Is this a cup and cone hub?
 

I have an unlabeled Formula hub. I want to open up the hub on the front wheel so I can grease the bearings.

I have the Park Tool cone wrenches and a spanner. However, for the life of me, I cannot get the damn lock nut to move.

This is a front wheel, I have the cone wrench on the bottom part with the wrench flats, and I am turning the top, lock nut counterclockwise. Nothing moves. I actually ended up denting my Park Tool cone wrench a bit.

Does this hub look like it's designed to be serviceable or what?

PS - this hub was not designed to be taken apart with allen keys ... the hole through which the skewer goes is not hexagonal.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=458892

It has the looks of a cup/cone hub, but may not be. But it should be serviceable.

When you separate the locknut and "cone" and back them off, you'll either find that it's a straightforward cup/cone design. Or the "cone" isn't one but instead is a carrier for the inner race of a cartridge bearing.

Either way, you've little to lose by starting the process and seeing where it takes you.

BTW if the hub is symmetrical with a similar arrangement use two box wrenches or a box wrench and a vise to pull the locknuts away from each other. Whichever side lets go first is the side you'll work from.

+1
Exactly the reason I have TWO 17mm box end wrenches.

Well ... I don't think it's a cup/cone hub anymore. The specs for the bike says that the hubs are "dust contact sealed ball bearings." Does that translate to cartridge bearings?

Also the vise idea is a good one. I'll have to use the local co-op's vise ... and their Park Tools. Don't need to be tearing up my Park Tools the first day I get them!

It sure looks like one. But your photo doesn't show the dustcap... If it was a cartridge bearing hub I'd be surprised to see the two sizes of flats, and that part would usually be aluminium. As for the locknut, it looks very much like the thick ugly ones you find on cheap loose-ball hubs that are knurled on both sides, and yeah - they can be pretty tough to crack. The two-wrench solution is a good one. If you don't have a second 17mm or a vise, an adjustable wrench works fine if you know how to use it.

The best way to crack hub locknuts (and cassette or disc rotor lockrings) is to have the wheel on the ground against your legs with your tools at 3 and 9 o'clock and after ensuring your tools are properly engaged and aligned, a quick, precise shove almost always does it. I'd be surprised if you'd damage a quality cone wrench with a good enough technique.

Another way that can work is arranging your tools nearly together so you can squeeze them together like pliers, but this is more likely to involve misalignment and mashed tools and parts.

Not necessarily. Loose ball bearing hubs can be "sealed" by a dust cover. I suspect that's what you have.

I like to use the pair of 17s to finish almost any hub adjustment; on anything above BSO quality that doesn't have the rare old-school slotted axle with tabbed washers, there's usually quite a large window between tight enough to stay put and too tight to be screwed along as a pair from the back.

I do one side up on the tighter side of that window, and the other gets done up snug enough to stay put while there's a bit of a rattle, then I use the 17s to gradually tighten until the rattle goes away nearly or completely, depending on QR axle or not. This eliminates the trial and error caused by the cone moving when the locknut is tightened (even if you stop it turning, it shifts on the threads), substituting it for the much easier proposition of periodically stopping to wiggle the axle. If I go too far, I simply undo it a tad with a couple of cone wrenches.

This is one of those times when having automotive tools comes in handy. Fire up the compressor, put the impact wrench on the locknut, hold cone wrench and pull trigger :)

No need to guess. Pull the locknuts and see for yourself.

I'm 99.9% sure that's a loose ball bearing hub.

Ah! That's the spirit.

I wouldn't bother using CONE Wrenches.
Why risk damaging them when a couple box end wrenches should be more than adequate?