Originally Posted by
peripatetic
To help clarify one point about Jeff's post above, once you've got the bearings in one side, put the axle and cone in to hold the bearings in place, and then turn the wheel over. The axle sticking out the other side will then prevent the bearings from falling into the axle shaft of the hub.
Also, remove the cone, nuts and washers from only one side. Sometimes, the way things are tightened down, a cone and nut might come loose on the opposite side of the loosened locknut. It's a lot harder to do anything w/ cones and nuts loose on both sides of the hub.
+1 I do this. Only loosen one side cone/lock nut. After cleaning everything, put grease in both sides (cups). Insert axle about halfway, and put bearings in the side where the cone/lock nut are on the axle. After installing the correct number of balls, push axle in all the way, to hold balls in place. Turn wheel so that the axle without cone/lock nut are up, and install the correct number of balls in that side. Install cone/lock nut on that side. Adjust cones (using 'three wrench method'), then tighten lock nut. Done!
