Your wheels can wear out given enough mileage. But then, that depends on the type of skating you do. Basically, your wheels are due for maintenance when water enters the bearings, when you’ve got sand in it; this makes your skates much slower and not rolling as smoothly as when new. When this happens and you eventually notice, what you need to do is either change the wheels, change the bearings or you could even clean your wheels to remove the sand.

This tutorial explains how to remove and put back your wheels, provided you’ve clean the wheels, change them or even change the bearings - depending on why you remove them in the first place.
Please Note: I suggest you find someone who can help you figure out how tight or loose you wheels need to be. But that’s if you don’t have a prior knowledge about that. But then, you can never be too careful when it comes to safety on skates!

Tools you need.

As for tools, all you need is an Allen Key. Allen Key is sometimes called the L key, cause of its shape. Get the size 4, a long and a short one. Well, you don’t really need two keys in some skates, like K2 and Rollerblade. The screw on one side of the wheel is locked in place. But for other skate, you might need two Allen keys.

HOW TO USE THE ALLEN KEY




















Now let’s get down to business.

- First thing is to insert your Allen key on opposite sides of your wheels. Then you turn your hand opposite each other. One goes clockwise while the other counter-clockwise. But then, you might just decide to hold one key down while you turn with the other. However you want it.

- When you are done unscrewing, pull the nut from each end. What you will have is a long and a short nut. It’s the nuts that attach the wheels to the chassis. Once they are out, you will find the wheels hanging loosely. So, all you need to do is simply remove them.

















- Inside the wheels, you will find the bearing. To remove the bearings, insert the Allen key into the hole in the bearing, and gently pry it out. Note, do not force it – it will eventually pop out. Repeat the same on the other side. Keep the bearings close by in a neat pile.




















Note; inside the bearing we have small metallic balls that help control movement. But we won’t be prying into that for this tutorial. I will take you through that when I talk about how to clean your bearings.

Now with our wheels removed, let see what we have;

















Repeat with the other seven until you have removed all of the wheels, keeping the nuts bearings close by in a pile so that you don’t lose them. (If you're really worried that one might roll away, I recommend keeping them in a small plastic container.)

Do you have your wheels out now? Good. Do you want to clean your bearings or change your wheels? Do that quickly and let’s take you through how to put them back on.