Extend the life of your IAR roller bearings

[Killerbug]

Jun from Japantackle, gave me following tip. You can use fine sandpaper to raise the roughness on the rollers and the stem a bit.  I do not know how long time, this will extend the life of a roller bearing, but it works, Just tried it on an old spinning reel.

[alantani]

hmmmmm, not sure about this one.  i would think that any amount of roughness would cause more trouble.  i would want the rollers and the inner tube to be perfectly smooth....... 

[MFB]

Don't go there, bearing manufacturers spend a lot of time & money to get the required surface finish, it's not as simple as just rubbing them with a piece of 600 wet & dry even 1200 would be to coarse. Ideally you replace damaged or corroded bearings, if it's a case of you having to do something so you can fish. Brasso & a clean rag would be more appropriate or a dremel with a felt polishing wheel & buffing compound, but both these should be seen as temporary measures until you can fit a replacement.

Rgds

Mark   

[philaroman]

I guess it's OK, if you're just trying to squeeze a little (VERY little) extra life out of an old reel you plan to trash, anyway.

If you plan to eventually restore the reel, it's a distinctly BAD idea: now, you'll have to eventually replace BOTH, the roller bearing assembly AND roller inner (the big steel bushing that the rollers grab); plus, you have tiny steel shards from friction between roughened surfaces, going who-knows-where...  I wouldn't even do that, if I wanted to keep the big pinion bearing that sits under the IAR

[Killerbug]

I have tried it on a reel, where no spares where available anymore. It works  . So I can't see where the problem is?. But anyway, now you know what to do, if you should end up with a customers old favorite, and no spares.  I used the finest sand paper I had.

The problem with IAR bearings and slipping, is very often a cold weather thing.

[alantani]

i am concerned about an eventual failure.  we know it happens when they are rusty, and at the worst possible times. 

[Killerbug]

For sure it's not the ideal solution  , but it's better than no solution 

[alantani]

can't argue with that!