How much play in a hub?

You shouldn't be able to feel any rocking. How are you checking for
play?

iakobski said:

You shouldn't be able to feel any rocking. How are you checking for
play?

Grabbing the tyre and shaking it.

Daniele
--
Listen to KFJC! <http://netcast.kfjc.org:8976/listen.pls>
Support KFJC! <http://www.kfjc.org>

In which case the normal amount of play is "none".

D.M. Procida said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

Oh, and how do I fix it?

Daniele

Consult the oracle: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

"D.M. Procida" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

Oh, and how do I fix it?

Daniele

On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 16:34:02 +0000,

(D.M. Procida) said:

D.M. Procida said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

Oh, and how do I fix it?

Assuming cup and cone bearings,

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

Tim

D.M. Procida said:

D.M. Procida said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

Oh, and how do I fix it?

First of all be sure it's the hub. Rims normally have a certain amount of
flex which can be confused for hub play; slacken brakes to eliminate rim
hitting brake blocks and causing a knocking sensation when testing.

Do you know what make & model hub? Follow SB's instructions if it has
conventional type cones.

~PB

D.M. Procida said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a little
play when not installed, because the action of tightening the QR
actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the bearings. A
nutted hub should have no play in or out of the frame.

In article <437b8677.0@entanet>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

D.M. Procida said:

My front wheel seems to have more play in the hub than the rear. How
much is normal?

None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a little
play when not installed, because the action of tightening the QR
actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the bearings. A
nutted hub should have no play in or out of the frame.

This doesn't sound right. None of my QR hubs are like this (8 off).

--
Mike

Best to err on the side of loose. I do mine so that you can just detect
a very slight click of loose movement. They won't come to any harm if
too loose whereas too tight will cause damage. Also if "spot on" then
it's difficult to know later if they have tightened a bit or remained
the same whereas "slightly loose" is always detectable.

cheers

Jacob

mb said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a
little play when not installed, because the action of tightening the
QR actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the
bearings. A nutted hub should have no play in or out of the frame.

This doesn't sound right. None of my QR hubs are like this (8 off).

Mr Zog is correct. They *should* be like that. Loosen the cones if you
want your QR hubs to last as long as possible.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

mb said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a
little play when not installed, because the action of tightening the
QR actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the
bearings. A nutted hub should have no play in or out of the frame.

This doesn't sound right. None of my QR hubs are like this (8 off).

Mr Zog is correct. They *should* be like that. Loosen the cones if
you want your QR hubs to last as long as possible.

Should add: This above applies only to cup 'n' cone (conventional)
bearings. Hubs with cartridge bearings are different.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

mb said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a
little play when not installed, because the action of tightening the
QR actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the
bearings. A nutted hub should have no play in or out of the frame.

This doesn't sound right. None of my QR hubs are like this (8 off).

Mr Zog is correct. They *should* be like that. Loosen the cones if you
want your QR hubs to last as long as possible.

In a previous thread wherein I was moaning about my Deore LX rear hub
suffering from pitted cones at first service, Maarten (of m-gineering.nl)
mentioned that Shimano QR hubs leave the factory set up "too tight" to allow
easy wheel-building.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.rec.cycling/msg/17ecd7fbe27b90b0?hl=en&

Regards,

-david

David Nutter said:

In a previous thread wherein I was moaning about my Deore LX rear hub
suffering from pitted cones at first service, Maarten (of m-gineering.nl)
mentioned that Shimano QR hubs leave the factory set up "too tight" to allow
easy wheel-building.

I too suffered from that. I came to the conclusion that it would cost
as much as a new hub to sort it, and that the expected useful life of
the pitted hub was about that of the rim, so I might as well just wait
till it all gives up.

...d

The test I have used for donkey years is hold the wheel in both hands
at the end of the spindle. Assumes tyre and tube fitted - place the
valve at horizontal - if the weight of the valve it moves down to the
vertical the cones are not too tight.

nobody760 said:

The test I have used for donkey years is hold the wheel in both hands
at the end of the spindle. Assumes tyre and tube fitted - place the
valve at horizontal - if the weight of the valve it moves down to the
vertical the cones are not too tight.

That's a worthwhile test (when wheel is fitted*) but still not good enough
on its own. Especially with new hubs, the cones /can/ be too tight (for
best durability) even when free enough to allow the heaviest part of the
wheel to settle to the bottom.... which isn't always the valve, by the
way, bearing in mind the rim joint or any magnet/wheel refelector, etc.

Testing for play when the QR is open (or even half open) is the best way.
It is tricky to have the cones adjusted this precisely. Sheldon's tip on
using two cone spanners or two locknut spanners at the same time helps a
lot for final adjustment with conventional type hubs. Campagnolo make it
a relatively easy job on their current Centaur/Chorus/Record hubs.

* Hardly helpful when not fitted because there won't be any compression
side effect from the QR.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Pete Biggs said:

mb said:

Zog The Undeniable wrote:
> None while it is installed in the frame. A QR hub should have a
> little play when not installed, because the action of tightening

the >>> QR actually compresses the axle and takes up clearance in the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> bearings. A nutted hub should have no play in or out of the

frame.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This doesn't sound right. None of my QR hubs are like this (8 off).

Mr Zog is correct. They should be like that. Loosen the cones if
you want your QR hubs to last as long as possible.

Should add: This above applies only to cup 'n' cone (conventional)
bearings. Hubs with cartridge bearings are different.

~PB

Ah, I was just about to say "what are these 'cones' of which you speak".
I won't bother now 😉

--
Mike