Return to Answer

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like in the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate disc doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle around the perimeter of the recess. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are just a touch more than "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had ignored the superiority of loose ball bearings and gone for a caged bearing. Everything would have been quicker and the size I needed was available on eBay as a pair with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike. I wish I had kept track of which plate and cone went with the surviving caged bearing. And although it was reasonably clear which way the caged bearing needs to face, I did find it reassuring that the other wheel had it facing the way I expected.

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like in the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate disc doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle around the perimeter of the recess. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are just a touch more than "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had ignored the superiority of loose ball bearings and gone for a caged bearing. Everything would have been quicker and the size I needed was available on eBay as a pair with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike. I wish I had kept track of which plate and cone went with the surviving caged bearing. And although it was reasonably clear which way the caged bearing needs to face, I did find it reassuring that the other wheel had it facing the way I expected: .

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like in the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate disc doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle around the perimeter of the recess. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are just a touch more than "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had gone for a caged bearing, the size I needed was available on eBay with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike.

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like in the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate disc doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle around the perimeter of the recess. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are just a touch more than "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had ignored the superiority of loose ball bearings and gone for a caged bearing. Everything would have been quicker and the size I needed was available on eBay as a pair with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike. I wish I had kept track of which plate and cone went with the surviving caged bearing. And although it was reasonably clear which way the caged bearing needs to face, I did find it reassuring that the other wheel had it facing the way I expected.

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like I the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had gone for a caged bearing, the size I needed was available on eBay with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike.

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.

Ok, answers are not exactly flooding in, but I can see why my OP might not be the most interesting. However, I will record briefly what I've done in case anyone does face this situation in the future.

1. Research: I researched the subject of bearing replacements a bit. I failed to find a proper single thorough article dealing with all the considerations, but I got the impression caged bearings must be avoided, so I went for replacing with a loose ball bearing.

2. Buying: I measured the balls with a caliper gauge and confirmed they were 5 mm. I bought 20 on eBay for £2, and a 20g tube of lithium grease for another £2. I'd love to support an LBS but every penny counts at the moment and I don't even have time to go into one.

3. Work: I built a loose ball bearing, the process was very much like in the many YouTube videos. I used the surviving caged bearing first, and reassembled the wheel so that the axle stopped the balls falling in. The process was messy: the plastic plate disc doesn't have a trough-shaped race to hold the balls, so they bundled together around the axle instead of forming a circle around the perimeter of the recess. It didn't help I was distracted with my 2 and 4 yo helpers. For example, I did a dry assembly before using any grease to see how many balls I need. I failed to write the number down. With grease, I found the number that seemed right would not allow the cone to go all the way in , so I had to take one ball out, and the remaining gap seemed big. But everything seemed to fit together well, there is no play and the wheel seems to spin ok. I really don't know how tight the cones are supposed to be, I would say they are just a touch more than "finger tight" as I was conscious about snapping the main plastic disc, but it all seems to work, and I have been checking regularly since. Finally, I also greased the other wheel.

Conclusions for the two questions in my OP

1. I wish I had gone for a caged bearing, the size I needed was available on eBay with a 5 g tub of lithium grease for £2, and it would probably have been fine for a balance bike.

2. The space between the screws and the frame in my OP was because the nut had worked itself loose, there are no visible parts of the axle after I put it all back together.