Lubing hubs

Chips Lovell

Anyone ever do this themselves? I think my rear hub needs it and I've never taken it apart before, so slightly trepedatious.

Gavin

Did it recently on a crappy rear wheel. I didn't have any problems. If you can get your hands on one of those extendible magnetic tips, it looks like it makes things much easier. Fishing around with a finger or screwdriver to get all the ball bearings out is a pain in the arse.

Chips Lovell

Would a spoke magnet work I wonder, or would that be too big?

Morgan

Cup and cone hub? Make sure you have a pair of cone wrenches of the appropriate size. It's pretty straightforward - the important bit is tightening the cones properly at the end. The Park Tool site has good info on this.

Chips Lovell

Incidentally, what's the usual sign that a hub needs to be lubed. Mine is making a ticking noise that is seperate from the frehub ratchet sound.

Gavin

Dunno about the magnet, could be too large and possibly not strong enough.

My wheel was noticeably not spinning in freewheel as much as it should have

Chips Lovell

Morgan wrote: »

Cup and cone hub? Make sure you have a pair of cone wrenches of the appropriate size. It's pretty straightforward - the important bit is tightening the cones properly at the end. The Park Tool site has good info on this.

I don't think there's any cone wrenches invovled. They are newer Campag hubs. Spec sheet and instructions are here (pdf) and it seems to just involve allen bolts and then sliding the axle out.

'68 Fastback

I used to do this all the time with old MTB's hubs. Its messy and very tricky to get right. From what I saw on the Campy link it sounds like you might need a lockring tool instead of cone spanners to get the tension on the bearings which, if you've never done it before, can take ages.
Like I said, it's been a while since I did this kind of maintanance, cause it's a long time since I was a student and now I don't have the whole afternoon to spend on a hub!
As great as it is to fix your own bike yourself, I'd bring it to a shop.

Chips Lovell

'68 wrote:

As great as it is to fix your own bike yourself, I'd bring it to a shop.

The last two times I've brought wheels into a shop I wasn't terribly impressed with the job they did. At this stage, I'd prefer to stuff myself.

Morgan

el tonto wrote: »

I don't think there's any cone wrenches invovled. They are newer Campag hubs. Spec sheet and instructions are here (pdf) and it seems to just involve allen bolts and then sliding the axle out.

I see - haven't worked on a hub like that before but it looks simple - you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Chips Lovell

Morgan wrote: »

I see - haven't worked on a hub like that before but it looks simple - you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Thanks Morgan.

flickerx

Have a go at it yourself, and if you make a mess of it, sure then you can bring it to the shop

Chips Lovell

An update. Tried it last night and its not half as scary as I thought. Much improved and an unintended consequence is that my freehub is now practically silent.

'68 Fastback

Nice one! Glad to hear someone has come up with a better solution to the cup and cone system. Sorry for being so pessimistic but I've alot of memories that involve ball bearings, grease and hours of frustration!

RobFowl

'68 wrote:

Nice one! Glad to hear someone has come up with a better solution to the cup and cone system. Sorry for being so pessimistic but I've alot of memories that involve ball bearings, grease and hours of frustration!

Glad to hear it went well too.
I have had similar nightmares in the past. My first set of alloy wheels has imperial ballbearings
which I replaced unknowingly with metric ones. The result was the rear wheel seizing completely half way up howth had me having to walk home (8-9 miles) in cleats (not much fun)

'68 Fastback

RobFowl wrote: »

Glad to hear it went well too.
I have had similar nightmares in the past. My first set of alloy wheels has imperial ballbearings
which I replaced unknowingly with metric ones. The result was the rear whhel siizing completely half way up howth nad me having to walk home (8-9 miles) in cleats (not much fun)

Thats nasty! Ever loose a bearing into the inner hub? Nightmare to get the little feckers out!

RobFowl

'68 wrote:

Thats nasty! Ever loose a bearing into the inner hub? Nightmare to get the little feckers out!

Got that T-shirt too !!!

'68 Fastback

It's good to hear I'm not alone. Either that or we're idiots!

RobFowl

'68 wrote:

It's good to hear I'm not alone. Either that or we're idiots!

Probably the latter !

'68 Fastback

Anyone know if you can still get "Black Gold" grease? That stuff was amazing for loose bearing hubs and headsets. You could ride through the worst winter kack without any worries at all. I'm a geek:rolleyes: