Bicycle Mechanics - catridge bearing hub questions

Well, I was just cleaning the old bike up and I noticed that the bearings in the rear hub are no too smooth anymore, very gritty would be a better description. Yeah, I got stuck riding in the pouring rain yesterday, so that may not have helped the situation any. The hub in question is a Paul Components Word singlespeed hub. The bearings are catridge type and Paul Components lists them as "emq 17x30mm, 90% fill". I'm not familiar with catridge bearing hubs, but I have rebuilt loose bearing hubs before.

So my questions are do I need any special tools to remove the bearings from the hub. Are the pressed in? Secondly, are these bearings special or are they easily obtainable. Paul Components sells them on there website for $7.50 each. This seems kinda high for a bearing but they have lasted at least two years, so the price isn't out of line. Should I just take the wheel to a LBS? The wheel could stand to be trued.

Thanks for any info. ya'll can provide.

Well I would get the bearings from Paul's. Ask him how you remove and replace the bearings. I could guess but I do not want to be inaccurate and cause you trouble.

Thanks Hunter, nice to see you around. Well, I decided to take the hub apart to get a look-see. No problem at all. I was able to drive the bearings out with a couple taps on a wooden dowel with a mallet.

It was only the drive side bearing that was bad. I removed the seals on the bearing, cleaned it out and repacked it with grease and then put the hub back together. The hub was still just as gritty though. Time for some new bearings.

Well, here's the bad part. I was tightening down the attaching bolts that hold the wheel in the frame and SNAP!!!!!! One of the bolts broke leaving most of it stuck in the axle. Oh man, am I bummed. The bolts are stainless steel and the axle is aluminium. I tried to turn what was left of the bolt with some visegrips. No go. the stainless is too soft. I filed some flat spots on the bolt stub, still no luck.

I figure I might get lucky if I use a propane torch to heat the axle up a little, as the axle should expand faster than the bolt. Or I could drill and retap, but I don't think that will be successful. I could always get a new axle from Paul.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks Birks. You could tap it, try it before you spend money. Good to hear getting the hub apart was no problem. I can do the same to Nuke hubs to get at the bearings. I looked at the exploded veiw of the hub on the Paul's web site. Nicely done work, bummer on the fixing bolts though. A quick release with a hub lock would be a better solution, but oh well. Anyway good to hear it was pretty easy.

Originally posted by Hunter
Thanks Birks. You could tap it, try it before you spend money. Good to hear getting the hub apart was no problem. I can do the same to Nuke hubs to get at the bearings. I looked at the exploded veiw of the hub on the Paul's web site. Nicely done work, bummer on the fixing bolts though. A quick release with a hub lock would be a better solution, but oh well. Anyway good to hear it was pretty easy.
Hunter, Welcome back Buddy

Originally posted by orguasch

Hunter, Welcome back Buddy

Hey thanks alot my North of the border friend!

A friend of mine just had to replace his Paul axle, although he stripped the aluminum axle threads. Replacement runs about $30. We did tap it out for a larger bolt and he has been using it that way successfully for a while.

You may be able to get the bolt out with a bolt/screw extractor (I'm sure there is another name, just escapes me now). Looks like a tap w/ reverse threads. You drill a small hole in the center of the broken bolt and thread this in counter-clockwise. If all goes well, it removes the bolt as you thread the extractor in.