Hub Reassembling
 

Well in the last thread I posted I though that the space that the dust cap fits into was the area the bearings ran, so the cup are not as bad as I first thought. I was able to find some cones that are very smiler to the two (one front and one back) cones I'm replacing. I put the front hub back together last night. I noticed when I spun the wheel around that it was making noise, and aren't they suppose to be almost silent? The grease I used was White Lithium. How do you know when you have too little or too much grease around the bearings? I also noticed that on the right side (view if sitting on bike) the cone sticks out a tad more than the left, would this be something to worry about?

your replacement cone must be exactly the same dimension in order to achieve the same spacing, so yes it is something to worry about. What kind of noise is it making? Are you confident you have adjust them properly? Are they spinning smoothly? You can never have to much grease in my opinion, unless you are racing, but that does not apply in C&V as most of us are not racing our vintage bikes and if we are it's for fun.

The thing is, the original cones are both the same, and even the one I'm replacing protrudes a tad. The noise, um, what sounds are acceptable? Am I confident I have the cones adjusted properly? I'm surely not. They seem to be running smoothly.

really they shouldn't make any noise. I don't know why one cone would protrude more than the other... we're talking freewheel off here... you should just be able to see the wrench flats of the cones when the hub is assembled. Pics maybe? did you put new bearings in?

I bought all new bearings. This is the front wheel I'm referring to, I haven't attempted to get the back together yet. I'm about to leave for class, I will post some pic's when I return.

If you have noise, I would guess that you're a little over-tightened.

It makes noise no matter how tight or lose I have it. I posted pics of the the cones reassembled in the hub; you can see how one sticks out a bit more than the other. I also posted pics of the back cones, the two are very different. I doubt they are both original. Has anyone heard of the Schwinn "approved" bikes ever having mismatched parts?


Pics: http://mynwbikepics.blogspot.com/









.

Here's hoping I'm wrong, and picking up on digital artifacts in your photos, but those cups appear to be in worse condition than any I've ever overhauled. Did the bearings you replaced have corners on them? The cups I've opened typically have a highly polished inside surface - almost mirror-like. I'm suspecting that's the cause of your noise.