Help fixing a rear wheel/cassette

[guppie]

(I thought I started this somewhere but must not have hit submit)

Anyways, here is what I did. Older 2000 GT Saddleback MTB, took back wheel off. No problem. Removed quick clamp bar that goes through hub. A bunch of larger ball bearings fell out. Then I removed cassette and a ton of little ball bearings fell out. Now what do I do. I can see where they go, but how the heck do I get them on there. did I just screw up the whole backend? Should I just take it to my LBS and hand them the bag of bearings and let them fix it? Is there an easy fix? Please help.

 

[Juba]

If you simply took the quick release off, and bearing balls started falling out, you need a new rear hub. Take that bag of parts, open the lid to your trash can, throw that bag of parts in it (keep the cassette though) then walk/drive to your local bike shop and get a new rear hub and ask them to relace your rear wheel, or buy a whole new rear wheel.

My thought is your rear axel is snapped in half, and it is your quick release skewer keeping everything inside. Could be striped cones too. Even if the parts are able to be put back together, riding on a hub that was so loose that a ball could escape means that your bearing races are more then likely warped/chipped/scored to no end.

If you were attempting to teach yourself to be a bike mechanic, tried to service your hub by yourself, and just did not put it back together correctly, give yourself a pat on the back for trying, then give yourself a slap on the hand for not finding some instruction before taking everything apart. If you don't want to spend the money to buy a book on bicycle mechanics, go to your library or hit the internet.

Cheers,
Juba

 

[guppie]

No ball bearings fell out once I pulled the quick release out of the hub, the tire was all ready off. This was probable my mistake. I thought I had to, to get the cassette of (a book would have helped here). At least I did it on this bike and not my new Specialized Rockhopper.

(heading to LBS and Bookstore)

 

[Juba]

Ah, in that case yeah, take your bag of parts to your local bike store, and ask them to put everything back into place for you.

For future referance, your cassette is held on by a lock ring that screws into your freehub body and sits on your smallest cog. All you need to remove that lock ring is a lock ring removal tool, an adjustable wrench and a chain whip. Don't need to mess around with the bearings at all.

http://www.parktool.com/tools/FR_5.shtml

http://www.parktool.com/tools/SR_1BIG.shtml

Cheers,
Juba