IRO Hub Maintenance
 

I know its a sealed hub, but so were the bearings in my skateboard and they needed some loving every once in a while too. So I took my rear hub apart, was able to get one of the bearings out and left the other one in. Anyhow, i felt they could be a little smoother, sounded like there was some grit inside.

I used chain lube (prolink) to clean them out, but now i am wondering if i should grease them up with something heavier.

Has anyone removed the seal without damaging the bearing? How did you remove the bearing (cartridge and all)? Cant seem to get the other one out. Are there higher quality bearings available for this hub?

may I ask how you even got that first bearing out? mine make an on and off squeaking sound. I've contemplated taking them apart, but I've never worked on catridge bearings before.

The squeak is what prompted me to take it apart.

Once i removed the retaining nuts and washers on one side, the axle slid out. The non-drive side bearing popped out with relative ease. The drive-side is wedged in there pretty damn tight though. I tried several approaches trying to remove it, but gave up.

Some cartridge bearings have removable seals, you could clean out the bearings and grease them up again. The IRO ones im not too sure about.

The bearing is a press fit into the hubshell. To get them out you can tap the axle(Put a nut on the end of it to protect the threads) to drive one out than reinstall the axle and tap the other one out. This can damage the bearing as you are driving on the inner race and the balls to apply force to the outer race and force it out. The amount of damage depends on just how hard you have to hit it to get it out.
To get the seal out of the bearing use a sharp awl or dental pick and put it between the inner race and the seal, then you should be able to lever it out. Do the same on the other side and you can really flush them out with cleaner. Repack them with grease and reinstall the seals. You should be able to pop the seals in with your finger nails. Then using a socket just a little smaller than the dia. of the outer race, tap the bearings back in. You really want to do this if you use a new bearing. If yo want to replace the bearing look on the seal or the lip of the race there should be a number like 6002 or 6097. Should you get one so cheap that it has no numbers you will need to measure the inner and outer dia and the thickness of the bearing. You can get all levels of quality, depends on your financial situation.

The IRO hubs are 6000 flat out. If you want to go big money, you can get a set of Phil spec'd 6000 bearings for under $10.

hmmm, my axle doesn't just slide right out.
then again i don't have the IRO version of these formula hubs.

So rev, you're saying that if I remove all the locknuts and shiz, I can whang on the axle with a hammer and the bearing should just pop right out?

It should come out once all the nuts and washers are off. You might have to give it a good whack to get it started so be sure to protect the end of the axle with a nut or piece of wood. You may also have to tap the axle out of the bearing once you get the bearing out of the shell.

Thanks Rev. some very usefull tips here!

look in your local phone book for a bearing supply store. i've got one in my town. the last time i replaced sealed cartridge bearings, i just took one in with me and the dude goes, "oh that's a blah blah blah blah" and pulls a box of them off of a shelf. i suspect the bearings in the iro hubs are chinese. can someone confirm or debunk this please? you might want to upgrade to japanese or usa versions if they are chinese.

I believe it said Taiwan, so yes, chinese, the number as BT said is 6000. Googled breifly with no luck on the Phil W's but found what i belive to be the same ones.

Ostro, and other IRO hub users- for $10 you get all the smoothness and durability of a phil hub.

http://www.philwood.com/webcatolog/pg18.htm

So the diameter of the hole in the bearing is excactly the same as the IRO axle?

Well if your bearings are 6000 series, which it should say on the seal somewhere, then the 6000 series bearings from phil will work!
Or you can measure the ID, OD, and Bearing width, and compare it to the 6000 series bearings that phil sells.
Phil's 6000 series bearing specs are:
ID: 10mm OD: 26mm Width: 8mm

Im going to go with you on the 6000 spec. Its an industry standard and it would ridiculous for them to have standard with variation.

8 bearings coming my way, 4 for me, 4 for my lady.

now that they are ordered. Is there a noticable difference?

I went from suzue basics, to IRO and that was a world of a difference. Recently I noticed these(iro) were'nt moving as freely as they were from day one, and even after cleaning them they did not impress me. Back in the skateboading days i used to buy bearings every 6 months or so, i wouldnt buy the best since they were taking a beating anyway, but even those would spin like crazy. I am under the impression that these, provided they are cared for, will last considerably longer.

You are going from cheap no name taiwanese bearings to quality PHIL brand sealed bearings, so i'd say yes. If you've ever heard/felt the phil smoothness, then that is what you should be getting, as the bearings that you bought are the same ones in phil hubs.
Phil bearings are also a lot better sealed, so they should last a lot longer.

So, i got my PhilWood "Spec'd" bearings today, which are acutally NMB bearings (which is the largest manufacturer of bearings) made in Singapore.

So if there was any confusion, (ill admit, i was confused), PW, does not make their own bearings. They are made by these guys - http://www.nmbtc.com/

NMB'S!? Hahahaa. Those are like pretty bottom of the barrel skate bearings. Oh man whenever my Phil goes to hell i'll just buy some Bones Ceramic. Hows that for trick.

Phil Wood never claimed to make their own bearings. They say "All Phil Sped'd bearings are manufacturered for us to our specifications." Anyway, read the catalog page, I don't need to quote it all here. http://www.philwood.com/webcatolog/pg18.htm

It was a mistake on my part, i had expected the almighty hub to have its own bearing. So what makes the phils so special if they dont make the part that acutally does the work. We can debate this till the cows come home. Every other hub uses another bearing too, but again, i thought it was PhilWood made bearing, the funny thing is that i read the catalog.

My bad.

but really, can someone tell me the advantage of PhilWood hubs? I can assume they are lighter, but is it something in the construction, or is it just the fact that it is "Phil Wood?"

You can buy "Olympic event" track hub bearings for $135!!! What's so special about these?

Your assertation as to the quality of NMB's is based on what? Note, pulling facts out of one's arse doesn't count.

WHAT IF.... the hubs just need some TLC. I think this is what needs to be done.

The inner race of the bearing is held in place by a stop on the inner part of the axle and the retaining nut on the outside.

Try this...
(1) Loosen the outer nut on the axle.
(2) Take up any slack with the inner nut. It should be snug against the inner race this will hold the inner race tight between the stop on the back of the axle and the inner retaining nut.
(3) Retighten the outer nut on the axle.
(4) Check to make sure the hub still spins freely repeat for the other side.

I don't think the bearing has gone bad. I think there is some play between the axle and the inner race of the bearing. It you remove the play the bearing will function properly.

I think it is worth a shot at adjustment before buying replacment parts.

All the Best
Tony

Well, riding them for one. They always seemed to slow way down, even with regular maintinence. They really are pretty decent bearings, its just that there are alot of other bearings that ride faster and last longer that are in the same price bracket.

If NMB is the largest bearing manufacturer, I'm sure they sell them in a wide range of precision. Maybe you had cheap bearings, but that doesn't mean all of them are.

Thanks Tony,

The bearings were fine once i cleaned them up a bit. When i pulled them out they would stick when i would spin them. I soaked them in degreaser, (probably not the smartest move, got out all the grit and they were fine after that, but now they are greaseless).

the Rev. recommended using a fine pick to remove the seal to repack with grease. Is this possible without damaging the bearing