until it covers them.

Put the lid on and shake the container up and down and back and forth to help dislodge debris that have gathered inside of your bearings. 

Let your bearings soak in the acetone for about 3 minutes.

Take them out after that and thoroughly dry them and clean them further with the rag. You want to make sure they are completely dry before you put them back on your board.

Spin test your bearings to see how they work. If they're still sticking you can repeat this again. If they're still sticking after that, go to your favorite skate shop and buy a new set.
Add a drop or two of speed cream for speediness. 

Put them back on your board and go skate, ya hooligan.

That's it!

If you do go buy new bearings because cleaning them just won't do (the ones I cleaned in the tutorial got replaced the next day because they were so nasty and sucky still), bring your skateboard to the skate shop you're buying them from. Oftentimes, the people who work there are nice and will change out your bearings for you so you don't have to do it at home. They can also help you pick a set of bearings that suits your budget and board.

Also, remember that buying bearings is like buying a pair of jeans, it's better to spend a little more on a pair of jeans that will last you a long time than to go to forever 21 and buy a cheap pair of jeans that'll last you about a month.

True Born Hooligan

Hope this was helpful to someone.

Sorry 'bout the late update, this last week was not one of those weeks where I had extra energy.

Love,

          Natalie