How Many Times Does It Take You To Get The Hub Bearings Just Right?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Loads of times .
I find that the thin spanners aren't thin enough and you end up bolting them to your wheel ! :angry:.
Also the washer which sits between the nut and washer has an external diameter greater that the AF size of the nut. :angry:
 
Location
London
Loads of times .
I find that the thin spanners aren't thin enough and you end up bolting them to your wheel ! :angry:.
Never had that.
What brand are your cone spanners?
 
OP
OP
Lovacott

Lovacott

Über Member
Loads of times .
I find that the thin spanners aren't thin enough and you end up bolting them to your wheel ! :angry:.
I have a decent set of cone spanners and don't get that issue. However, I can't get a proper bite on the cone unless I take the brake disc off first.

The dome headed hex screws on the disk sit at the same level as the cone so I've found it easier to simply remove the disk rather than trying to fart around attacking it from an angle.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
I wonder if my issues with the Apollo are borne of the fact that it runs a freewheel rather than a cassette?

Because it has 7 cogs, the drive side bearing is sat further away from the dropout on a section of the spindle which must flex under load. Surely this must increase the wear rate on the drive side bearings?

7 speed is about the limit for a freewheel with everything wider seeming to be a cassette.

You can get eight speed freewheels.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
I wonder if my issues with the Apollo are borne of the fact that it runs a freewheel rather than a cassette?

Because it has 7 cogs, the drive side bearing is sat further away from the dropout on a section of the spindle which must flex under load. Surely this must increase the wear rate on the drive side bearings?

7 speed is about the limit for a freewheel with everything wider seeming to be a cassette.

When we moved from 5 speed to 6 speed we found that 6 speed was prone to breaking axles, the club I was with at the time did some rough stuff on their rides, I limped home several times having broken the rear axle on the drive side.
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
I've just put new bearings in my rear hub and I counted how many times I went through the process of pinching up the locknut before I got the bearing tension just right.

27 times in total (I was getting really pissed off by attempt number ten and I was contemplating becoming a serial killer by attempt number twenty).

I was nearly there on the second attempt but there was a very tiny rattle in the spindle which made me unhappy so I started again.

The best I've ever managed on any bike is three attempts.

Maybe my bearing replacement technique is not that great?
It always takes as long as you have....
 
OP
OP
Lovacott

Lovacott

Über Member
You can get eight speed freewheels.
I don't doubt it for a second. The fact that the online parts retailers refer to cassettes as freewheels kind of muddies the water a bit.

1615104862842.png
 
OP
OP
Lovacott

Lovacott

Über Member
When we moved from 5 speed to 6 speed we found that 6 speed was prone to breaking axles, the club I was with at the time did some rough stuff on their rides, I limped home several times having broken the rear axle on the drive side.
I replaced the back axle six months ago because it had a very slight bend in it. I went over a low hydrant cover on a bit of fast downhill which made a fair old jolt.

The new axle is still perfectly straight when extracted, but I wonder how straight it is when it's actually under load?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
My DA hubs I don't need to touch as they have grease ports. The Deore hubs were a doddle to set right on my MTB, but I'm now running cartridge bearings on four of the bikes now. Mavic hubs I have use a cone set up to adjust the pre load. My through axel ones just preload when the through axel is done up.

MrsFs is cup and cone, and last time I adjusted it was because the freehub had come loose from new and I needed an 11 or 12 mm hex to do up from the non drive side.

Top tip, always make sure the drive side cones are done super tight, and never touch them. Then adjust from the non drive side. If not tight they will turn ever so slightly.
 
Top Bottom