Bicycle Mechanics - Sloppy fit with 8 spd cassette and hub

The players:

8 spd XTR M950 hub and 8 spd CS-HG50 8 spd cassette

When I mount the cassette, it's as if there needs to be a spacer on the hub for a tight fit..maybe 2mm. But according to all the info I find, you only need a spacer on a 7 cassette to an 8/9 hub. I see no such spacer for an 8 spd anywhere on the net.

Photo below in which you can see the splines visible between the last two small sprockets.

What am I missing?

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x115/lat7575/Trade/7Dec10002R.jpg

Did you tighten the lockring down with the cassette tool?

Did you tighten the lockring down with the cassette tool?

When I first read this, my initial reaction was "Well, duh. Of course." But then I wondered if I had tightened it enough. The ring specs 40 Newton-meters. That isn't much...or is it? Torque wrench out, set. And 40 Newton-meters is a lot more than I thought. I am probably fortunate I have not lost a cassette in the past as I tightened them, but clearly not tightly enough.

So thanks for responding and making me think. Problem resolved.

Well someone has to post the obvious sometimes.
Torque wrench?! I tighten by eyeballing it. :lol:
I'm a Bike Whisperer.

This is analogous to threadless headsets in that the cassette must overhang the body so the lockring can tighten it down before bottoming on the body.

If it does overhang but you still cannot tighten it, it's possible that the lockring's threaded portion is too long for the freehub body and keeping it from tightening all the way. Test by removing the cassette and seeing if the lockring threads in until it's face bottoms out. If not, (more common than most people think) you need to find a shorter lockring, or carefully grind this one down a bit.

If you cassette stack is shorter then the freehub body you need a spacer, whether the literature mentions it or not (unless you forgot one from the cassette). Add the right width spacer behind the cassette and you should be OK.

You don't need a spacer for that.

You may want to read this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#hyperdrivec

This is analogous to threadless headsets in that the cassette must overhang the body so the lockring can tighten it down before bottoming on the body.

If it does overhang but you still cannot tighten it, it's possible that the lockring's threaded portion is too long for the freehub body and keeping it from tightening all the way. Test by removing the cassette and seeing if the lockring threads in until it's face bottoms out. If not, (more common than most people think) you need to find a shorter lockring, or carefully grind this one down a bit.

If you cassette stack is shorter then the freehub body you need a spacer, whether the literature mentions it or not (unless you forgot one from the cassette). Add the right width spacer behind the cassette and you should be OK.

He already solved the problem.