Repacking front wheel cup and cone hub - too much grease?
Hi, everyone.
I'm just getting into bike mechanics, learning and trying to maintain my bikes myself. So please don't laugh hard if I ask something stupid :)
I've recently bought 1988 Miyata 615. While the bike is quite old it wasn't ridden much and spent whole his life in the previous owner's basement.
Following recommendations from this great forum, I've decided to repack all the bearings on the bike. I've started from the front wheel hub, assuming it's the easiest part of the job.
Before taking the front wheel of the bike I've checked for the play in the axle with the QR closed and opened (closed just a little to prevent the wheel falling off). Since I've never adjusted the cones before I wanted to have a feel how much play there should be before closing QR. There was no play with QR closed and very little play with QR opened.
Also I've done the following test that Sheldon Brown suggests to test the cone adjustment:
... hold the tire so that the valve is at the 3:00 or 9:00 position, then let go of it. On most wheels, the valve is the heaviest part; on wheels that have spoke reflectors, the reflector will be the heaviest part. Whatever is the heaviest part of the wheel, it should cause the wheel to turn and swing back and forth like a pendulum, before finally coming to a stop.
The wheel swung back and forth 6 times.
I've took apart the hub. It was in a good shape: the grease inside was clean but was getting thick and dry.
I've cleaned the hub internals and cones with mineral spirit, replaced the ball bearings, put in a LOT of marine grease, reassembled and adjusted the hub. Then, all proud of myself, did the wheel swing test. The wheel swung back and forth 4 times. Telling me that there's more friction in the hub than it was before. I opened the QR (now I could feel some play on the axle) and did the test again. Same result - 4 swings. This tells me that I didn't overly tightened the cones.
I'm wondering why there's more friction in the hub now? Is there too much grease in the hub? (Sheldon Brown says that there's no such thing as too much grease in a hub). I'm certain that I've used the right size ball bearings (3/16) and put in right number of balls (10 per side). I'm not sure what's the grade of the balls. I got them from LBS and there's no information about the balls grade on the package.
Did I do something wrong? Or the higher friction in a hub is expected after repacking?
I'm just getting into bike mechanics, learning and trying to maintain my bikes myself. So please don't laugh hard if I ask something stupid :)
I've recently bought 1988 Miyata 615. While the bike is quite old it wasn't ridden much and spent whole his life in the previous owner's basement.
Following recommendations from this great forum, I've decided to repack all the bearings on the bike. I've started from the front wheel hub, assuming it's the easiest part of the job.
Before taking the front wheel of the bike I've checked for the play in the axle with the QR closed and opened (closed just a little to prevent the wheel falling off). Since I've never adjusted the cones before I wanted to have a feel how much play there should be before closing QR. There was no play with QR closed and very little play with QR opened.
Also I've done the following test that Sheldon Brown suggests to test the cone adjustment:
... hold the tire so that the valve is at the 3:00 or 9:00 position, then let go of it. On most wheels, the valve is the heaviest part; on wheels that have spoke reflectors, the reflector will be the heaviest part. Whatever is the heaviest part of the wheel, it should cause the wheel to turn and swing back and forth like a pendulum, before finally coming to a stop.
I've took apart the hub. It was in a good shape: the grease inside was clean but was getting thick and dry.
I've cleaned the hub internals and cones with mineral spirit, replaced the ball bearings, put in a LOT of marine grease, reassembled and adjusted the hub. Then, all proud of myself, did the wheel swing test. The wheel swung back and forth 4 times. Telling me that there's more friction in the hub than it was before. I opened the QR (now I could feel some play on the axle) and did the test again. Same result - 4 swings. This tells me that I didn't overly tightened the cones.
I'm wondering why there's more friction in the hub now? Is there too much grease in the hub? (Sheldon Brown says that there's no such thing as too much grease in a hub). I'm certain that I've used the right size ball bearings (3/16) and put in right number of balls (10 per side). I'm not sure what's the grade of the balls. I got them from LBS and there's no information about the balls grade on the package.
Did I do something wrong? Or the higher friction in a hub is expected after repacking?