G0LFII

I think my rear wheel hub is loose. I have American Classic CR 420 road wheels and it's making a weird rattling sound when i ride over rough road pavement. I've read online that it's common for the rear wheel hub to come loose.

Question is how do i tighten it. I'm not too familiar with wheels so i don't know if i need some sort of special tool and i definately don't want to do something stupid and ruin something.

Any help would be much apprciated.

Thanks.

tellyho

Quick diagnosis: push the rim of your rear wheel from side to side where your brake caliper is. If you can get the rim to move, your hub is loose. The fix involves a set of cone wrenches. It's not particularly complicated, but I'd be hesitant to tackle it as my first "home-wrenching" experience. If it is, in fact, the case that the hub is loose and not another problem (I actually vote for another problem), your LBS could take care of it very quickly, and might not even charge you.

That said, if you can actually hear rattling, and the cause is your hub, you may have already done damage to the bearings, and it will need repacking. It seems unlikely that your wheel would be THAT loose. I'd look for other causes.

G0LFII

Yes i was able to move it from side to side. However, tightened up the skewers and the side to side play went away and the rattling sound somewhat reduced.

milnerpt

when you tighten the quick release, it will increase some of the compression on the bearings. Some wheels purposely have the hub a little loose because they are anticipating the skewer to tighten it the rest of the way. Sounds like the skewer was just a little too loose. If you tighten the hub wit cone wrenches, then put the skewer on, it may be a little too much compression and cause premature wear on the hub. At least.... thats what I think

kycycler

Here is a link to the Park Tool site that will help you to adjust the bearings. https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=105

Panthers007

And here's how it's done in video-format:

https://bicycletutor.com/overhaul-wheel-bearings/

G0LFII

Thanks for all the help. I noticed that the nut that holds the cassette in was really loose that i was able to undo by hand. So i tightened that up and did a 40 mile ride tonight and the noise seemed to be gone now.