rear hub adjustment - freewheel body is in the way!

salsajake
salsajake Posts: 702
edited April 2010 in The workshop
This is going to be a stupid question I know, but there is some play in my bearings.

I don't know the correct words for the 4 parts that have spanner flats on them so I will call them cone flats (for the 2 innermost ones that the bearings run on) and lock flats (the outside ones who's job is I believe to stop the inner ones undoing. The lock flats of course also act as the bits that wedge against the frame when the QR is tightened.

I have taken the cassette off, but this only allows me access to the lock flat on the drive side, the cone flat on the driveside being covered by the freewheel body. I have tried tightening the drive side cone flat as far as I can (without using silly force, which is a bad idea with bearings involved) but there is still play. If I could get to the driveside cone flat, I think I would be able to nip it up a bit, and that would be job done. The only way I can think of doing it is to take off the non-drive cone flat and lock flat and withdraw the axle, tighten the drive side ones a bit and then put it all back together, But then bearings would all fall out and whilst it would be a good oppo to grease it all up again, what is it that I am missing here?!

Comments

  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    undo the other side. remove axle, lock the cassette side cone and lock nut together. refit axle fit and adjust non drive side cone and lock nut. sorted.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    nicklouse wrote:
    undo the other side. remove axle, lock the cassette side cone and lock nut together. refit axle fit and adjust non drive side cone and lock nut. sorted.

    so as I suspected, its an axle out job. ah well, will have to wait for the weekend now, need to clear a space to catch all the bearings that will inevitably escape!
  • Nigel Bennett
    Nigel Bennett Posts: 653
    If all you wish to do is to reduce the play, then simply adjust the non-drive side. If you have a vice, grip the wheel (axle vertical) in that, holding it by the drive-side locknut, ensuring the wheel can still rotate. Use a cone spanner on the non drive-side cone, and hold it steady. Undo the locknut, keeping the cone from rotating. Now tighten the cone slightly and nip the locknut lightly. Spin the wheel. Adjust the cone again as required until you've taken out nearly all the play. Now put it in the bike and tighten the QR. If the wheel won't go round easily, you've over-tightened the cone too much, so slacken it off. Or tighten it some more if it's still too loose.

    In the absence of a vice, I suggest you grow a third arm, or inveigle someone else to hold the drive-side locknut whilst you adjust the cone. Good luck.

    Probably not a bad idea as nicklouse said to take it all apart anyway, as you can check all the bearing surfaces and re-grease. The grease helps keep all the balls in place when you put it all back together. Not that I ever tried to re-assemble an old-fashioned bottom bracket without any grease in, thinking to lube it through the little oil cup on the BB afterwards, oh, no....that must have been a friend of mine. :oops:
  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    Nigel Bennett wrote:
    If all you wish to do is to reduce the play, then simply adjust the non-drive side. If you have a vice, grip the wheel (axle vertical) in that, holding it by the drive-side locknut, ensuring the wheel can still rotate. Use a cone spanner on the non drive-side cone, and hold it steady. Undo the locknut, keeping the cone from rotating. Now tighten the cone slightly and nip the locknut lightly. Spin the wheel. Adjust the cone again as required until you've taken out nearly all the play. Now put it in the bike and tighten the QR. If the wheel won't go round easily, you've over-tightened the cone too much, so slacken it off. Or tighten it some more if it's still too loose.

    In the absence of a vice, I suggest you grow a third arm, or inveigle someone else to hold the drive-side locknut whilst you adjust the cone. Good luck.

    Probably not a bad idea as nicklouse said to take it all apart anyway, as you can check all the bearing surfaces and re-grease. The grease helps keep all the balls in place when you put it all back together. Not that I ever tried to re-assemble an old-fashioned bottom bracket without any grease in, thinking to lube it through the little oil cup on the BB afterwards, oh, no....that must have been a friend of mine. :oops:

    ah yes, but as I said, the non-drive side one won't tighten anymore, at least not without silly amounts of torque. I know that makes no sense, because all it should be doing is pulling the axle in from the other side, so suspect something is amiss, which taking the axle out should reveal.

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