hokiefyd 

Conventional wisdom (and Sheldon's website) suggests that wheel bearing adjustment should tighten up slightly when a wheel is installed with a Quick Release skewer, as the QR will compress the axle along its length. I haven't found this to be a significant factor in practice before, but understand the concept.

I'm working on a low end 2015 Giant Escape bike flip. I paid 30 bucks for a lot of four bikes, and I'm trying to get them all adjusted and ready to go for sale in the spring (safety items, repacking bearings, etc). I was able to repack the front bearings just fine, but I'm having an issue with the rear. They're standard cup-and-cone bearings. I can get the preload set so that the axle spins pretty nice on my workbench. When installed in the bike, with the QR snug, there is a LOT of lateral play in the rim (coming from the bearings). You can see the hub wiggling against the axle at the dust shield. Figuring I must have not got the lock nut good and tight, and probably spun it loose during installation, I removed the wheel to check it and the preload went back to normal (smooth, not tight or loose).

Puzzled by this, I loosened the cones and reset everything, just to make sure I didn't have anything silly like double-stacked balls in there or something. Everything seems to be done correctly. I set the preload, installed the wheel, and still get just as much play. What in the world is going on? I suppose I could set the preload really tight, hoping for it to loosen up after installation and try to nail "good enough" to the wall. But that runs opposite to what I would expect to happen, and I'm wondering if something else is going on here (like maybe this is a symptom of a failed hub or failed cup inside the hub or something). That I was able to repack the front hub just fine (and there's no play after installation) leads me to question something more fundamental with this rear hub.

It's a standard freewheel hub (either Giant brand or Formula brand probably) with 135mm OLD spacing. I appreciate any ideas.

noglider 

Check that the axle is not bent and the dropouts are parallel.

HillRider

Do you just see the rim move laterally when you spin it or can you actually move it back and forth by hand? As Tom mentioned it could be a bent axle or a badly out of true rim. Freewheel hubs are noted for bending and/or breaking axles.

Wilfred Laurier

Most freehub-style hubs have two bearing races - one in the hub body and one inside the freehub mechanism. If the freehub mechanism is loosened off fromt eh hub or has play in it, the axle will have play, and you might only notice it when the wheel is installed.

Another thought - If the bearings are in a cage in the hubs, make sure the cage is not installed backwards. This is a common mistake with headset bearings and causes the symptoms you described.

davidad

shimano and some of the Chinese hubs have the bearings mounted out board on the drive side so that there are only two cups and cones.

Mad Honk 

Or something a little different. It can be that the axle "feels" smooth on pre-load if there are rubber seals involved on the bearing races, but the cones are not set right.
Along the same reasoning as Tom, but with a twist is this: If when removing all of the loose bearings in the hub one actually got caught in the inner section of the hub it makes the hub "feel" right on pre-load, but mis-behaves on installation. The other problem that comes to mind is the possibility that there are 8 bearings on one side and 10 on the other. This situation though creates tight and then weak tension on the bearings and makes the wheel appear to be out of true in differing spots around the rim.
I would suggest removing the freewheel and pulling the hub apart again and checking for these symptoms. Smiles, MH

hokiefyd 

Yes to visually seeing the hub move laterally (well, and moving side to side by hand). I actually first noticed this (but forgot to mention earlier) that I installed the wheel and spun it and it looked way out of true. I checked that it was installed straight in the (vertical) dropouts and all that and it was. But it was true before.

You know -- bent axle. I did notice that the axle is just ever so slightly out of true when I rolled it on the workbench. And when I say "slightly", I really do mean slightly. But thinking about it further, I guess any runout to the axle would just multiply with compression force, wouldn't it, perhaps changing the interface at the bearings by even tenths of an inch (which would be huge for bearing clearances). I did not notice this runout with the front axle, and I also don't have this problem with the front axle.

Thank you, all of you, for helping me put 2 and 2 together on this. I'll stop by my local bike shop and pick up a new axle.

hokiefyd 

Note this is a freewheel hub, so it has just the two cups in the hub shell itself: inside the threaded area on the drive side and inside the spoke flange on the non-drive side. I did check for extra balls in one side or the other -- both sides are correctly assembled with nine new (and loose) 1/4" bearing balls. It looks like this is a bent axle problem, and I'll procure another one and have another chance to get it right with Nine On A Side.

mpetry912 

check that you have the right number of balls and correct size.

In the hub.

one missing ball can behave like that

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

djb

You a said that you repacked the bearings, but I have seen an old tired bearing lose a bit of surface, start falling apart, could be that? Creating slack.
another reason I dislike working on friends iffy bikes with low end parts.