Greasing the hub
Most traditional hubs and all Shimano hub have chromium-plated raceways in which chromium-plated steel balls are housed and the sealing is ensured by a specific nut on the axle called the "bearing cone".
After many hours of use in varying conditions and repeated cleaning of the bike, it is recommended that the hubs be serviced. For sealed cartridge hubs, the bearings cannot be maintained because they are sealed. They should be replaced at the first sign of weakness (abnormal noise, rolling resistance). We recommend that you check and maintain your hubs before and after the winter season.
Tools
Spanner (for our hub it will be 15)
Flat spanner (for our hub it will be 17)
Lithium or Teflon grease
Magnet or Punch
Magnetic bowl
Degreaser
Sliding Feet
Step 1
The cone spanner is a flat spanner that has the particularity of being extra thin. It is used to hold the bearing cone to loosen the locknut.
It must therefore be placed on the print provided for this purpose on the bearing cone (part located under the first nut of the axle). With the evolution of the axle standards, some recent Shimano hubs have oversized cones for which it is difficult to obtain the cone spanners, these have the references TL-HS22 and TL-HS23 at Shimano.
Step 2
Position the open-end spanner on the locknut, then unscrew to release it.
Step 3
Unscrew the locknut completely, remove any spacers. Then unscrew the bearing cone completely.
Step 4
Without loosening the locknut on the opposite side, pull the axle out of the hub. Be careful, from this moment on the balls can escape, do not hesitate to do it over a large container!
Step 5
Using a magnet or punch, remove the balls from the raceways, taking care not to lose any.
The use of a magnetic mol to store your small parts makes sense!
Step 6
Degrease and clean the raceways and balls thoroughly with a soft cloth and a degreasing agent (in this case we use a multi-purpose cleaner containing a little solvent).
Step 7
Check the condition of the raceways if they are damaged (degraded chrome treatment), we recommend replacing the hub.
Check the condition of the balls, if they are deformed or damaged (degraded chrome plating), we recommend replacing them. This will probably require measuring them with a caliper. There are mainly 2 sizes of balls on the market: 1/4" (6.35 mm) and 3/16" (4.76 mm).
Step 8
Using the tool of your choice (we use a syringe here) relubricate the bearing races. For maximum sealing, we recommend a thick grease such as lithium grease, if you prefer bearing quality, use a teflon grease.
Step 9
Using the magnet, replace the balls one at a time in the bearing races. The grease used beforehand will act as a "glue" to hold them in place during reassembly.
Make sure you don't miss any and have the same number on each side.
Step 10
Carefully reassemble the axle, taking care not to push one or two balls to the opposite side of the hub.
Step 11
After refitting the bearing cone, spacer and locknut in the correct order, a hub must not have any play (loose cone) or be under stress (overtightened cone) in order to function properly.
In order to obtain the best possible adjustment we advise you to put it under slight stress when tightening it by hand as it may loosen slightly when the lock nut is locked.
To lock the locknut, hold the cone in position with the cone spanner and then tighten the locknut firmly with the spanner.
