I noticed some pitting on one cone from the front axle of an old schwinn high sierra I'm tuning up. brought the cone into a lbs and purchased two new ones. however the new ones are aprox 2-3mm bigger than the original...see pic. is this going to be an issue once I reassemble the hub? if so i'd rather know ahead of time.

kid at lbs dug around in back for a good ten minutes to come up with these. maybe I have some oddball hubs. (sansin large flange, solid axle)

Thanks

It will change the width of the whole assembly. You will have to either remove the same amount of width if there are spacers between the nuts and the cones, or spread the dropouts to get the wheel in the bike.

that's what i suspected. it's on the front, I dont know anything about spreading forks. I'm guessing it's best to try another shop for the right sized cones.

this is the second time I've gone to this place with the part I need replaced and they've sold me something the wrong size. kind of a head scratcher

Odd. If they don't have what you need, then they should offer to order it for you instead of selling you the wrong thing.

By the way, there are a number of different sizes readily available online, provided that you can accurately measure what you have.

I wouldnt sweat that problem that much, just put it in, and take some spacers out just to keep it even, based in the bike you are fixing and please dont take me wrong, doubt the bike will explode or do anything wrong if the spacing in the rear wheel is off 2 or 3 mm in the rear axle.

With some bikes you have to be accurate with other ones pretty much whatever will do and this is one of those IMO.

If there are spacers or washers between the cones and locknuts or you can find some thinner locknuts you should be able to keep the same OLD. Otherwise get the correct cones.

thanks for the responses.

ultraman, it's the front, not the rear. there arent any spacers to take out.

hillrider, the new cones are too long by about the size of my current locknuts. looks like it's new cones.

any tip for a cone source online would be appreciated. saw some at loose screws but they were 9.50 each. pretty sure I can get a whole axle with cones locknuts etc for that. also, any tip for measuring them would be great. I figured I'd bring them to the hardware store and try different size bolts until I found one that fit.

Measure in mm - width must be no more than current cones (to clear dustcaps). Height must be at least the same as current (so that adjustment flats are accessible) and in your case the height needs to be the same or very little more, so that you can fit the assuembled unit into your fork. Threading is going to be standard 9x1 for front unless you have Campy or brand based on Campy.

https://wheelsmfg.com/ has a good selection of cones. Surely you can find ones to fit if you have the correct measurements. They are however $9.00 which isn't bad when you take into account riding, or not.

Do no look at these cones; these cones are not the ones you are looking for (Obi Wan Kenobi)! Seriously, these are not the right ones for your hub. Look for some that at the same size or smaller. If smaller then you can add a nut or washer to bring the OLN distance back to spec. Definately would not be spreading the folk or anything like that. Just persist on finding some that will fit correctly.

Donor hub off Ebay....

Front??? find a wheel in CL and take what you need from it.

I'm not sure it will be that easy given the lbs kid spent a good 10 minutes sorting through their drawers and couldnt find a suitable replacement. but your suggestion did remind me I have some junker wheels stored that I'd forgotten about. and they, like this wheel, have a solid axle so maybe I'll get lucky. thanks for the help.

Can just give em a try, forks do have a good bit of flex to them, it isn't rocket science on older bikes. or.....Find a better bike shop with more "Old School" bits, or try Treefortbikes.com (cone-sets from $5 up)

The new cone you show a picture of looks too large. It is probably for a rear axle. The cones used on the front axle have a shorter length. Keep looking until you find the right size.

update. after trying another lbs (cone they gave me was jacked with pits) and the cheapo wheels i had, I realized the rear cones were the same size as the front. so I used one of the big cones pictured above in the rear and moved the right sized one to the front.

curious: is it ever the case that a rear hub does not have some sort of dustcap over the bearings on the freewheel side? bc this one didnt. main reason i stumbled upon the solution above is bc cones from 1st lbs came with dust caps attached

From the two cones pictured, not only is the overall length of the replacement wrong, but the curves of the races do not match. You want the balls to be contacting the races in the center of the curve. Mismatched curves will make the balls ride high or low.
To find a replacement-
1. Hold the old cone and possible substitute together small end to small end. Check whether the small-end diameters match.
2. Check whether the curves of the two cones appear symmetrical.
3. Check whether the overall cone length of the possible replacement is equal or longer (replacement can'’t be shorter).
4. Check whether replacement’s overall diameter is equal to or less than original (replacement diameter cannot be larger unless hole in dustcap can be enlarged).

I dashed off a quick note earlier but the above post moves me to clarify a bit.

1, 2. It's not necessary for the balls to contact the center of the curve, only for them to be far enough from each edge so as to have a smooth surface. The end diameter is not important, rather it's where the balls ride. All that is necessary is that the diameter of the wear mark from the bearings on the old cone correspond to a useable area on the new cone. One can just do a direct compare with calipers on each cone.

3. Technically it's not the overall length but rather the distance from where the balls ride to the bottom of the adjustment flats that needs to be equal or longer to allow cone wrench access (unless the old cone has some space between the bottom of the flats and the dust cap). Some cones may be as long or even longer, but if the adjustment flat is not at the end of the cone they still won't work.

4. True, covered before. One usually can only go slightly smaller due to the limitation on where the balls ride. Any gap can be handled by installing O rings or similar. I used to weatherproof my hubs by fashioning a seal of silicone caulk tapered out from the locknut to the dustcap. They stayed on really well due to the fit on the locknuts, but were easily removable as well.