Recently (this weekend) I noticed that the rear wheel on my Big Dummy (XT hub, Mavic 319 rim) had play. Figuring that it's a year round commuter and it's been about a year since the hub and wheel were new, I yanked it apart, re-greased, adjusted, etc.
Whoops. Stil play. Adjust the cones tighter (wow, that just seems like too much resistance). Still play. The next day I took the wheel back from whence it came. One of the mechanics could reproduce the play, the other could not. Suggestion: try without the Burley hitch. I get home and think, "gee, it's always been a tight fit in the rear dropout, I wonder...). With the help of a friend and a workstand, we noticed that with the QR removed, the axle was not seated fully in the dropout. A utility knife and judicious use of a file later (paint only, no metal removal), the axle now seats fully. Huh. But there's still play. This time, I ride back to the shop. Well, now they're able to reproduce the issue, yank the hub apart, re-grease, adjust, etc. Still play. The best guess is that the freehub body is not secured adequately to the hub. Since the bearing race is part of the freehub body, if the freehub is loose, well, there ya go. I stop at the local cheap tools place (Autozone) and pick up a 14MM allen key for a 1/2" socket. When I get home, I yank the thing apart again and sure enough, the fixing bolt for the freehub was not tight (don't worry, I didn't hamfist it and was judicious in how much torque I was applying). Now, I get the hub back together, adjust correctly (now that feels like the bearings are smooth!), secure the wheel again, and now I have smooth spinning and no play. So, the moral of this story is that you should definitely check the alignment of the axle in the dropouts, the alignment of the dropouts themselves and other things that you wouldn't expect to be loose, like the freehub body. It's unclear if having the axle not seated fully in the dropouts caused or aggravated any of my issues, or if it's my propensity to sprint from stoplights on a really huge bike, but in the future, you can bet that I will always shave paint from the inside of the dropouts of any new or repainted frame and check for axle play every week. --dlloyd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
