Wheel Bearing - One Ball Short....

Cannock Chase

Serviced a Shimano LX Deore front wheel bearing this afternoon. It's begun to make an intermittent knocking plus other strange noises.

On taking it apart I noticed there were 10 ball-bearings on one side but only 9 balls on the other. On Googling the Shimano manual it says 10 balls each side. Now I'm very careful when removing bearings. I know that none have escaped or have got left in the hub. Where has the missing ball gone...?? There was no bits of metal in the hub so it hasn't broken up.

This is the first time it's been dismantled so I suspect it wasn't there in the first place. Luckily I have old wheels lying around so was able to take a ball from one of those.

Has anyone else serviced bearings and found the correct number of ball-bearings weren't added when originally assembled?

cooldad

One probably fell inside the hub.

Cannock Chase

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19670310#p19670310]cooldad[/url] wrote:

One probably fell inside the hub.

Thanks for the reply.
That's the thing though, it hadn't fell inside the hub. I thoroughly cleaned and checked and double checked. There was definitely one ball-bearing missing.

plugp7

For longevity I would renew all the ball bearings. They are cheap enough. Also best practice says you don't mix the bearings keeping the left separate from the right when you service them as they can wear at different rates. For the same reason, mixing in a ball bearing from another hub is not good practice.

Cannock Chase

Thanks for that. Good advice. Unfortunately I've already serviced the hub but may dismantle again and replace with new balls.

However going back to my original post. Doubting myself I again stripped the bearing. I gave it another thorough looking at and there was no "lost ball" lodged inside the hub. I'm 100% sure there was only 9 balls in one side not 10.

I always dismantle bearings on an old piece of carpet so any that do fall out unnoticed don't stray far. Went for a ride this morning and all is nice and smooth and quiet.

plugp7

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19670674#p19670674]Cannock Chase[/url] wrote:

Went for a ride this morning and all is nice and smooth and quiet.

All's well that ends well.

cycleclinic

If you go to the trouble of taking the hub apart and cleaning everything always replace the ball bearings. Also fit grade 10 chrome or at worst grade 25. Avoid stainless bearings they are more prone to pitting I don't care if shimano use them they use them to avoid rust but that what the grease is for tom prevent rust. Grade 10 balls are not much more expensive than grade 25 and are rounder so the hub will last longer. If you are running cup and cone hubs buy a bag of the relevant balls from simply bearings so you have them to hand when you need them. Service preventative and and shimano hub will last a long time.