Chombi1 

Finally got to open up my Spidel 700 low flange hubs I will be using to build up my new wheelset for my 83 Gitane Pro.
The hub is NOS, but was in need of attention as the dust caps at the drive side of the hub was dragging somewhere on the hub shell. Took the axle off and was surprised that the bearing count on the two sides of the hub was different. On the drive side of the hub, the bearing race was pretty much filled up completely with 9 bearings, while the NDS had 8 bearings. The bearing race dimensions look identical but it seems like Spidel thought the drive side deserved more bearings than the non drive side.
Did they think the drive side needed more bearings as the axle has amore cantilevered condition and the wheel spokes are closer to vertical and will transmit more load and road shock on to the bearings on that side? Or did they just screw up and left off on hearing on the non drive side. Should I add in the missing bearing at the NDS?
It turned out that the dust cap drag on the hubshell was caused by the over tightening at the factory of the axle/bearing nuts. I reassembled the hub with the axle nuts not as tight as it was, without any play on the axle and bearings and the dustcap drag was gone.

Prowler 

Never cling to an assumption of perfection. Could have just been an ESP (error some place). I’d reassemble with 9 and 9 then see how it feels. You know what a properly adjusted hub feel like know. Go with whatcha know.

On those “axle nuts”, do you mean the cone lock nuts? I find that if they are not good and tight the cones loosen up. Seems there should be another solution than leaving them a bit loose.

branko_76 

I'm not getting what "dustcap drag" is.

Dylansbob 

Be careful with those locknuts when you're tightening them. One of my Spidel hubs locknuts was cracked and is almost unobtainium.

Chombi1 

The dust/shield over the bearings is attached to the outer cones so the whole cap shield stays stationary with the axles as the hub spins. The cap's perimeter is bent inwards towards the hub and goes into a continuous slot (to create a simple labyrinth seal) at the hub body edge. Somehow, the drive side cap was in too deep into the hub slot and dragging and keeping the hub body from spinning freely from the axle.

Prowler 

^^^^^^^^ All of those dust shields I’ve seen are just press fit onto the cones. They can be slid around on the cone to get the clearance you want. When the occasion arises I set them up against the edge of the flats for the cone wrench. No problem getting the cones tight. Yes I’ve done that when changing pitted cones but needing to reuse the same shields.

esasjl

I've seen Zeus Gigante (Campag 1035 clones) rear hubs with eight 1/4" ball bearings instead of nine. I've serviced with nine new ball bearings. The ninth bearing is a 'click' fit so I wonder if eight were originally installed to reduce assembly times.