Campag Freehubs- Is there a problem?

shaw8670

I have just rebuilt a freehub on 2 year old Zonda wheels for a friend. Is this not a bit premature for cartridge bearings to go(4000ish miles by a fairly light person)? The rest of the components are fine. I have heard that they are a bit soft? I put £3 bearings in. Does anyone have any recommendation, opinions etc?

Wirral_paul

I wouldnt think it would be the rider's weight but other variables that would affect life of the bearings etc - ie used in rain, bike washing methods etc. If a pressure washer is used on the cassette etc - then that will kill bearings. I wouldnt be too worried by £3 bearings - just keep a couple of spares and replace when they fail etc. Once you know how to then its hardly a big job to press them out / in

on-yer-bike

I had to do three hubs but only the outside bearings.
Water gets in there. One theory I had was that chain lube was washing out the grease because I always put the chain on the smallest cog when lubing. They arent supposed to be serviceable either. Not sure how you change the inner bearing. I smear the exposed part of the bearing with Speedplay waterproof pedal grease.

rolf_f

Crappy single sealed bearings - the replacements should last rather longer. The ones on my Khamsins (used all weathers) lasted well over 10,000 miles (probably a fair bit further) - the ones on my less badly treated Ventos maybe half as long..... Though that's only got the outer knackered so far.

on-yer-bike wrote:

Not sure how you change the inner bearing. I smear the exposed part of the bearing with Speedplay waterproof pedal grease.

You have to extract a springclip which stops the inner bearing from being pushed out. Normal method is to try to prise it out from the outer end for a couple of hours and then give up and drill a hole in the side of the bearing that allows you to lever one side of the spring clip out and then spin it round so you get the whole thing out. All a bit tiresome and I'm not sure it should actually be necessary! Easy enough putting it all back together though.

on-yer-bike

Rolf F wrote:

Crappy single sealed bearings - the replacements should last rather longer. The ones on my Khamsins (used all weathers) lasted well over 10,000 miles (probably a fair bit further) - the ones on my less badly treated Ventos maybe half as long..... Though that's only got the outer knackered so far.

on-yer-bike wrote:

Not sure how you change the inner bearing. I smear the exposed part of the bearing with Speedplay waterproof pedal grease.

You have to extract a springclip which stops the inner bearing from being pushed out. Normal method is to try to prise it out from the outer end for a couple of hours and then give up and drill a hole in the side of the bearing that allows you to lever one side of the spring clip out and then spin it round so you get the whole thing out. All a bit tiresome and I'm not sure it should actually be necessary! Easy enough putting it all back together though.

How big does the hole need to be? Is it tricky drilling it in the correct place? I stupidly removed the inner seals to match what I was taking out as I reasoned that water can only enter from the sealed side facing outwards.

shaw8670

Job done, 2x bearings fitted. If doing this job there are Teng circlip pliers which go in and extract the circlip with no drama or hassle. If they go again i'll probably go for SKF or some more premium bearings.

on-yer-bike

shaw8670 wrote:

Job done, 2x bearings fitted. If doing this job there are Teng circlip pliers which go in and extract the circlip with no drama or hassle. If they go again i'll probably go for SKF or some more premium bearings.

Without drilling a hole?

rolf_f

on-yer-bike wrote:

shaw8670 wrote:

Job done, 2x bearings fitted. If doing this job there are Teng circlip pliers which go in and extract the circlip with no drama or hassle. If they go again i'll probably go for SKF or some more premium bearings.

Without drilling a hole?

Shouldn't need the hole.

Perhaps I ought to look at the price of the pliers. That said, they wouldn't have worked in my case - the circlip actually broke on mine. Probably weakened by corrosion so any plier investment would have been wasted. Conveniently, the big bit was big enough to go back in without needing a new one. And I'm not sure it is necessary anyway.

As for getting the hole in the right place - it needs to be in such a position that you can push a screwdriver up against the circlip and lever it out. I carefully measured and got it wrong so I just drilled another hole. In engineering terms I'm going to hell but it did the job and araldite sealed the holes nicely.

shaw8670

No hole required, but would the absence of the circlip not create space and leave a bit of slack in there?

rolf_f

shaw8670 wrote:

No hole required, but would the absence of the circlip not create space and leave a bit of slack in there?

All the circlip does is ensure that the inner bearing can't move outwards. But there is also the tube that the axle passes through to do that (which sits between the inner and outer bearings) and I can't see why the bearing would shift out anyway.