russiankdi

the front hub on my mongoose wheel, it is missing a couple BB's, now i have BB's that are a tiny bit smaller then the ones in there, what will happen if i put them in there. Do i just make sure it spins freely and has no free play? or this is a bad idea



P.S. the BB's are metal

Shorty

Give it a shot I suppose, but I doubt you will be able to get all of the play out of the hub. Even it it does work I would still get the right size as soon as you can. Good luck.

russiankdi

well i put them in, they seem to work for now, i have no free play for some reason and they spin free, but i will try to get some correct size ones

HillRider

Use the correct size bearings. Front hubs almost all use either 10 or 11 in each side 3/16" diameter balls and these are easily available at bike shops or auto parts stores. Using a couple of undersize balls will put an excess load on the remaining correct ones and damage the hub rather quickly.

russiankdi

i replaced all of them with the same size, which is a bit smaller

AnthonyG

How did you manage that?

The bearing surfaces are machined/sized for certain sized ball bearings and using the wrong sized ones will place loads on the bearing surfaces they weren't mean't to take and I'm supprised you could adjust the cones properly. Replace with the correct size as soon as you can.

Regards, Anthony

russiankdi

well they are only a tad bit smaller, it isnt very noticeable, but they fit,lol, i havent rode yet im still stripping the house paint from the previous owner

HillRider

The correct size bearings are cheap and readily available. Use them. It will be a lot cheaper than replacing the hub. A "tad bit smaller" is not good enough.

Retro Grouch 

A "tad bit smaller" means that the cones are going to fit a "tad bit" closer to the centerline and the wheel is going to fit differently in the fork. I honestly don't know if you are likely to have problems down the line or not because, as cheap and easily available as bearings are, it's not the kind of thing that I like to experiment with.

russiankdi

well i found the other 4 BB's that i needed. they were in teh hub, and the hub was dirty so i didnt see them, i greased everything up and everything is good now. thanks for the help guys