matthavener

I was cleaning out my bearings and replacing the grease on the rear hub of a bike I just bought off of CL. When I put the cones back together it seemed like the non-drive side had a large gap between the cone and the hub. I've included a few pictures, its little less than an 1/8th of an inch wide. The wheel still spins fine with the gap with no play at all.. Am I missing some kind of dust cap? I never payed much attention when I was taking the hub apart...

Panthers007

Maybe you reassembled the hub with the axle in backwards of how it was before?

matthavener

I thought that, but I reversed it and the threaded side had the same gap.

DieselDan

Bearing upside down?

FasterthanU

The metal itself is a dust cover. It's just pushed to far up the cone, most likely. All you have to do is push it in a lil' bit. The only think holding it on is the small tolerance between it and the cone. Of course, I can't tell from here. Try it. -FTU

wrk101

+1 Looks like the dust cap is not fully seated.

Panthers007

+1 You'd be amazed how many people put the cassettes in upside-down. If it has cassettes. I usually throw 'em out and use the bearings loose.

HillRider

I assume you mean a "retainer". Yeah, they are easy to put in upside-down. Another possibility is too many balls in one or both races or the wrong size balls.

planyourfate

First of all did you buy new bearings or use the old?
Using old (loose) bearings takes some real work to tune the hub right, because they wear into an elipse shape and are not a perfect sphere. You may need to retune the hub up to five times to get the old bearings to seat properly.

Second of all, did you put the right number of bearings back into each side of the hub?
There should (in reality) be an equal number of bearings in each race. Once you have them equal then replace the dust cap.

To my eye it looks like the dust cap isn't seated fully and this can be caused by a number of reasons.
1) You don't have the bearings seated completely.
2) You haven't pushed the dust cap in far enough.
3) You have the wrong number of bearings in each the one side.

My suggestion would be to overhaul the hub again, this time removing both dust caps, clean everything. If you decided to reuse the old bearings, regrease them enough so that the grease holds them in and be certain that you get an equal number in each race. Once you have got one race completely greased and fit together snuggly (with no bearings protruding) put on the dust cap and put the axel into just the one side, this will hold the one side bearings in while you work on the other. Repeat the steps for the other side and make sure you reseat the dust caps completely.

HillRider

This is not correct. Bearing balls do not become eliptical with use and that is an old misconception. Reused loose bearings are not any more difficut to adjust than new ones. Bicycling Magazine's technical "expert" used to repeat this error every few months until an Engineer from one of the large bearing manufacturers wrote in to point out it isn't true.

All good recommendations.

planyourfate

Really?! Wow! Thats really good info...Thanks!

tellyho

Old bearings DO, however, become pitted. As they're cheap, it makes sense to replace when repacking.

I would vote for something not being assembled correctly. If you're reusing everything, it should fit back together as before. If you're going to pull it apart again, I'd strongly recommend replacing the bearings while you're in there. And use loose bearings - it's just as easy in a hub (vs. a headset), and will run smoother.

matthavener

It was the dust cap . Lots of responses but I couldn't get to it until this afternoon.

Thanks FasterthanU

HillRider

Absolutely. Bearing balls aren't invulnerable to water or dirt contamination and will often pit if they get wet or gritty. I also change them for new ones at every overhaul since, as you said, new good quality bearings are really cheap anyway.

I just wanted to point out that they don't get ovalized with wear and that old myth should be put to rest. One rider I know has over 90,000 miles on a Campy Record hub with the original bearings and they are still round!

planyourfate

I agree to this. I will live my life dispelling the myth of ovalizing bearings from now on.

Thans and impressive amount of miles, is he gonna change them out anytime soon?