What kind of grease for my hub?
 

I recently took apart my rear hub and repacked it. It is a 1 year shimano xt. After greasing and rebuilding it seems to turn with more resistance. I didn't replace anything ...just tightened as it was a little sloppy. I assume that this is normal. I used marine grease because it is the grease I had around from building up the frame. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks, Dennis

Correct grease. Probably incorrect procedure for setting the hub bearing preload.

Were you following any procedures? or winging it?

How sloppy was it? Were the races/cones in good shape? You reuse or replace the balls? Or is this an XT M770/M775?

First of all I am winging it, but I didn't make it too tight or too loose. By my calculations...which are ok at best. There was a little side to side movement when I remounted the wheel before taking it apart. Everything was in good shape and I did reuse the balls. It feels nice but maybe a little too tight. From what I have read I probably need to readjust the preload. It's just nice to get input from real people. Thanks...everyone was a noob at one point.

There is a tiny window where a hub is correctly set. There should be just a hint of looseness (off the bike) when you push and pull the axle back and forth - assuming it has quick-release. And this tiny bit of play should vanish when the wheel is locked to the dropouts in the frame/fork of the bike. There should be no tighness and it should roll free with no resistance once locked in the frame. If there is - remove same and check the adjustment of the hub.

A wheel with a properly greased hub does not turn as freely as one that is too dry. If you think you have the bearing pre-load set correctly ride the bike about 100 miles and check it again.

Al

I always check the side to side play of the rim near the brakes. That's much more accurate than anything you can do, with the axle. It takes very little play at the axle to create a lot of slop up by the rim.

If you're using Quick Release skewers, what you feel before the QR is set is not the preload that you get after it's tightened. The QR actually compresses the axle, making the preload somewhat tighter. You have to set it "too loose". Finding that spot where you get it just "too loose" enough is something of an art. It may take you half a dozen tries to get it right.

Try again and let us know how it went.

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to put all of your collective knowledge together and figure out how to do this. Thanks again. I'll let you know how everything comes out.

Well I put about 45 miles on it and checked to see if it loosened up. It rolled a little smoother but I still had to take it apart and readjust the preload. I am sure I will have to do it again but it takes little time so no biggie. I am sure that I will be back again when I need help. Thanks for the replies.

parktool or sheldonbrowns site have good tutorials on adjusting preload

If you can rig up some thick washers or similar to allow you to set the bearing preload with the skewer in place and tightened to the same tension that you use on your bike this avoids a lot of the back and forth handling when setting the preloading.

Setting it correctly means that there should be a small amount of bearing drag, as opposed to the viscous grease feeling, but not so much that it feels like the bearing is cogging in small steps when you turn the axle. You'll get to where there is no play that you can fee but then you need to tighten it just a slight hair further so there's just a small amount of preload resistance. Without this little bit of preload the bearings may become loose when under the load of the riding. It's a fine line though. You'll be working with cone and locking nut movements of a couple of degrees at a time when near the final setting. And the locking nut needs to be torqued properly each time otherwise you'll tighten down too much.