Rear Hub Disassembly?
 

So, on my Xero XR-1 wheels, the freehub body is a little bit loose. At first I thought it was the bearings, but they seem in good shape - smooth and no play. I'd like to take the wheels apart. They seem like a simple design - 5mm allen on one end (drive side), 19mm cone on the other (non-drive side). The cone comes right off, but the allen stays on there. What do I do at this point?

(1) Tap the nds to pop the axle out?

(2) Use a clamp (with wood blocks) to hold the nds axle, while loosening the allen?

(3) Post on bikeforums about it?

(3) Post on bikeforums.about it.

=8-)

This morning, I decided to go at it without any instructions. So, for the sake of posterity, I'll post my disassembly of the Xero XR-1 rear hub. This unit appears to be very similar to the rear hub used by Neuvation's R-series aluminum road wheels. The fittings on the ends of the axles are different (Neuvation requires a 5mm allen to remove the nuts, while Xero has a 15mm and 17mm nut respectively). The hub, bearings, and freehub assembly appear almost identical. The design is very simple, I can take it apart, re-lub the freehub, and reassemble in maybe 20 minutes.

Tools required: 5mm allen, 15mm cone wrench, 17mm cone wrench. Regular wrenches will not work, they are too wide.

After taking off the wheel and the QR skewer, we can see the end of the axle. This axle has a hole accepting a 5mm allen. Remove the cassette first, then we'll work on the nuts.

http://ivanmegan.crabdance.com/~ivan...e_cassette.jpg

Once the cassette is off, let's take off the nuts. The drive side nut is a 15mm nut, the non-drive side is 17mm. Note that the drive side nut holds the freehub on. Once we remove this nut here...

http://ivanmegan.crabdance.com/~ivan...te_removed.jpg

the freehub comes right out of the hub. The freehub itself is a very simple design - three pawls that are held on by nothing other than a small spring. We can wedge open the pawls and remove the spring using needlenose pliers or similar. Be careful, the spring is very thin and can be damaged easily.

The other side requires a 17mm cone wrench. The only thing back there is the NDS bearing.

http://ivanmegan.crabdance.com/~ivan..._other_nut.jpg

To re-lube the freehub, take the pawls and spring off, wipe it down, and put on fresh grease or mineral oil, where the pawls pivot on the freehub shell.

http://ivanmegan.crabdance.com/~ivan...04_freehub.jpg

I didn't touch the bearings on mine, but if they're anything like the Neuvation hubs, I think the hub bearings can be tapped out by tapping on the axle. The freehub bearings come out of the non-pawl end of the freehub, but will probably require either a drift or some kind of press to remove. I don't think those bearings see much load so it's unlikely that this'll ever have to be done, although the hub bearings themselves might wear out after some time.

To give a brief long-term review of the Xero XR-1 wheelset: I've put about 4,000 miles on these wheels so far. I'm pretty light (125lbs) so YMMV, but they've been rock-solid so far. The front wheel is true as an arrow, the rear wheel has maybe 1mm of wobble, but nothing serious. Certainly nothing that I can feel on the bike. The bearings and everything are fine, no shaft play on either wheel after 4,000 miles. The wheelset seems built well; taking apart the rear hub, there was plenty of grease on the bearings and the freehub assembly, suggesting that it had been assembled with at least some thought to actual use.

The reason I took apart the rear hub was that my freehub developed some side to side play. Oddly, I couldn't feel this while actually riding the bike, only when I wiggled the wheel to check for bearing play. I mistook the knocking for bearing play at first, but the bearings themselves are solid; it's the freehub that came loose. Tightening the 15mm nut on the end just a tad removed the play. I'd probably re-lube the freehub pawls every few thousand miles or so, the freehub seemed slightly sticky with the dirty grease in there.

I'm trying to replace the bearings on me XR-1.
On the driveside, do i need to remove the freehub in order to reach the bearings?
Seems like a very delicate procedure.

On the ND side, I see that the bearings are labeled as 6901RU.

Joytech hub. http://www.novatec.com.tw/novatec/english/tec_r.php

Thanks Davidad,

After removing the end caps, the freehub seems to slide off, but somethings preventing it from coming off completely.
Placed an order for some ABI enduro bearings, so I'll try again when they arrive.

Hi,
I recently bought an Xero Lite XR-1 wheelset on craigslist. The wheelset was taken from a triathlon bike and had less than 100 miles. My bike has a 9speed drivetrain and the hub on the Xero's is a ten speed only. The hub has deeper and narrower splines than a 9 speed cassette. I've been told replacing the cassette hub body is the only solution...where would I purchase that? I'm posting on here because I read through and looked at the pictures - it looks like you have a 9speed on these wheels.

Can you just buy one from Ebay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...ectorid=229466

My hub body looked exactly like this"
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...081998902#desc

I saw that one on ebay but I guess I'm wondering if I can't just purchase any hub body? It has to be a certain one that looks like that? I'm new to all of this and I'm not sure I completely understand.

Hub bodies are different with each manufacturer.
Formula(Xero) hubs have three pawls on the hub body, while some manufacturers such as Mavic have single paws on the hub shell.

Sure it's not a campy freehub? I think mine was advertised as "Shimano 8/9/10" compatible.

Anyway, I couldn't find anything relevant on ebay - not sure what search terms to use. You could ask your LBS :)