[Closed] Has anyone rescued seized BB bearings?

Needle or pin to very gently pick the seals off, bath in degreaser, air dry, repack with high quality marine grease, refit the seals and good for another few months (if decent quality bearings).

Yes, but it's only a temporary fix as the bearing will probably be damaged and fixing it will probably damage the seal

Carefully lift the seal out with a Stanley knife, blast out with gt85 or similar to get them spinning and then pack with grease and push the seal back on.

Not a BB bearing, but my jockey wheel seized solid a few weeks back with rust. Tried wd40/gt85 and it didn’t help. White vinegar did the trick pretty quickly however.

Yep, done it many times. I also now save my BBs when I change them as it is invariably only ever one side that gets bad and I have devised a relatively straightforward way to remove the bearings from the shells and swap a good one for a bad one, thus effectively getting 3 BBs from every 2 bought.

I've done it with my E13 BB a few times and got an extra year or so out of it

Thanks all - I'll give it a go in the morning.

It's possible, but it depends on how far gone the bearings are.

Disassembly is pretty easy once you have the knack, but it can take longer to free up the bearings and purge out the accumulated debris and rust.

The bearings will be knackered if it has seized and rusted. Yes you can often get them free and turning again but it will never be smooth and play free

They can often be play free IME, but they're rarely ever smooth again, and they never last long before developing play because of the roughness.

Best to charge them with grease just before it runs out - but the tricky but it determining when that point is.

I got one moving again, but it only lasted a couple of rides before developing play. Shimano bbs are cheap enough to just chuck another one on!

Just replaced my BB bearings and had the rear hub replaced all due to the very wet winters we now seem to be having, replacing them is becoming a regular post winter chore. Made me wonder, I don't have to do this my car wheel bearings, so what's the difference? Are they sealed better, more robust or covered in some way to keep them dry?
While some bearings are cheap mine are SRAM PF30 at £40 a pop and I would much rather repair than replace, but like others have mentioned here renovated bearings don't last very long. We should be making every attempt we can to get away from this "throw away" society.

yep lots of times, bought one of those enduro external bb bearing pullers before the price went silly a most useful tool. Whether it's a long term fix depends.... if due to rust then it's a temporary if its just a build up of crud then they can last a long long time. My ss's shimano external (think its an XT difficult to tell) is now in it's 8th year with me riding it (had about 2 year on it when i got it) it's the only bike i ride off road and all year round.

not worth the effort, just stick a Hope BB in they seem to last longer.

I have devised a relatively straightforward way to remove the bearings from the shells and swap a good one for a bad one

Would be interested in details. I've got a load of "saved" half BBs, but they're all the same side.

I had this with SRAM GXP BB's on an old bike, I went through them like nobody's business! I eventually replaced it with a wheels MFG screw together press fit one and never had an issue after that.

I find you're on a hiding to nothing "rescuing" bearings, you'll only have to take the whole lot apart again in a few weeks.

I was gifted a tube of hi temp waterproof grease a couple of years ago, I now make a point of re-packing new bearings before fitting, as mentioned above, carefully remove the seal with a stanley blade and force the new grease in. So far so good.

I've just done this with a hope BB after a winter's riding through slop.

Popped off the seals to find it was rammed full of mud.

Cleaned out with WD40, rinsed with IPA, left to dry and packed with grease.

Now refitted and feels good, but haven't ridden it yet.

Clearly the seals are compromised, so only time will tell how long it lasts.

Can't really complain as its only the second set of bearings in about 12 years.

[strong]pdw[/strong] wrote:

Would be interested in details. I’ve got a load of “saved” half BBs, but they’re all the same side.

I will document it the next time I do it, Should have said this is with Shimano Hollowtech BBs and the hardest part is getting the plastic top-hat seal out without damage.