Originally Posted by
BCRider
The "head" on that retainer tube bolt is supposed to be a squared off section. Not a gouged out triangle like your picture shows.
I think that what happened is that the shop guy was actually wrong and the freehub you got didn't let the rim on the head sit down flush into the center of the bearing cup. Then when you dropped the balls in the bearing balls were riding partly on the cup and partly on the end of the tube joiner screw. It wore away as shown and your wheel got loose due to teh wear. You tightened it up and the balls finished the job and when it got tight that was due to the metal particles jamming like little wheel chocks in front of the balls.
So likely now you need a new freehub AND a new tubular retaining screw because the metal particles will have played havoc with the cup in the freehub.
That's why in my particular situation I just went ahead and replaced the whole wheel. I might've saved a few bucks, but in the end, I wound up with new everything with the exception of tire & tube vs the bike tech replacing a few items and then getting me close to the same cost with labor charges. And the cluster side internal bearing cone, that was ground up and broken loose, a slight bow in the axle and how long before even a rebuild/repair job and I'm back in the same situation ? In my case $ 40 was no big deal, but when the wheel set is a few hundred, yeah that could hurt as a financial setback. And even there, rebuilding is a chance on new & older slightly worn parts for tolerances.