bikemig 

I know that adjusting cartridge bearing hubs can be a bit tricky and I'm having trouble with a pair of wheels with suntour superbe cartridge bearing hubs. They're old wheels but they do not have a lot of miles on them. Here's the problem. The wheels have side to side play when mounted on the bike and the skewers properly clamped down. Even if I adjust the cones with the wheels off the bike so that there is no play in the axle, there is play once I clamp down the wheels.

So what's the solution to properly adjusting cartridge bearing hubs to eliminate side to side play when the wheels are mounted on the bike?

fietsbob

Point One, Radial Contact bearings are not adjustable , some play at the rim is just 'par for the course'.


Only if you have angular Contact bearings, in a hub made for those type bearings can the run out at the rim
be lessened..

loose ball hubs are angular contact.





./.

bikemig 

Yeah but I've had cartridge bearing hubs with considerably less play side to side than these. This is a very pronounced play.

fietsbob

Blind Guess: Given No Specifics; Buy New Bearings..

I put in Enduro Brand Bearings (90% ball fill) in my Bullseye sealed bearing Hubs, they use a 6001 bearing.

QBP stocks Enduro Bearings..

HillRider

Pull the cones and axles and see if there is a lot of play between the inner and outer races that would indicate the cartridges themselves are worn or damaged.

bikemig 

This is useful. Yeah I'm thinking there must be an issue with the cartridges. It's just weird that there's no play when I hold the wheel in my hands and move the axle but there is considerable play when I mount the wheels on the bike.

davidad

I have Suntour XC 9000 front hubs. They have play at the rim when properly adjusted except for one wheel. I replaced the radial bearings with angular contact bearings from Enduro. ENDURO ANGULAR CONTACT STEEL BEARINGS FOR WHEEL HUBS
You can also get the 7001 2 RS with a full complement of balls.

Andrew R Stewart 

Radial contact pre assembled cartridge (sometimes called "sealed") want a bit of free end play or the wear rate will be fast. Can you actually feel the end play during riding? Replacing these bearings is fairly cheap so an experiment is easy. Andy

bikemig 

I started this thread almost 3 years ago and those wheels with the cartridge bearing suntour superbe pro hubs are still going strong but they haven't seen a lot of service. The hubs have the original cartridge bearings and I'm planning on putting the wheels back in service on a Fuji Finest I am rebuilding. I know I can service these by pulling back the seal and putting in new grease but the hubs turn so nicely that I don't plan on doing this at least to start out with.

I know when I'm adjusting cup and cone hubs, I make sure that there is no play when the wheel is mounted on the bike. Usually (nearly always) that means that there will be a slight amount of play when the wheel is off the bike but the play disappears once the quick release skewer is tightened.

I was reading Sutherland's handbook and it states that with cartridge bearings, there has to be a slight amount of play at the rim of a build up wheel. So I adjust the cartridge bearing hub so that the cones (really they're more like shoulders on the axle) are as loose as possible without any play at the hub. I find once I do that, there is a small amount of play on the rim once the wheel is on the bike and the quick release tightened down.

I guess I'll find out whether that is the right adjustment by riding that wheel and seeing what happens.

davidad

I have those hubs and you can buy angular contact bearings (7001 2RS Max) from Enduro. You adjust them like a cup and cone bearing with a slight preload when the wheel is installed and the QR is closed. There will be no play at the rim.
With radial bearings (6001's) there will be a slight amount of play at the rim. You adjust them by tightening the sleeve until there is a slight drag and loosen it by 1/4 turn. If they a so tight that there is no play at the rim the bearings wear quickly.