'notchy' rear wheel after freehub swap

Koiler

right, just fitted a replacement freehub onto my shimano M475 rear hub.

i bought a complete identical hub, stripped it down and swapped all the innards into my existing hub. (bearings, axle, cones, freehub mechanism)

i haven't fitted the wheel back onto the bike yet as i ran out of light but from spinning it in my hands, it feels rough and notchy/ grindy. (it feels like that even if i loosen the cones off)

im thinking it has to be something to do with the bearings, In my head, the new bearings on the drive/ freehub side should be ok as its a new cup and cone but should i have re-used the original bearings in the non drive side cup? and fitted the old cone?

thanks

supersonic

Is the internal cup on the non driveside pitted?

Koiler

i wouldn't say its pitted, but it does seem to be discoloured. its not quite lovely shiney metal like the new one. its sort of brown, but not rusty, could it be compacted dirt?

its strange though as before swapping the bits over, the wheel ran nice and smooth (just the freehub was knackered)

supersonic

Give everything a good clean out again, and use a good dollop of fresh grease. Then let bed in.

Also make sure the axle is not bent.

Koiler

cheers!

well the axle is new so shouldnt be bent, and i packed everything out with weldtite teflon grease but ill strip it again tomorrow and try and shift the brown stuff.

roughly how long should bearings take to bed in?

[random idea] if i cant get it clean, what would happen if i drop the old bearings back in with a load of fine cutting compound (or even t cut), flip the bike over and pedal it like mad by hand for a short while? would that help shift the crud? or is that just plain silly? [/random idea]

supersonic

You should be able to shift the crap without doing that lol. Just degreaser and a pick for the harder stuff.

Bedding in shouldn't take long. You may need to readjust after though.

If there are any notches on the cups, fine emery paper can help.

Koiler

cool, thanks.

ill give it a bash tomorrow and shall update just in case anyone cares

W00DENT0P

If you've got the new parts for the non driveside then why don't you fit them ?
You can also knock / press out the bearing race from inside the hub, so then everything will be new.

Koiler

W00DENT0P wrote:

If you've got the new parts for the non driveside then why don't you fit them ?

thanks, i've put the new bearings in already and im using the new axle complete with cones/ nuts its just the cup thats not been changed

W00DENT0P wrote:

You can also knock / press out the bearing race from inside the hub, so then everything will be new.

i did not know this! that would be good, how do i do that without knackering it? screwdriver through the hub body and tap it out? how likely is it to go wrong?

thanks

W00DENT0P

Nah a screwdriver isn't ideal, if you haven't got any punches or drifts then just something with a flat square end, a 1/4 or 3/8 extension bar or something similar ?
Just tap around it evenly and it'll come out fine, then just get a socket of the same size to knock it back it.
Unlikely to go wrong unless your a complete rough arse !

Koiler

cool, ill give that a go at work tomorrow then so i can use a vice to hold it.

i have stripped it again this evening and tried to clean the cup with some turpentine and a small brush, it got some of the crap off, but i cant shift a lot of it.

having cleaned and reassembled everything, it was better, but still felt rough so i over- tightened the bearings (on purpose), refited the wheel and with the bike upside down, pedalled it by hand for a while to try and grind some of the crap out, then removed the wheel, backed the tension off to a normal amount and now it runs pretty nicely but i think i will try and swap the cups over. then it will be all nice and shiny. shiny is faster. fact.

bike-a-swan

I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to remove the cups from shimano hubs.

W00DENT0P

bike-a-swan wrote:

I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to remove the cups from shimano hubs.

Why not ?
Their not listed as replacement parts in the catalogue but you can easily remove and refit them, i've removed / refitted loads of them over the years without any probs.
If you've got a knackered M475 / M525 hub then swapping all the bits over is a much cheaper option than a hub / spoke rebuild.

Koiler

turns out you can remove the non drive side cup with a hammer and some gentle persuasion

thanks W00DENT0P!