Rehabbing vintage hub. Need advise...
 

I'm hoping to get a little advise. I'm looking to build a wheelset for an old frame and ended up winning an Ebay auction for a set of Shimano 600 hubs that were described as "spin smooth".

The rear hub is beautiful and spins silky smooth. The front hub is a little rough. On closer inspection, I found one of the cups to be slightly pitted.

So I'm trying to figure out what to do. I did some research on if the cups can be fixed and found a comment somewhere that using a metal polishing compound like Simichrome (http://www.amazon.com/Simichrome-Pol.../dp/B000BGOC0W) can fix the cup if it isn't to bad. You remove the bearings and grease, fill the cup with the polishing compound, reassemble with the bearings and run it until the pits are smoothed out. The bearings get tossed and everything is cleaned. New grease and bearings go in.

I'm curious if anyone has heard of this or tried it. I would say the hub is usable but I certainly would not start a new wheel build with it.

If there is not viable way to rehab the front, then I'll have to take issue with the seller within 14-days. This hub does not "spin smooth". Has anyone heard of the polishing compound trick?

Thanks!

I'd think it would a lot easier & a better way to go if replaced the cones & bearings in the hub. Who knows how long it would take for a polishing cmpd to grind those races smooth. You'll need some cone wrenches if you decide to tackle the job.

Shimano 600EX...And still take-up issue w/ seller

Supposedly 10 min. spinning the axle with a drill press (which I have). The cones looked fine, or maybe I didn't look close enough.

I'm kinda interested because I have never found a properly adjusted 600 hub with good bearings that didn't run smooth.

I put new balls in my campy hub and packed them with semichrome- after 2-5 min of battery drill action I cleaned and repacked- silky smooth.

for some reason I keep the balls on the same side they were ground on- might not make any difference but does not cost any effort to do it like that

This is certainly an unorthodox method; not one that I would employ if the build was measured against my reputation. Reminds me of the old days when someone would fill the rear end in a car to quiet it down and sell it that way. Eventually the sawdust would wear out and leave the new owner in quite a pickle.

Why not return the hubs to the sender? They were not smooth as advertised.

Yup. As much as I like a hacky fix, I think you should pursue either a return or a partial refund for an amount that would make you feel good about the purchase. Maybe ask for a refund for the value of the front hub and try to source a good one through the For Sale forum here.

Maybe because this thread is eight years old?