Changing wheel bearings. First time, few Questions...

i went for a ride this weekend and noticed a bit of play in my rear wheel so decided it was time to do the bearings. i have never done this before so this is all a bit of a learning experience...

i popped the wheel off and removed the seals and the first thing i noticed was the spacer inside the hub could be moved very easily with my finger. it was really sloppy. is this normal?

i knocked the bearings out (eventually) and noticed a bit of scoring on the spacer and a few marks/notches on the hub itself. im not sure if these were there already or i caused them trying to remove the bearings. anyway, just wondering if anyone thinks they will be an issue?



also, the spacer itself looks different to that in the manual. this one has a lip on it and when it fell out of the wheel i didn't see which way its supposed to go back in? any ideas?


also, thoughts on packing more grease in sealed bearings? from reading some say yes, and others say no. very confusing.

thanks for your help.

edit: bike is a 2012 te310

The spacer should be move-able, but not sloppy left to right. It should fit in between the bearings with no play side-to-side. The spacer allows the axle to be tightened and the bearings not move.

The scoring is odd but shouldn't be an issue, the bearings will slide in and never really move against that surface.

The lip is odd as well, my only guess would be that it goes on the side that the axle enters the wheel from.

I pack my bearings full but not crammed full.

Put bearings in the freezer before you wack them in.

Find a socket that only presses on the outer race of the bearing or you'll have bad bearings again!

Oh...make sure you bang em in straight.

thanks for the tips. any ideas as to which direction the spacer/collar goes back in?

thanks for this tip. i carefully popped the seal off each bearing and 2 out of the 3 looked almost dry!

for anyone who's interested, l i decided to do my front bearings as well and instead of buying a kit, i went to my local bearing supplier and bought a couple from them. popped the seals of these and there was plenty of grease in both. next time i will be buying from the bearing shop and not the bike shop. the new bearing were made in japan, and the others i suspect prob china.

Time for me to do my nagging Auntie bit I'm afraid.

Please Guys, when you hit a bearing with ANYTHING, wear safety specs.
It's not something that occurred to me until a good friend of mine was knocking a bearing onto a shaft with a CARDBOARD tube (just getting it into position before hitting it with something substantial). The bearing separated, the balls went flying and he now has only one eye. Not a good day.

Mike

any answers for orientaion of the tube spacer? i have the same question....

Seriously ? I never imagined that that could happen, good to know, thanks for the advise !

lots of good suggestions including popping the bearing in the ice box.

i prefer not to tap in bearings if at all possible. i'll use a shop press or make a press using a length of all thread with nuts washers and sockets etc..dont forget to put the tube in before the second bearing (done that ugh lol!!!).

proper axle nut torque helps keep from crushing stuff like the spacer tube. under or over doing it can cause issues.

PARK tool co. makes a bicycle bottom bracket press that works a treat on all kinda stuff.

I believe it goes on the right side of the bike (both front and back wheels).

It may be used to hold the spacer when re-installing the last bearing. looks like husky dropped it after 2011... it does not appear in any part books after. Everybody uses the axle to hold the spacer in alignment anyways; I've never even seen it before.

Bensl's pic is not totally clear- could you post a good picture for us? I believe it can be removed from the spacer.

[rancher1 says this is not the flanged spacer in the post below]

#11 is just a piece for foam around the axle for locating it.

got it- thanks (and it turns out that I have seen that).

have you seen a bearing spacer like these guys have? what's the flange for? [and while I'm at it: why do some spacers have a small hole drilled in 'em?]