scorpio012

Hi, I'm a relative newcomer to cycling and I was wondering if anyone would know what I could use for a cone wrench in a pinch? I had put my bike on top of the car and drove to where i was going, nearly ten and a half hour drive and when i got to my destination it was then that I realized that i had forgotten my little tool box that i keep all things related to my bike in. I wanted to grease the bearings inside of the hub, but I didn't have my cone wrench!! There is no bike shops in the immediate area, the closest one being over an hour and a half away and i thought maybe someone here could tell me if there is anything they would recommend using as a cone wrench? Thanks for any help you can offer.

ThermionicScott 

Just wait until you can buy cone wrenches. You can buy 'em on the Internet these days.

SquidPuppet

You made a 10.5 hour trip to ride a bike that's in need of servicing? You have grease and new bearings but no tools? What am I missing here?

In a pinch, you might be able to hold the cone with some skinny needle nose pliers while you turn the lock nut with a regular open end wrench.

xenologer

how about a 15mm crescent wrench, ground down on a bench grinder till the head is only 1 mm thick?
You'll probably need to redo the heat treating afterwards


but seriously though,
Overhauling hubs is something you do ahead of time as an infrequent preventative maintenance.
Not something you do casually in the middle of a road trip.
This is the kind of thing that can wait until you're back home, don't risk doing a service with the wrong tools and making the bike unridable for the duration.

andrewclaus

I know someone with 15mm axle nuts who keeps a cheap cone wrench with his patch kit for emergency wheel removal. He doesn't ride much, and it may work in a pinch. 13mm on the other side, in case you have a yen to work on the front wheel too.

CliffordK

I used to be able to break loose the lock nuts without a cone wrench, then when it is time to put it together again, tighten with just the lock nuts. With a little practice, one could get it just right.

However, I don't think I've effectively done that for quite some time.

Perhaps the trick is if one has keyed washers, then one can effectively tighten without cone wrenches (but risk spinning the washers). However, keyed washers are less commonly used today, so it is not as easy to do the work without the cone wrenches.

Papa Tom

I had a cone come loose on me during an overnight ride last summer and I quickly discovered that my multi-tool had every tool but a cone wrench. I tried all kinds of things to tighten the wheel - both on the road and when I got home - without an actual cone wrench. Nothing worked, so I decided I'd have to carry a cone wrench from now on.

Fortunately, before I went out and bought a spare one, I found one of those one-shot flat wrenches that toy manufacturers include in the box to assemble toys and it was just the right size. So now I have a small, lightweight makeshift cone wrench in my bag and I didn't have to buy a new one or break up my home tool bench.

Bottom line? Save those crappy little tools provided in toy boxes!

wschruba

This is pretty much it. But it's better to cut the majority of the jaw off, rather than grind it (less heat damage potential). Place it in a vise, make a lengthwise cut down the jaw, about halfway, then bring it to the grinder. Keep a jar of water next to you, and as you are going, quench the wrench; the old trick is to hold your work piece near the surface being ground, such that when it gets uncomfortable to hold, you dunk it. Comfortable holding temperature is well below the temperature you will damage temper at.

rumrunn6

just spray some WD40 in there ... ONLY KIDDING! DON'T DO THAT!

texaspandj

Do they have a walmart? You can get this. I bought a couple of these for the tire levers, ended up with a couple of cone wrenches and glue less patches for a beach ball for less than 5.00 bucks.

fietsbob

Long Discontinued Cool Tool Cool Tool: 'The' Multipurpose Bicycle Repair Tool | Digital Hippie | Stoked on MTB since 1988 used to include an adjustable thinned jaw wrench, in ith multi tool design.

in real cone wrenches, one was made to include 4 sizes in each wrench , so just 2 was all you need..

kingston 

Park double-ended cone wrenches are a good place to start. Full set of 4 wrenches (DCW-1-4) for twenty bucks or so gets you everything you need for most jobs.

fixedweasel

You can find them on eBay for just over 2 bucks. And if you ever want to do anything as far as rebuilding old school wheels with cones, you will most definitely need to buy 2 complete sets of cones in the full range of mm's.

DiegoFrogs

I adjusted an over-tight hub on my niece's bike using a wrench I found in my parents' garage. I think it was part of an assembly kit for a grill. It was a little bit too large, but not so much that I couldn't prevent the cone from turning.

The brand new bike would have been unrideable otherwise...

scorpio012

Thank you for your suggestion and to all that have responded!!

AnkleWork

Maybe just leave the cone as-is and squeeze/poke some grease past the seal. Or, just ride.

jsdavis

I have used a Park pedal wrench in place of a cone wrench a couple times, but it only works for 15mm obviously. Not all have enough space to fit the pedal wrench. It's the lowest price pedal wrench they make, home use pedal wrench or something.

Kontact 

It is completely unlikely that an ad hoc tool will allow you to successfully open the hub and readjust it properly.

Anything you try is most likely going to damage the hub or leave the bike unrideable.