Hub maintenance
 

So, I figured out why you need cone wrenches to do hub maintenance after using two adjustable wrenches and getting the bearings all cleaned up ;). I felt kind of stupid, but figured if I did need them I could order some, so I knew the consequences wouldn't be too bad.

Are the double-sided park tools wrenches decent for a home shop guy? They're pretty cheap on Nashbar and I think I only need the 13/15mm....probably get 2 of them.

BTW- I used a sterile plastic jug filled with WD-40 to clean the ball bearings....anyone else do that?

Except for the fact that you're buried in snow at the moment, I'd just go to the lbs and pick them up. After shipping you'll pay more online.

I have them and have a set of three (13/14, 15/16, and 13/17) so I can do everything from 13mm cones to 17mm lock nuts.I could live without the 13/17 because adjustable wrench works fine on the 17mm lock nuts I encounter. As for cleaning bearings, I just roll em around in a citrus degreaser.

oh, and I'm buried in snow too so nothing to do but bike maintenance.

Just ordered them from Nashbar....$5 a piece. My LBS is a small one and would likely have to order them for me anyway. I overhauled my pedals last night, and did the front hub this morning - just need the wrenches to finish the adjustment.

Snow is a great time to do maintenance! I may do that rear wheel too....but I hear (and see) that it will be slightly more complicated.

@Gene2308: Why "sterile"? Are you afraid you'll get the balls infected? :lol:

Loose balls are very cheap if you buy them in bulk. Even the somewhat-overkill grade 25 stainless ones are less than $0.10 each if you buy them in bulk. The normal grade 25 through-hardened steel ones are even cheaper. Thus, there's no need to go through the trouble of cleaning them, especially since you'll need to make sure they're rinsed properly before popping them back. That's a lot of trouble when you don't even know if the balls are still within tolerance.

In any case, if you plan on doing this regularly and have a bunch of hubs that use the same size balls, it pays to keep a stash of new loose balls handy. For example, Shimano fronts tend to use 3/16" balls and their rears tend to use 1/4" balls, regardless of model; recent loose-ball Campagnolo hubs, front and rear both use 5/32" balls. With a selection of three sizes costing me about $150 (for stainless ones), I've got a lifetime supply for all my hubs.

Here's an interesting discourse by bimini from RoadBikeReview Forums regarding this very subject. The whole thread is here.

Wow, very informative link! You can never learn too much about your balls when it comes to bike maintenance ;).

I would be more conscious of having new balls, but I don't intend to use this wheelset but for another year....a new set of touring wheels will be used then ;).

Yep.

Don't bother re-using those balls, especially cleaning them in an very toxic bath of WD-40.

And here is a discourse by brandt that says that's pure bull****:

http://yarchive.net/bike/ball_bearings.html

The rear is really only a little more complicated. You do have to take the cassette (or freewheel) off, so you'll need the right tools to do that (chain whip & lock nut tool if you have a freehub; appropriate freewheel tool and a wrench if you have freewheel). But once you do that, you just work from the non drive side, take lock nut and cone out and slide the axle, with drive side cone and lock nut in place, out the other side. Often you'll have larger and fewer bearings in the rear so I find they tend to be easier to keep track of.

Yep, did it a few hours ago and everything you said was true. I worked from the non-drive side, ball bearings appear to be 1/4" maybe...? They were bigger, so it actually was easier. Now I just have to wait for my cone wrenches to arrive so I can adjust and ride!

For the home shop the Park flat double ended wrenches are fine. A little hard on the hands but they are fine.

Washing the balls in WD40 is a rather expensive way to do it. Now the WD is contaminated so you are limited where you can re-use it. Far better to use mineral spirits or low odor kerosene. WIth these solvents the particles will settle out overnight so you can keep using it despite it turning a tea like color from the oil and grease. Just decant off the clear liquid and leave the grunge in the bottom. When it gets so bad that the grunge won't settle out anymore then put it back into an empty solvent bottle and drop it off at a paint products recycling depot. But it takes quite a while before it gets that bad.

WD-40 is fine as long as you remember that its a solvent and that it is not a lubricant, as everyone has said reusing ball bearings is penny pinching and generaly not worth the savings. Also you don't need to soak them, if you are in desparate need to cleaning and reusing your ball bearings just squirt some on a rag and wipe them off, soaking is a huge waste of money
The subject of ball bearing grades (and the similarly related topic of ceramic v steel) has been covered at great lengths and most have come to the consensus that while higher grade bearings (and ceramics) do in fact provide better performance but only for professionals to whom 1/10ths of a second actualy do matter and that for any recreational rider grade 25 is pretty much as high as its worth it to go.

So, what's a good source for ball bearings? What kind of shop could I pick some up?

Most shops will carry, in your nieghbourhood either ****ty ball bearings in huge lots. Or the wheels manufacturing "grade 25" ball bearings. Expect to pay $2-$5 for a set.