Help Me Find these Tiny Ball Bearings?

The pedals on my red bike are shot and in need of an overhaul. I know this can be a frustrating job and there is a valid argument for not bothering to overhaul a cheap pedal but I'd rather salvage these pedals.

But the bearing are super tiny and the these places don't have them:

1. Blue City Cycles

2. Joe Harris Hardware

3. The hardware street on Halsted across the street from Nana

4. The Home Depot - south loop

I don't have a micrometer so I'm not sure the exact size, but here is a picture:

Does anyone know a local or online source for such a small bearing? 

thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on August 9, 2014 at 7:34am
I'm not trying to be funny , but it almost looks like they are the same size as the shot (pellets) from a B B gun.
Permalink Reply by Richard Stiers on August 9, 2014 at 8:30am

McMaster-Carr online. Get a size and order as many as you need.

Permalink Reply by Matt M. 18.5KM on August 9, 2014 at 4:08pm

Looks like 3/32".  Fooled me for a minute - that isn't a metric ruler you're using!

Always remember, 1"= 2.54 cm.

3/32"=0.09375" so 0.09375 * 2.54 cm = 0.238125 cm, or 2.4 mm.

I just overhauled a pair of KKTs, and that was absolutely worth the effort.  

Permalink Reply by Jeff Markus on August 9, 2014 at 7:39pm

I believe I have some running around my supply stuff. I bought them years ago from Berry Bearing but I think they merged with Motion INdustries. The problem is (as I had to do ) ya gotta buy like a 1000 of 'em. So I still have a few left...somewhere. I'll check on Sunday and if I can find them I think I paid under $10 for the 1000 so I bet I can come up with a reasonable price.

Jeff 

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 10, 2014 at 6:53am

I would try Irv's Bike Shop, around 17th and Racine.  Also, there are plenty of these on ebay.

Permalink Reply by Live Grit on August 10, 2014 at 7:37am

You are going to need to find the exact size of bearings in order to replace them and have your pedal work properly.  

What is the brand and model of your pedal? The company may have a contact form. Its been my personal experience that many manufacturers will answer your questions about their components and sizing.

The easiest way to find the size is to use the park tools spoke gauge. Every bike shop has one.

Once you find the size most shops can order the bearings, it may just take time and money to get them to you. There are common sizes for bike bearings that most of us carry, but the odd sizes can be very hard to find in stock.

here is the spoke gauge that may help you

http://www.parktool.com/product/spoke-bearing-and-cotter-gauge-sbc-1

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on August 10, 2014 at 8:42am

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and tips! If you find them Jeff, you are my favorite alternative right now. If not I'll order some from McMaster-Carr - thanks for the suggestion Richard! McMaster-Carr sells lots of 100 for like $6 or so, plus shipping, so a subset of a $10 lot of 1000 would probably be a better deal and it  (probably) be fun to meet Jeff Markus (if I haven't already).

I installed a micrometer app, which still requires some eyeballing. Using that I got a measurement of 0.09 which is close enough to Matt M's conversion of 3/32. Given that 3/32 appears to be a standard bearing size, I'm going with that. 


The Park Tool looks great, as do all Park Tools, but these bearings are smaller than 1/8", so the bearing measuring part of the Park Tool tool would help much. I can already discern that they are smaller than 1/8".

The website of the manufacturer, http://primobmx.com is not helpful in this case.

Permalink Reply by GEORGE VANDERFOR on August 11, 2014 at 7:04am

TRY GOING TO A MACHINE SHOP OR GRANGER OR BERRY BEARINGS CO.

Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on August 11, 2014 at 10:09am


They do have a tool for everything!

This tool is useful for more than just a few spoke/bearing sizes.  Inner and outer diameter capabilities too.

http://www.amazon.com/Neiko-01407A-Extra-Large-SAE-Metric-Conversio...

Ace or True Value should have all sizes of ball bearings in stock in their stacks of screws/washers/cotter pins/misc items. They sell them individually, I bet a 3/32 would be < .25   Call first.  


Live Grit said:

You are going to need to find the exact size of bearings in order to replace them and have your pedal work properly.  

What is the brand and model of your pedal? The company may have a contact form. Its been my personal experience that many manufacturers will answer your questions about their components and sizing.

The easiest way to find the size is to use the park tools spoke gauge. Every bike shop has one.

Once you find the size most shops can order the bearings, it may just take time and money to get them to you. There are common sizes for bike bearings that most of us carry, but the odd sizes can be very hard to find in stock.

here is the spoke gauge that may help you

http://www.parktool.com/product/spoke-bearing-and-cotter-gauge-sbc-1

Permalink Reply by Jeff Markus on August 11, 2014 at 2:42pm



Tony Adams 4 mi said:

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and tips! If you find them Jeff, you are my favorite alternative right now. If not I'll order some from McMaster-Carr - thanks for the suggestion Richard! McMaster-Carr sells lots of 100 for like $6 or so, plus shipping, so a subset of a $10 lot of 1000 would probably be a better deal and it  (probably) be fun to meet Jeff Markus (if I haven't already).

Sorry I busted out...I got 1/8 <.125> and 3/16 <.187> but no 3/32 <.093>.

3/32 is real small and despite my not having found them on a first pass don't nessarily mean I don't have them just I didn't see 'em. McMaster Carr used to have a shipping/pick up location on County Line Rd just south of Grand Ave...that's south of O'Hare before ya get to Bensenville York Rd area.

Check Grainger as they have oulets all over (literally all over) and they'll put them into the oulet nearest you for pick-up. If you need anything else drop me a line I might have to get the shovel out to search but I got allot of archival parts that will have to be donated to Blackstone or Working Bikes hopefully before I move again.

Jeff

Permalink Reply by Dan Ciskey on August 12, 2014 at 2:43am
They're probably 3/32. I was just looking into this for my pedals but decided that for my minor clicking I'd try to just replace the grease first. Anyway, I found them for sale at Amazon. Not local but it looks like that's been tough. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002BBK7YA?pc_redir=1407322598&ro...

From my reading, grade 25 is good enough for pedals. The smaller the number, the more precise the machining of the bearings.
Permalink Reply by Al Ribskis on August 14, 2014 at 10:54am

Hi - I may have the exact size you need . . .(  have to go get them ( in my garage ) . . & I have a micrometer to check the size [ will know this later today . . . . I'm a south-sider ]

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