Mine started to sound a little gritty. Figured they shouldn't seeing as they are supposedly "sealed" and 'lubricated for life'. I'd consider them lightly sealed. Shielded would be a more accurate word. As you will see when you pop off the plastic seal panel and see the edges are just a snap fit and not exactly sealed. If you submersed these bearings in water; I am sure the bearing would have water in it.

I was very surprised to see the condition of the "grease" in these stock PL bearings. The wheel bearings have some sort of translucent jelly type substance in them. I've seen a lot of types of grease before and I've never seen any that looked like this. When the inner race is rotated the jello like substance stays firm and the ball bearings rotate within their spaces as if not even touching it.

If you live in a cold or cool climate; this "grease" is doing your bearings no good at all. Pop off a bearing cover and have a look for yourself.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2kndw2&s=5

The head stock bearings were nearly seized up. That gritty sound may actually be rust. The ball bearings looked like they had rusted. There was nearly no "grease" in the head stock bearings.

Top Bearing:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=34orj86&s=5

Bottom Bearing:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=25tu7uw&s=5

The rust that goes half way around the edge I surmise is from contact with the splash guard.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to service the bearings. pull a seal, clean them in paint thinner or something and then repack with grease. I had a set of PL bearings go out after 1 outing in the headstock. Had to hammer them out too.

I got away from using bearings all together for the headstock. The cons are much greater than any pros that it provides to the steering components. I am using only nylon bushings since they don't seize up and are easy to remove and replace.

I do have a surplus of peter lynn metric 20mm bearings if anyone need to replace theirs. I remove them from the peter lynn wheels I have and replace them with SAE 3/4" size bearings to fit my buggies.

Wheel bearing grease will be your idea choice for those bearings.

Pull them out if possible, rinse in solvent tank, dry then put bunch of grease in. Do not pack it 100% full, it will just ooze out on you and make a mess.. leave some air space in there. Snap the covers back on and off you go..

I don't know if Jason follows this forum as much anymore or Dave Midgley. Had a good chat with them last year about bearings - they run blocarts now and learned a lot of tricks from the gang and they said cleaning and re-packing bearings with a good grease makes a difference and do it on a regular basis. Sounds like many guys have a couple of sets and are rotating and cleaning one set most nights when out on the dry lake.

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob I wonder if it would be worthwhile to service the bearings. pull a seal, clean them in paint thinner or something and then repack with grease.

Yes it is worthwhile. I pull my bearings every year and give them a good bath in gasoline. Since a majority of my buggy time is on the beach I pack them with AMSOIL Synthetic Water Resistant Grease.

Never have an issue.

Quote:

Originally posted by markite I don't know if Jason follows this forum as much anymore or Dave Midgley. Had a good chat with them last year about bearings - they run blocarts now and learned a lot of tricks from the gang and they said cleaning and re-packing bearings with a good grease makes a difference and do it on a regular basis. Sounds like many guys have a couple of sets and are rotating and cleaning one set most nights when out on the dry lake.

Wow, every day? I could probably justify a couple times a year, but every day. The film of grease on the outside of the bearing probably stops almost all of the dust that would find its way inside. I might bust into a set this week and see what I find inside. OTOH, maybe that's one reason I couldn't catch you at nabx!

Said it before; saying it again. Most sealed bearings are not made to be serviced, but replaced. Pulling the seal almost always does some damage.
Except for a rare few, ceramic spherical bearings are over kill and I don't need bearing that cost most than the rest of my buggy. Most buggiers will find cheap (inexpensive) Chinese bearings, what came with most buggies, will do just fine.
Unless you have a parts washer or have a fetish, cleaning bearings just not worth the effort when you can replace all eight bearings for about $10.
S