It is a deep dive in what I went through to rebuild the two wheels on the bike.
People don't have time to read these days. This is more for me to see what I did a couple years down the line so that I can repeat the process.
If you follow these instructions and watch the video, you should be able to figure this all out, but your mileage may vary.
Standard Internet Warranty applies - www.Ramblingmoose.com makes no guarantees of completeness or of process or of anything at all. If you wreck your bike, I'm sorry and that was not my doing, it is yours. If you are unsure of anything and know me, drop a note and I'll try to talk you through it. I'm just a retired guy trying to save a couple hundred dollars that I don't have. I did and you may not. I don't begrudge a bike shop their money when their expertise is being used, but it doesn't pay for me not to learn how to do this stuff on my own.
But.
There are always details you will miss. I will try to keep this as brief as possible.
The video that convinced me that I was able to do this rebuilding on my own is included at the end. But I missed some very important details.
As you are disassembling pieces, place them in a fashion so that
you can mentally put them back together. If you lose a spring or a nut
at this point you will be cursing everyone including me for not warning
you.
Tools I found I needed:
- Blue Tack Tape or some similar masking tape.
- Gloves. Typically Nitrile but "rubber" gloves will do nicely.
- Tweezers to handle the balls for the bearing. They tend to get away from you.
- Screen or something to line the bottom of the workplace.
- A good ruler with visible markings for METRIC. Sorry fellow yanks, this is a job for metric. If the ruler has holes for measuring variously sized bearings so much the better.
- Workplace that will corral any loose parts. Bucket or kitchen sink may help.
- Good cycling grease. I used "common" White Lithium Grease.
- Gearset Socket. Specialized socket to fit in the gearset to work on the rear wheel and bearings. These will vary based on the manufacturer of your gearset. Shimano is very common, and that is what worked for me.
- Set of Cup Wrenches. Thin crescent wrench set may also work but doubtful.
- Hammer or mallet to remove the gearset.
Measure EVERYTHING:
Seriously. That good ruler I am mentioning. If you get the retaining nuts out of their original position, your wheels will no longer be true from left to right. That will mean your discs will rub against the brake shoes. It will slow you down. In my case it was 4mm from the outside of the axle to the first nut on the axle.
Bearings.
Inline Skate bearings are simple. Snap the whole thing in and bolt it together and you are done.
Bicycle bearings may be that simple but many older bikes, and some current ones like mine from 2022 are using something called a "Cup and Ball Bearing". This is old school. I have seen some evidence that it is possible to convert these to a "normal" bearing like 608 or 6000.
But.
These aren't as difficult as you expect if you are coming into the process as green as I was. Since I started, I have replaced the bearings literally a dozen times. Every time I would remove the part that holds the bearings into the cup, some or all would fall out.
You need grease in that cup. I used the same White Lithium Grease that I used in my old Jalousie windows for years. The stuff is waterproof. You can use other grease that is "special for cycling" and pay more. The jury is out as to whether I need to do that or I am using the right stuff. The finished product rolls like a champ. I did a marathon on them and I had the wheels improperly installed. Results matter.
Bearing Sizing.
The bearings that go into the Cup and Ball bearings vary in size. They are TYPICALLY 1/4 inch. They can be more or less, but since they are decidedly cheap, I rolled the dice and got an assortment. It turned out that front and rear wheels were both 1/4 inch. Some bikes for other purposes are said to be larger or smaller.
For my bike, I needed 9 bearings of 1/4 inch per side of the wheel.
I have a bag of 200 loose bearings coming in about a week. It took me 3 years to need the first batch and they only cost me $7 for this. I will be able to repeat this process about 6 times.
How I installed the Bearings.
I cleaned and dried the kitchen sink and put a screen in the drain. Since I knew that the bearings would roll under things, putting the wheel at eye level and giving the bearings a place to roll made sense.
Remove the wheel from the bike. Remove the nut holding the skewer in place and slide it out but make sure you realize which side your bike had the skewer installed from. The lock lever was on the left side of the wheel. Same side as the disc for my brake - be careful you don't get that disc dirty, you will need alcohol or acetone to clean it properly and don't bang it around since it can't take the punishment of too many shocks.
Cup Wrench:
In the case of my wheels, I needed a specialized tool to remove the nut and cover to the chamber where the cup was. This Cup Wrench was a 15 mm and strangely flat. I am used to crescent wrenches being much thicker in home repair and automotive uses. These are stamped steel. A set cost me $7 online.
The cup wrench will hold the cup in place so you can use another 15 mm wrench (adjustable or crescent) to remove the nut that holds things in place on the outside of the wheel bolt assembly. The video goes through this quickly but you will need these. I have a lot of tools on hand and this stuff is "specialized".
Removing the outer nut, you should be able to remove the cup on one side of the wheel. You will be removing the nut/shield from one side of the axle. I recommend removing the one on the non-disc side first. This way you can push the axle through. At this point there is nothing holding the cover to the ball bearings in place at all. Things will fall all over the place. That is why I did the work over the sink. The "other side" you will need to hold in place manually. Blue Tack or some other tape may help you manage this since it is not a "normal" operation for "normal" people like you and I.
Slide the axle out of the wheel and set it aside. As you remove parts from the wheel, it will be helpful to place the pieces in place on the axle so that the later reassembly will be easier.
Grease the Cup and install the Balls:
To prepare to install the balls into the cup, insert or inject some of your chosen grease into the cup. Don't get extra grease into the center hub of the wheel, but if some get in there it won't ruin the wheel. I found that I could squirt the grease into the cup and used my gloved finger to smooth it into the cup evenly.
Now using tweezers or your fingers, place the balls in the cup. One at a time, seat the ball into the grease. The grease will tend to hold the balls in place but they will not put up with rough treatment and may go flying if you bang this all around.
Repeat this process for the opposite side of the wheel. Gently because if you whack the wheel around your freshly assembled balls will be flying out of the cup. The Grease will hold the balls in place but not very securely. They May Fall Out!
Reassembly of the wheel:
Now that you have cursed me and everyone else for telling you that you know enough to try this process, you get to reverse your steps. How I did it was to be very gently push the axle through the center of the cup and out the other side. The Axle will be partially assembled with the cup nut/shield and most likely that one side's retaining nut are still in place. Make sure that the alignment of the axle with the distance from the outside of the axle to the first nut have not changed. Make sure that the cup nut is secure against that first nut and tighten with a crescent wrench and cup wrench where appropriate. Everything is in close clearance so this is why having a specific cup wrench is important.
Sliding the axle in place, begin to fasten the opposite side's cup nut in place. Stop when you get it snug against the balls in the cup, but not too snug. The entire assembly must turn freely. If you can't turn it freely by the lightest touch, it will make things difficult when you ride.
However having it exposed and loose will cause its own problems. Push up and down on the axle. It should not rattle around in the hub. If so, the cup nut needs to be tightened slowly until the up and down rattling is stopped.
The goal is to get the wheel to spin on the axle, but not move laterally. Another goal is to have the outermost nut in roughly the same position with respect to the end of the axle as it was before the process had begun.
I know, clear as mud. You want your wheels spinning freely.
Slide the skewer in through the axle. The locking lever should be on the same side as it was originally. In my case, it was on the left side of the wheel. Same side as the brake disc or opposite of the chain or the drive for the wheel. Attach the spring small side to the center, then put the skewer nut on the outside of the skewer and tighten lightly.
Remount the wheel and align so that it is not stopped by the brakes or is not crooked. Begin to tighten the skewer and nut in place. When finished, the wheel should not be loose on the fork on any side or both sides. If it is loose you may injure yourself while riding.
Rear Wheel Special Instructions:
The gearset is in the way of your removing the rear axle. You require a gearset socket to remove the gearset so you can get at all the parts like on the front whee. The gearset socket fits in a crescent wrench, adjustable wrench, or a socket wrench. The gearset is actually tightened as you ride so it is difficult to remove from the wheel.
Take the rear wheel to a place where you can work on it with force. Not too much force, of course. Insert the gearset socket in the gearset, Using your wrench, set it up so that you can turn the wrench counter clockwise. To the left. Remember Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey. Attempt to turn counter clockwise. Complain to yourself that you can't and it is too difficult and you want to give up.
At this point I placed the wheel in a fashion so that the wheel was upright, the wrench was in a way that if I pushed downwards, it would be turning counter clockwise - to the left.
Using the hammer, I whacked the wrench gently but firmly. It took about 10 times the first time to remove the gearset. It never got loose enough on the wheel for me to NOT use the hammer. But you aren't trying to destroy things, be careful if you miss the end of the wrench you could damage your wheel.
A good torque wrench or breaker bar on the end of the socket wrench may help but it did not in my case. I actually broke my breaker bar. I was surprised.
The first time to remove the gearset took quite a few whacks from the hammer before it budged and it was still too tight for me to muscle the gearset loose.
Axle Considerations or If You Have a Broken Axle:
This happened to my rear wheel. I actually snapped an axle. They do break and they do bend.
The rear axle on my bike is 145mm. It was broken in two pieces, sheared at the base of the gearset.
I rolled the dice and guessed at the size thinking if it was shorter I could cut it or just let it hang. It turned out that I was completely correct at the guess of 145mm.
In My Case.
However, the new axle came with hardware that was smaller than the original wheelset's hardware. I did not realize that. I had put it all together and got it to work but it wasn't right. The bike did not perform correctly since I was using lock washers and extra nuts to put the wheel approximately in the correct place.
I needed to get the ruler out and make sure that I had that 4mm clearance from the last nut to the end of the axle.
Using the (weird) Cup Wrench, I was able to get all the old hardware off of the old axle, and put it on the new axle. I made sure that the 4mm clearance was maintained. Magically everything simply seated correctly without any extra hardware.
That ruler was a highly important tool. Make sure you can read metric, Fellow Americans. I had to double check myself to get it all right.
Conclusion:
The wheelset is done.
Oh you want more? There is no lateral movement. When I do the "power stroke" the rear wheel is not being thrown against the frame of the bike and making farting noises. Both wheels now have new fresh grease and new fresh bearings.
Best part of this is that for about $30 of parts, I get about $350 worth of wheels, bearings, and most importantly Labor.
I learned a metric f-ton of things about this process. In a couple years I will be able to do this again if I haven't worn this bike completely out and I have the parts to do it.
Next will be going after the pedals and the crankset since I have the bearings to do so. Anything that turns a lot, needs new grease and new bearings.
I have the parts. Good luck!
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