bearing cone adjustment
 

hello, im just wondering about how to adjust my bearing cone nuts, i dont have cone wrenches but am purchasing some today after loosening them with a standard wrench. What the problem is , is that when I have the wheel off the bike and spin it holding the axle, there is a perceptible feeling of resistance in the hub or bearings ( formula high flange), But with the cone nut backed off a little, this goes away, and if i re tighten the cone nut back up against the hub it seems to come back, the binding, or resistance . I have only loosened one side so far, the non drive side, i made some adjustment as well with the wheel still in the bike frame, and the axle nuts just barely loose, so as to hold the axle for me, and then backed off the drive side nuts slightly. This eliminated the rubbing or resistance, but the bearing nuts on the other side are still quite loose , how tight should they be? I cant seem to have them even slightly touching the hub without that binding resistance coming back, and what is the purpose of these things other than spacing??

thanks for any help, hope thats not too confusing....

If you're trying this without a cone wrench you have no way of preventing the lock nut from dragging the cone tighter when you snug it down. When you get your cone wrenches, use the cone wrench to hold the cone in place while you snug down the lock nut.

Is this a bolt-on wheel or quick release? Quick release wheels should be adjusted a little loose, as tightening the quick release will compress the axle and take up slack in the adjustment.

Another trick is to adjust a little tight, then put cone wrenches on both cones and back them out a little against the lock nuts to achieve the proper adjustment.

troll

You have to use the laws of awesomeness and dynamics help you. If you give the locknut a quick jerk it'll tighten into the opposing nut on the cone.

you want the smallest amount of play in there too. i had to rebuild my rear hub because there was too much and the cone eventually started tightening itself deep into the bearing. shredded the bearing racing and had to dremel it out

Pancake

you've got the feel...

resistance is bad. too much bearing preload wears **** out and adds friction. but too little allows sloppy movement that creates the same problem. you seek balance, grasshopper.

if you've got cup/cone bearings (which it sounds like you do), the adjustment is more critical. with sealed (cartridge) bearings, there's a lot more tolerance.

with the wheel out of the frame, try to move the axle perpendicular to the axis of rotation (ie: up and down). feel any movement? that's too much.

this takes some practice. i suggest making it way too loose, so the lateral play is obvious. then tighten a little. still feel it? tighten a bit more. still feel it? more. and so on. you want it as loose as possible, without *any* discernible lateral play.

as has been stated already, you'll need at least 2 cone wrenches. lock up one side tight (locknut against cone nut), then adjust the other. once you get (very) close, if you just lean on the locknut it will move the cone nut ever so slightly.

thanks !, I took into the shop today as I was buying new tires , they are very cool people, gave me the same advice, but I was told formula hubs dont really need the cone nut to hold the bearing ? as these are cartridge bearings i guess. but the same adjustment of bearing locknut and cone nut is required, kinda confusing, but i will figure it out. still new to fixed gear stuff, should be simpler you would think.
any way, they didnt have the size of cone wrenches i need, so still need those.

no