Is This Hub Race Still Serviceable?
 

I finally got around to repacking the bearings on my 2011 Surly Long Haul Trucker’s fifth set of wheels. The hubs are Shimano XTs with easily 50K miles on them and ridden through a lot of rain and other bad conditions – never touched until today. Front bearings, cups and cones were perfect. Back non-drive side the same. The drive side cone is what I’d call marred in a few places – not pitted. Either way, I was going to replace that. But the bigger issue is the drive side race is not perfect like the others. It doesn’t look horrible but there is wear. So, my question is how bad should the race be before giving up on the hubs? Bad lighting but the pics might give some idea of the condition:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f99f93f6af.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7eca385b09.jpg
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That race doesn't look pristine but it's really in pretty good shape. If it were mine, I'd just get it as clean as I could, add fresh grease and bearing balls and ride it for another 50,000 miles.

Get a dental pick or other sharp pointy object and see if it catches on any of the wear spots. If the cup is pitted, it’s done. On the drive side, you can replace the freehub which means you don’t have to trash the wheel.

I'd certainly increase the maintenance frequency.
DS hub & BB bearings wear faster than the NDS. Both sides coast. DS also propels.

I'd just service and maybe order a spare FH body & cone, if still available, for future use.

Thanks for all of the good advice. While they're still available sourcing a new FH body and cone is definitely on the list. Tech docs show a 14mm hex to remove the FH body but that looks like a special tool situation to me. Any thoughts?

Whether they're OK or toast, they're still OK enough to use at least until you source a replacement, if not longer.

I'd finish the job, see how it feels and ride it until you feel you no longer want to, or have the replacement at hand.

FWIW - it offends one's sensibilities how worn a race can be and still be reasonably functional.

Yup, a hex key is all you need. Even though the bolt has multiple flutes it was designed for a hex.

McMaster-Carr sells hex wrenches in a much wider range of sizes than regular hardware and big box stores and at very reasonable cost. They have a long arm 14mm you need for about $11. Here is their web page: https://www.mcmaster.com/hex-wrenches/l-keys-9/

Thanks again everyone for the very helpful feedback! With proper maintenance (ha, ha) I should be good to go for another 100K miles. Since the bike has rim brakes, the only future concern will be sourcing rims and spokes that don’t cost and arm and a leg.

takereasy,
There is still a lot of life left in that race. If the pitting is surface type of marks, I would use a Dremel with Temo diamond infused rubber bit to polish it up. The cost of the bits are about $10 and they will last for more than a few polish sessions. Smiles, MH

No. It will wear out bearings faster, and it will run rough, but if those two issues don't bother the owner, they can keep using that hub for as long as they want.

​​​​​​https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-14mm-W...08&sr=8-5&th=1

You can't really tell except when adjusting the bearings, because although wear is visible it may be sufficiently concentric that it doesn't create a major problem. Of course the only way to check adjustment is to install new cones and balls and apply preload - if you can get it so there's minimal slack and no binding then the hub lives to fight another day. I'm still using some hubs that were knackered when I bought then years ago (the wheels were worth it just for the rims and spokes) - they were over-tightened and now have noticeable slack in the bearings but I don't notice it when riding, otherwise I'd have fitted the replacement hubs that I bought at the same time. Don't make the mistake of over-tightening unevenly worn bearings in an attempt to get rid of any slack, that will encourage rapid wear or catastrophic failure.