A load of balls?

[Tyres]

After noticing that the clicking sound from the rear hub had gotten really loud recently and that when I pushed the bike along the cranks turned by themselves, I finally got round to dismantling the rear hub to rectify the problems. However, one thing I did notice was the amount of ball bearings at either side of the hub - they differed. Is this normal?

The non-drive side had 7 balls and the drive-side had 9.

Please clarify if this is the norm. Please note, it's the first time I've done this.

Many thanks

 

[rusty bearing]

No there's usually nine each side. They either disintegrated or fell out when you took it apart.

 

[Tyres]

No there's usually nine each side. They either disintegrated or fell out when you took it apart.

Thanks Rusty Bearing. None fell out so they must've disintegrated. Or, they weren't there in the first place?? I did inspect all the balls for flat or damaged surfaces and they seemed fine.

 

[rusty bearing]

I'd recommend putting new in every time rather than replacing the old ones as you can't really see flat spots but you can certainly feel them. Hub service usually takes @ 15 minutes per wheel and plenty of grease.

 

[accountantpete]

Some wheel hubs have different ball bearings for the drive/non-drive side.

They wont have disintegrated!

 

[swee'pea99]

'gotten'? Is there a yankee doodle dandy in our presence...? 




Er, I'm with AP here - I've done hubs that had different numbers in each side. Disintegration seems unlikely! But I'd also go with RB on the 'replace with new', with the additional nb - never mix old and new (even if the old look fine). With the tolerances as fine as they are, you can end up with the four new ones taking all the load while the old ones just go round and round...not ideal.

 

[Tyres]

[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1282209962' post='1367984']
'gotten'? Is there a yankee doodle dandy in our presence...?

[/quote]



I may have to consult the family tree on that one. Sorry about the slip.

Thanks for all the tips folks. It's much appreciated. I'll see about replacing the bearings for new in the near future.

 

[rusty bearing]

I dunno. You want to see some of the bikes and hubs we get asked to service, some have no balls left at all. Stolen by pixies?

 

[swee'pea99]

Unlikely as it may sound, I believe quite a lot *are* stolen by pixies. They use them to play a version of boules.