Hey guys,

New to bike forums, and new to the bike mechanic profession. I have been trying to hone in on my skills by rebuilding anything I that I can pull from the trash/ get my hands on. Recently I found a front hub, I pulled it apart and both cones were badly pitted. However the pitting was located at a very strange place, high up on the cones, almost as if the bearings were too small. I realize that, for a front hub, the generic size is 3/16". I decided to do a little experiment, I replaced the bearings with 7/32", to hopefully change were the bearings hit the cones. It seems to have worked, the only thing that changed was the lock nut spacing out 1-2mm. Obviously, I will not be using the hub, but what are peoples thoughts on this? Has it worked? Does it work?

Thanks
Crash

Were these by any chance Campagnolo hubs which, to my knowledge, are the only ones to ever use 7/32" balls?

You might also crosscheck based on OLD axle length. If the larger balls and original fittings bring it to 100mm than odds are that these were the size originally called for, and someone along the way used the wrong size.

Why not? If you've confirmed that the ball track is well placed on the cone and cup, and the hub works fine, why not put it into service. If it's beneath your personal standards, build a practice wheel around it and donate it to a local bike charity or co-op.

I've seen a Huffy front hub that used 1/4" balls.

I bought a cheapie MTB front wheel that turned out to have 7 1/4" balls on each side. I have no idea if that was the stock configuration, but the races looked just fine, so I repacked it the same way. If it ever fails, I'll be out $15.

Thank you for the response and that is a brilliant idea to build a wheel. BTW not campy by any means.

You are only looking at one variable - the balls. It's quite possible that someone replaced the OE cones with ones too small in diameter. One way to tell is there would likely be a significant space between the cone sides and the dust cap.