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Newbie Maintenance question: Replacing Front Wheel Ball Bearings

  • 28-03-2009 7:31pm
    #1
    lucernarian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,236 ✭✭✭


    I've been giving a fairly old and cheap enough mountain bike a big of an overhaul. I haven't done much maintenance beyond basic oiling and greasing and some gear adjustments before, so I'm a little stuck for this problem.

    When I looked at the front wheel's hub, I noticed the ball bearings came in a cage-like thing, which Sheldon Brown's calls a retainer. On one side however, I found a ball with a chunk and much of its surface missing. A clear candidate for replacement. But the cage is damaged as the "teeth" of it seem bent and the other balls fell out easily. I also read that the retainer is less efficient at its job.

    So I'm going to replace the ball bearing/cage setup with just ball bearings. But I don't know which size ball bearings I am to use or how many! There was a broken MTB lying around so I pilfered the front wheel ball bearings from it, but the hub assembly (the cup, the axis, the balls etc) were all smaller! So I'm now not sure what parts I need to fix this.

    Any help would be really appreciated!! And neither money or transport to a bike shop is in good supply, so a cheap and cheerful DIY option is best:)

    Btw the diameter of the part of the cup where the balls/cage reside is about 26mm. It's definitely slightly greater than an inch.


Comments

  • #2
    lucernarian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,236 ✭✭✭lucernarian


    Can anyone help me out here?? I thought there would be someone who'd know about changing ball bearings on the cycling forum.:(

    I did try searching the forum but I didn't find any relevant results...


  • #3
    Húrin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,045 ✭✭✭Húrin


    To_be_confirmed wrote: »
    Can anyone help me out here?? I thought there would be someone who'd know about changing ball bearings on the cycling forum.:(

    I did try searching the forum but I didn't find any relevant results...

    Saturday isn't a good day to be expecting a lot of replies. Most of the forum are out on spins. Why not just replace the broken balls with bearings of the same size? or move up a size if you feel they're too small without the retainer. Whatever you do put lots of grease (not oil or WD40) on them.


  • #4
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    This any use?
    http://bicycletutor.com/overhaul-wheel-bearings/


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