Haselsmasher

My wife has a 1984 Schwinn Traveler. She has started riding it after it has sat unridden for 30 years.

Today I did a thorough clean and derailleur adjustment. The rear hub is a mess. I'm sure it contains what used to be ball bearings. It turns - but boy is it rough. I'm not trying to do a restore on the bike as a whole. But I would like to rebuild the hub.

Presuming the races (cones?......is that the right term? Back in that era I'd occasionally rebuild the hubs on my bike but I haven't done that in many many years) and bearings need to be replaced, how can I find out what i need and order them without pulling the hub apart? I'd much prefer to get the parts so that i can do the rebuild all at once; rather than disassembling, determining parts, ordering, and then rebuilding....and having the bike "down" for a while.

Does anyone know what is needed.....or can anyone point me to a place where I can figure it out?

Thanks!

Jim

SurferRosa

In the rear, it's usually 1/4" balls, 9 per side, but you always want to disassemble and verify.

For a 30-yr abandoned bike, you should rebuild both hubs, the bottom bracket and headset just to start. Tires and brake pads usually need replacement.

Velo Mule

^^^^^^^ Good advice.

You have enough posts for pictures. Let's see what your working on.

Haselsmasher

Well, this has progressed faster than I thought. First, the rear hub seemed to be in the worst shape. After starting this thread I discovered my old freewheel tool was compatible with this drivetrain. (I'd forgotten my 1980 Trek 412 had a Suntour drivetrain. I'd kept the freewheel tool and cone wrenches all these years.) So I removed the freewheel and rebuilt the rear axle. There is a small pit on one of the cones. All the bearings were fine. About half the bearings had a sticky film on them - presumably dried grease. The rear wheel is much happier now.

I'll definitely rebuild the front hub, and most likely the BB and headset - but we'll see how soon that gets done.

(I uploaded low res versions of the photos. What looks like speckling - especially on the chainrings - isn't reality.)

SurferRosa

Often, one of the most frustrating jobs, especially with Suntour.

Good work.

Velo Mule

That's a nice looking bike. It looks pretty original. I notice that it still has that plastic cover over the brake bolt. The sticker on the rear drop out. Is that a Giant sticker? I thought they were on the left side.

I hope your wife appreciates the work you put into and she enjoys it.