Wheel bearings

[Chuey]

Does this make any sense?

Yes, Frog, the part about thinning the band makes sense but I'm trying to understand how the external spacer would affect the bearings.

I've got the rear one so that the play is gone at 25ft/lbs and there is some play there with the axle just snugged up.

Also, I want to say that I think Ken in Oklahoma's technique of splitting the old bearing race is so cool! I love it! Thing is, I discovered my bicycle tools that pretty much worked as custom made for the job.

Chuey

[Ken not in Oklahoma]

Chuey:

Not positive if the snowflake is like my slash five spoke wheel, but in my case, you install the entire bearing stack as one assembly.

If you do not have wedding bands, or shims, you can hone the existing wedding band (for tighter) or the outer spacer (for looser). If I went that route, I could likely take some material off of the outer spacer before installing the stack, to be sure that the final adjustment was done by thinning the wedding band.

Blaise

My comment is a clarification note. Indeed, Chuey's rear snowflake is indeed different from your /5 rear wheel. The rear snowflake wheels don't have a bearing stack like the rear spoked wheels do. So the stack can't be removed or installed as an assembly. Rather, the rear snowflakes have the bearing inserted from each side in the same manner as spoked front wheels do. And bearing preload is established in the same way too.

As an aside I have always wondered why BMW chose to use the removable stack assembly in their rear spoked wheels. The best guess I've been able to come up with is that the lange on the R/H side of the hub might serve as a shield to keep gunk from the final drive and splines from infiltrating into the bearing proper.



Ken