How to clean your BlackBerry trackball

Before starting, I will take a moment to remind you that you are responsible for your own blackberry. And if any damage is done, the guarantee is no longer valid. And I do not take any responsibility for what happens.

This guide is basically for BB 88xx, 83xx, 81xx.


The below pics are copyrighted. Do not copy or post
on other sites without permission from me.


Tools you want to use.

• Small screwdriver (no bigger than 2.5mm)
• Plastic spudger (Spudger (922-5065) - iFixit)
• A small plier.
• Fingers and nails.



Getting started.

1. First you want to remove the “chrome plastic ring” with a screwdriver or plastic spudger.




2. After removing the “chrome plastic ring” on an 81xx you will find a inner retaining ring that holds the trackball in place. This metal ring is very fragile, so do not use force. Work With it.


At the 83xx and 88xx your inner retaining ring is replased with a new chrome ring, that is suppose to hold the trackball in plase.
On a chrome ring for the 8100, the highlighted area is flat.





3. After this is done, you can now carefully remove the trackball. Notice the white guide pins on both sides of the trackball. When you assemble the trackball, you want these to be on both sides as shown, or else it want fit.


TIPS:
If your scroll is not functioning one way, for example left. just turn 180º, put it back, and try again.
If you now can scroll to the left, but not right, you probably need to clean it (Next step).

But if its not working, even after cleaning it, the sensor maybe defect, and hopefully you still have some warranty left.



The tricky part.

4. Disassembling the trackball require steady hands. Remember how you disassembled it. Because it all must be assemble correctly. And again, do not use force at the metal piece, this one is very fragile. It locks easy, and it is. Just take your time.




5. Now just take out one of the “scroll wheels”, and start scraping off the dust as shown with your nail. Do not use any kind of tools for this, since it’s shaped like a gear and any hard objects will damage it. Then the trackball want get any grip for rolling friction, and you’re basically screwed.




UPDATE: make sure thats the object thats is highligthed is aligned at the same side of the trackball and are faceing the same way as shown in picture.



6. When you’re done, assemble the trackball with the “scroll wheels, black magnet” facing clockwise. And the “plastic lock” as shown. Click it all in place. Check it, double check it. Then assemble the rest.





Also, be aware of clammy/greasy/wet fingers and pocket dust. A combo of these makes the trackball defect.
So wash your hands boy!


hope the description is good enough.

good luck!

Thanks!

I hope it's a long time before I need this but, you have made it a lot easier.

Very nice guide!

thanks a lot, ill save this thread in my favorites... ;) that way wenever i need it ill use it... my BB is still new but ill need it ;) thanks a lot bro

gracias!!

Yep, excellent guide. One note....On the newer devices the inner retaining ring is not used. There is only the trackball assembly and it's held in with the plastic outer ring.

I hope I never have to use this but this is an awesome tutorial.

beautiful.......sweet....awesome

thanks for sharing ..........u r the man

Nice write up evenmosbek; even better with high quality pictures!

actually, i have disassembled a curve with the inner retaining ring.
it is one of the first release.
so it is possible that it could be there at some devices es.
fyi

Thanks. if anyone must have larger pictures, i have them in 2816 x 2112(approximately 3mb each). but imageshack dont support img above 1.5mb

Perfect instructions....used it to "sharpie" my trackball LED on my 8130.

I didn't take apart the actual trackball assembly, just took the whole thing out, and dabbed it with a blue sharpie.

The blue color looks great, and disassembly on a scale from 1-10....

It was a 1.5. I kid you not.

Thanks again for the terrific thread!

I want your camera ! lol
I usualy just take a piece of duct tape to the magnet part of the rollers and it clears it up for me .Once in a blue moon I'll have to dismatle the whole thing to clean it. I work at a machine shop so i have become quite good at this from it getting dirty so much. Good write up though.

Thanks for the helpful guide. I will do this someday, but for now I will pass because mine is still awfully clean

duct tape was actualy a good idea. i'm gona try that next time.

Good write up. Thanks. I tired this with my new 8130 becuse down on the trackball was getting kinda messy after about a month and a half. Not worth the time and effort in my book. I wouldnt have to expect to pay no more than $15 for the outter ring and ball assembly. Seeing that my outter ring has some dings, it would be nice to replace both.

Where can I buy the outter ring and trackball assembly?

Try Cellular Accessories - HTC, Tools, Microsoft, Sony, Nokia, Apple, BlackBerry, NEC, 3G, LG, Motorola, Ac
or
BlackBerry Repair Shop - A full line of RIM BlackBerry repair services and BlackBerry parts for all BlackBerry handheld devices

thx for the info

You would think you wouldn't need this... until the day you compair your Pearl with a brand spankin new one... I did that and I was like "wow..." at the differences, it slow gets darker and darker and you wouldn't even notice it.

nice! great post!

Just have to say thank you for the write up. When I took out the plastic casing holding the wheels, there was a huge dust bunny in there, which was preventing me from scrolling left. This saved me some money and time. Thanks again!

Thanks for all the positive feedback. nice reading material :D
glad i can help out

Decent tutorial. It saved me a lot of time. Last night I lost the ability to scroll upwards, but could still scroll side to side and down without a problem. Disassembled the trackball and cleaned the wheels a little, took a little dust off the contact, reassembled, and it worked fine. Thx!

Great pics evenmosbek,... thanks from BBF.

@jheiney -- the RIM recommended fix for a stuck trackball is to press firmly and roll the trackball in the direction in which it is stuck. Often it is just lint or accumulated dust. But cleaning it worked well too, glad to hear.

Ellooo

ONLY DO THIS IF YOUR 110% COMFORTABLE WITH YOURSELF.

Reason being:

I watched my friend attempting this, well put it this way, he lost the roller and the white plastic bit aswell.

How?

When he attempted to take the actual trackball and the part with itm the thing popped out and still we cannot find all the parts.

Its a fiddly process, so beware if you are going to try it.

sad to hear that.
if you study my pictures very careful, you can see how im holding the trackball when im taking it a part. this way, nothing will pop out.

Step 2 is updated

Good info!

Great post! My bb is new and hopefully I won't have to clean the track ball. I will try duct tape

K

I just take a Clorox wipe to it and it works flawlessly...

Many thanks

u r welcome

My Curve was hardly scrolling down at all, completely unusable. I was a bit worried about the full procedure outlined here, and i did a halfway job that fully restored my Curve. I took the ball assembly out and gave it a good cleaning with rubbing alchohol and Q-Tip swab, along with strong puffs of air (from the mouth).
Takng the ball assembly out of the handset lets the ball move more during cleaning, and allows blowing air through it.
Note, there are low spots under the silver ring at 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock, which appear to be best places to pry with a small screwdriver.
I did not take apart the ball assembly, and i'm glad it wasn't needed!

thx, brikah

I have taken mine apart to clean it with the intention of getting the trackball white/clear again...after following the instructions and carefully removing the trackball assembly and cleaning all the surfaces with 99% isopropyl alcohol (with the power off and the battery out), I found that the trackball works better now (more responsive), but it didn't come clean like new again...looks like the reason behind this is because the trackball is porous, i.e. it soaks in oil and dirt from our fingers.
I have found replacements on ebay for dirt cheap (and the seller has a 100% feedback score!)...I'm looking at $6 plus shipping ($6 again, so $12 in total!). Most online stores are selling this little assembly for around $50!
There is also a replacement lens cover so if yours is all scratched up like mine, a lens cover replacement is the way to go...it is about $10 on ebay with shipping!
There are also replacements for everything else you can think of, the battery, the battery cover, the faceplate, the keyboard, you could theoretically replace everything replaceable for around $60!

WOW awesome...I was skectipal in trying this as when I try this sort of stuff it always messes up but I took a chance and my BB is like new!...Thank You

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8820/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/179)

Ur welcome my friend. Glad i could help. Cheers

Same here!

Just got my first BB (Rogers 8100) and I am happy to have found such a good board.

Cheers

M2Q

I have just looked at your guide to cleaning a trackball and I have to say that although it is very clear it looks so fiddly it looks harder that artificially inseminating a queen bee (I speak as a beekeeper). When my trakcball gets dirty I shall probably chicken out and have it taken to a shop to have it cleaned. But as Chrscott22 says "awesome tutorial"

great guide dude! because i was really getting annoyed with this dirty greasy trackball...

I had to clean my trackball yesterday, and the first thing I did was go to google and put in "Clean trackball blackberry" and I got a ton of results, but NONE of them were as in depth as this one. It surprises me that this one wasn't even in the top 50 pages that showed up. We should write google or something ;). This is seriously the best guide, and I know TONS Of people who aren't signed up here, and that DO need to clean. Google fix this! haha.

PS- Great Guide ;) that would be the central theme of my rant.