overhauling shimano hub... Wat am I, stupid?
 

So, working on the Clunker today, but ran into somewhat of a snag. Pulled the rear axle, regreased the bearings, and mounted it back up. only this time, the cone on the freehub side completely disappears into the freehub, making adjustment impossible. What have I don'e wrong? AFAIK all the parts are still there, and a spacer between the cone and the freehub body would make the bearings spin in thin air.

btw it's an older shimano hub from the very early Hyperglide days, it still has uniglide threading. It's a HG-50, for what it's worth.

Yes, the only way to do it, that I've found, is to adjust the cones with the freewheel removed. Otherwise, one can grab the locknut on that side, and adjust only from the other side, but in my experience, it doesn't do as good a job.

it's a hyperglide freehub, not a freewheel, or am I reading you wrong? I'm seeing no way to adjust the without the freehub body on :rolleyes:

I always adjust from the non-drive side only, and this works fine. In fact, the cone and locknut on the freehub/wheel side are usually quite tightly installed to prevent removal from the axle, and I never take them off unless replacing a bent axle or pitted cone. The design of the axle/cone system allows complete adjustment from just one side. Simply install the drive side cone and locknut, cassette spacer and nut, and tighten quite hard. Then install the non-drive side cone and tighten until you have some resistance, spin the locknut down and then back the cone off 1/8 turn or so. There's always some stretch when the QR is fastened, so it needs to be just a tad looser than what you want it to be when installed. Ride it for a mile or so then remove and re-adjust, as the bearings will usually move all the excess grease out and need the play taken out again after a short ride under rider weight.

I agree these should only be taken apart from the nondrive side. Actually any rear hub should be done that way.

If you think about the build of it, the cone will always be in the same spot in relation to the hub, unless you put the wrong size bearings in. So even if a fella goofed and mixed up the spacer and locknut combos, or where they are on the axle, the cone will always end up right there at the hub in the same spot.

yes, that's why I'm so stumped. No new bearings, so that certainly can't be the root of the problem.

I did however started of on the drive side, since the locknut was loose anyhow. maybe that was stupid, but I had to unscrew the whole assembly anyway for a good clean. Man that hub was dirty.

+1

It's a harder task to adjust the DS as you can't always wrench the cone.
No problem though. Disassemble the NDS nuts and cone. Assemble the DS cone, washer, locknut. Measure off the necessary axle stub. Tighten the assembly. Install the bearings, grease then dust shield for both sides. Install the axle and thread and adjust NDS cone and locknut.

Is there a chance that the left and right cones are not the same and you installed them opposite from the initial installation?

That is a possibility, someone may have replaced the original cone with one from a different hub on one side. Also, the spacers between the cone and locknut may be different on each side. In any event, the final adjustment is typically done on the non-drive side.

Tighten freehub side cone and locknut first, and make adjustments on the other side.