wheel bearings

denbatt

I have a pair of shimano rs20's that were my main wheels for a while ridden in all kinds of weather- a lot of rain last year! I always keep my pike fairly clean and lubed recently I have started using them to commute to work but while cleaning them the other day I just spun them to see how they were and they don't seem as smooth as they used to. I did open the hub for a peek but didn't want to empty the ball bearings out all over the place. Would it be worth getting the bearings replaced? Is it an easy enough job?

bcmf

denbatt wrote: »

I have a pair of shimano rs20's that were my main wheels for a while ridden in all kinds of weather- a lot of rain last year! I always keep my pike fairly clean and lubed recently I have started using them to commute to work but while cleaning them the other day I just spun them to see how they were and they don't seem as smooth as they used to. I did open the hub for a peek but didn't want to empty the ball bearings out all over the place. Would it be worth getting the bearings replaced? Is it an easy enough job?

If you anyway mechanically minded it should be handy enough.I presume they are cartridge bearings. If so Dicksons in Finglas just off the M50 is the place if you are near Dublin. Take out the cartridge and bring itwith ya.

denbatt

bcmf wrote: »

If you anyway mechanically minded it should be handy enough.I presume they are cartridge bearings. If so Dicksons in Finglas just off the M50 is the place if you are near Dublin. Take out the cartridge and bring itwith ya.

Nope the appear to be loose. Also I am down in cork. Cheers.

piston

They may be loose but in a cage. If so, bin the cage and replace with the appropriate number of loose balls. Plenty of grease to hold them in place when re-assembling. They will roll better and last longer with loose bearings.

I would expect 9 x 1/4" balls on each side of a back hub and 10 (or maybe 11) x 3/16" on each side of the front.

Don't use cheap lithium based grease it dries out.

seamus

Really the only mistakes you can make are not enough grease, or not fitting the axle back in properly.

In terms of grease, you cannot put enough in. The axle doesn't need to be able to roll freely in the hub, just smoothly. If you check a set of brand new wheels and try to spin the axle, you'll note that it doesn't spin freely - i.e. if you flick the axle between your fingers, it doesn't spin away on its own. But at the same time you'll notice that there's no roughness in the movement.

Fitting the axle back in is really a matter of making sure you get the cones into the right position. For a start, when you remove the axle, only remove the cone from one side, leave the other side intact. This means that when you put it back in, that cone is already in the correct position on the axle.
Obviously you can't just screw the other cone in as far as it will go and tighten it up - the wheel won't move. The cone should be tight enough in that there's no play in the axle (or the absolute minimum play), but far enough out that there's no roughness in the movement - i.e. the cone should not be pressing against the bearings with any force, just resting against them. This can take quite a bit of trial and error to get right, so take your time.

Once the cone is in place, there's a locknut you screw in to lock the cone in position on the axle. For this you need a cone spanner - it's a very narrow spanner that lets you hold the cone in place while you turn the locknut. Again, trial and error, it takes a while. Sometimes after locking the nut you discover the cone has moved slightly, so you need to try again. Take your time, get it right

denbatt

Thanks lads, i will hopefully tackle this next week.

MungoMan

whats more common, cartridge or cup and cone ?

Is it the case that all high end wheels are cartridge and all lower end are cup and cone ?

Is it normal to have to change the ball bearings/ re-grease during the lifetime of the wheel as part of servicing ?

Or should the ball bearings last longer than the wheel ?

JOHN_70

As far as I know all Shimano hubs even the high-end ones are still cup and cone.
The sealing is better on the higher end hubs to prevent water getting in and contaminating the grease. Well sealed cup and cone hubs work very well and are easily serviced.

denbatt

Just to follow up on this. Bought a cone spanner and some grease in my lbs yesterday and tackled it last night. Took all the bearings out and cleaned them and inside the hubs and re-greased everything and put em back together, very happy with the results. Didn't have to replace the ball bearings ether the old grease was just past it.

Diarmuid

For the record, SimplyBearings is a good place to get quality bearings for your bike