Wheels Mfg compatibility matrix for discontinued Shimano hubs
 

This seems more of a C&V question than general mechanical so I'll try here.

I need to replace all the cones on my 1992 Univega's Exage hubs, front and rear (HB-RM50 and FH-HG50). I've been researching, on and off, for weeks. Original Shimano parts are scarce or not available. There are some notes on moruyabicycles.com.au and VeloBase indicating that some other Shimano parts may be compatible, or close enough, but it's a hodge podge of info. And there seem to be plenty of Shimano FH-RM40 left rear cones around. But that's about all I can find that's clearly marked.

So I figured I'd just order new cones, etc., from Wheels Mfg. But darned if I can find any sort of coherent matrix indicating cross compatibility between Shimano parts numbers and Wheels Mfg own system. Wheels Mfg's site just advises working with the LBS to find the right cones. Not really a solution for some folks.

I also see this complete kit on Husky's site, and similar stuff on Amazon. But it's darned difficult to sort out which might be even remotely compatible.

I'm about to just give up on these Exage hubs and order some ready made wheels with sealed cartridge bearing hubs.

WheelsMfg only has 6 Shimano front cones listed. Measure yours and see if any of the listed are the same diameter. The biggest difficult may be seal/dust cap compatibility. Back in the day I'd swap plastic ring type contact seals for the rubber lips seals....sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. For instance, the primary difference between 106 and 600 cones was the style of seal, use your old style seals on the new cone and your good to go. A lot of times the incompatibility is in how the seals and dust caps align


It wouldn't surprise me if you could throw in an entire 105 or 600 axle assembly with matching dust caps. Scavenge the parts from a donor hub.

Thanks. Maybe I'll take up the LBS on its offer to let me prowl through its box of cones and see what I can find.

I've seen mentions of plastic and rubber lipped seals but as far as I can tell the Exage hubs are all metal. Unless some bits were removed by a previous owner or mechanic. Couldn't find an exploded parts diagram for these specific front/rear Exage hubs in Shimano's archives.

I think you'll find the ring seals on the cones to be plastic....

You have about the most common hubs ever made. I'd guess millions of these and their close cousins rolled out of the various Shimano factories. The axles are standard treaded 9mm front and 10mm rear, with standard 3/16 and 1/4" front and rear ball bearings respectively.

These hubs are also about the easiest to find parts for, as the cones were nothing fancy. No special dust caps or seals. Replacing all the balls and cones should cost less than $20. At my local Co-op we have a 20-pound bin of various cones, seals and axle spacers, of which I'd guess about half of these could be made to fit your hubs. As long as the threading and overall length of the replacement cones is somewhat close, you should be fine.

Don't think a cartridge bearing hubset is the forever solution, as when water gets into these (and they do about as fast as Shimano hubs), finding, removing and installing replacement carts is a far more expensive and challenging task than with loose-ball hubs.

I'll take a closer look next time I have the hubs apart. I just assumed those were metal washers, but didn't look closely.

I regreased and adjusted the hubs several weeks ago when I realized it was going to be more difficult than I'd expected to find replacement cones. Big improvement. They'd been running nearly dry and were badly adjusted, much too tight. But eventually the chipped cones will damage the bearings and I don't want to damage the hub races themselves.
@Dave Mayer: That's reassuring. Maybe I'll just order several cones and see if any of 'em fit. Some cones are priced at only a couple of dollars online, others closer to $10.

Last time I did this stuff was 30+ years ago with my Motobecane. It was pretty easy. I took a long I-hate-us from cycling before resuming in 2015. Maybe it just seems more complicated now because of data overload from Googling around. Or maybe Shimano really did make this more difficult for us, I dunno.

So....mark you axles where the cone 'chips' are/is. Align you axles in the fork end/dropouts so the 'chips' are 'up'.

When adjusting cones set them loose. As the skewers are clamped down the looseness goes away due the cones being pushed in a tick. If you want to get super fancy with the adjustment adjust skewer tightness to fine tune the cone adjustment.

Clamp skewer....if there's play tighten the skewer more. If there's no play loosen the skewer a tick. Obviously the skewer needs to be a minimum tightness and you can only tighten a skewer so tight as well.

Yup, did all that several weeks ago after regreasing the hubs. Although there's some doubt about whether aligning pitted cones helps. Mine all have minor pits all around the surface.