Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
Today my supervisor (who is normally a much more active bike mechanic than I am) came into my cube and asked me to take a look at his front wheel. He says it's pinging and he can't figure out what's going on. He lubed the spoke nipples (no jokes please) and it was truthy as you like. I picked the bike up and spun the wheel... scrape scrape scrape go the bearings. XTR titanium hub, raw finish, not sure what generation. His late dad built the wheelset for him. I hope he can find replacement parts.
I think Shimano should have a kit to replace the axle, cones and bearings. I did that with a recent version of their Ultegra rear hub. Only part that could not be replaced was the inner race on the hub, if I recall. So I'd take it apart, clean and check the hub inner races. If they are ok, then get the axle kit. Here's a page with the XTR M988 kit:
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=42915
Don't know of this is his hub model or not. But it looks more expensive than my kit at ~$70.