Originally Posted by
54roadie
It's held in with a very thin and simple c-clip. Careful work by hand and small screwdriver lifted it out without damage. BE CAREFUL after that - neither the balls nor the rollers are retained by their respective cages, and will roll everywhere when removed. It's a job best done low over a tray with a reasonable lip. After cleaning, use a good coating of grease to hold them back in. Install carefully and you'll be OK.
I found the problem, fixed it. Inner sleeve, reminiscent of the old Campy accordion sleeves, was popping off center and not letting the spindle seat properly.
As for the drive side - that cup assembly is FIXED in the Trek frame and I'm not messing with it. I wiped it out, sprayed it with WD40, wiped some more then repacked the bearings without removing them. Surprisingly, it's very smooth. There was some roughness before I started. Tuning the preload during reassembly is a bit of a nightmare as well.
"Better engineering" my ass.
Frank
I was just playing with one of those the other day; got the outer seal off and looked for some sort of retaining ring but didn't see it; guess I'll have to look harder.
Don't understand your remark about the drive side cup; mine comes out using the same splined tool that can be used on the off side (although I prefer the 8-tooth tool)...