Is my Shimano Ultegra 6700 Rear Borked?

CRAIGO5000

The rear hub was a little draggy so I pulled apart the cup and cones to find the drive side was minging (hence the draggy!) and only had 8 ball bearings inside whereas the NDS has 9!? I cleaned up the cone and cup, re-greased and thought nothing of it. The NDS was perfect and amazingly clean in comparison.

I put them back together in a dark garage and all seemed well until I went out the morning after, got half a mile down the road for the wheel to seize completely!

I walked home and had a hard time releasing the lock nuts. In hindsight, I think one of them wasn't locked off properly and it wound up so tight as the wheel rotated that it locked the hub up! (Bugger).

So I took it all apart double checked everything and now the cassette wobbles slightly on freewheel even though the bearing load is set with no play.

Any advice?

svetty

Freehub bearings?

buckmulligan

Sounds like you should let a bike shop do the spannering on your bike!

First things first, you definitely shouldn't be running a hub without the required number of bearings in there; take it apart again and if the hub races and cones look in good condition then you might consider investing a couple of pounds in a new set of bearings. The 6700 rear hubs take 1/4" ball bearings (9 per side as you say), install them with some decent grease such as Park Tool Polylube-1000 and this time make sure the cones are properly adjusted and the lock nuts tight!

Shimano freehubs do have a bit of a "wobble" to them and this is natural; it's due to the ball-bearing assembly used on the back side of the freehub having a little bit of play in it. It can get worse with age as these ball-bearings wear down but even new ones have a certain amount of wobble, it's nothing to worry about; when you're pedaling and the freehub is under load there won't be any play or movement.

CRAIGO5000

Cheers guys.

I'll confirm freehub bearings and take off the cassette to see if it's wobbling without it. The wheelset was bought off ebay a year ago. I've obviously been sold the rear without the correct number of bearings inside. I'll need to buy those but where from?

Wiggle have the freehub for £15 which isn't too bad.

Thanks

CRAIGO5000

Found the bearings on ebay and have bought the freehub.

I want to rescue the wheels as although very heavy, they are great for winter commuting.

Cheers

sebbyp

good luck, I seem to have destroyed my rs81 c24 rear after having bearing issues, it just has lots of bearing play in the driveside. I'm sure its the same hub on yours. not very well made.
The bearings just dont seem the right size, there is always a gap where you can quite fit a bearing in. tried new bearings and loads of grease with no luck. think the hub races are crapped. It's in the loft now, might have a play with it again soon. needs a second hand dura ace hub on it really as the rim is great.

CRAIGO5000

All fixed now and only took me 10 minutes.

The guy I bought them off obviously lost a bearing. He also knackered the freehub as it wasn't torqued up at all!

I fitted 9 new bearings in the drive side and left the NDS and they were in amazing condition. Fitted a new freehub and set preload.

Wheels now back to former glory

svetty

sebbyp wrote:

good luck, I seem to have destroyed my rs81 c24 rear after having bearing issues, it just has lots of bearing play in the driveside. I'm sure its the same hub on yours. not very well made.
The bearings just dont seem the right size, there is always a gap where you can quite fit a bearing in. tried new bearings and loads of grease with no luck. think the hub races are crapped. It's in the loft now, might have a play with it again soon. needs a second hand dura ace hub on it really as the rim is great.

Loads of people with RS81/DA C24 wheelsets have good hubs with worn rims - you have the opposite problem. I'd expect you'd get a decent price on ebay for the rim.....