Please help! Wheel axle tightening question...

[john12]

Hello guys...

I noticed last week my RS10 rear wheel spindle was loose i.e. QR lever done up correctly but the wheel had lateral movement on the axle (play in the bearing).
Yesterday I stripped the wheel down (first time I've done this so bear with me...) removed all the balls, gave a good clean inside the housing and re-assembled with lovely new grease, etc.
The bit I'm not sure about is the tightening...If I tighten up the nuts at either end of the axle to what feels right to me the wheel is completely locked...obvious I suppose (!)
If i go just above finger tight it spins lovely and the play is gone but surely this will work loose in no time?
What am I doing wrong?

Cheers, John

 

[Canrider]

Caveat: I've never worked on an RS10 wheel. I take it this is Shimano's RS10 wheelset?

For a cup and cone bearing (one with loose ball bearings inside), you want to tighten it up to the point just *before* it starts to be 'locked'. As you noted, when you tightened it to the degree you thought was right, the wheel wouldn't turn. From there, you need to loosen it just that little bit so that it spins freely without loosening it so far that the play reappears.
Usually each side will have two parts that can be tightened: a cone-shaped piece that is in contact with the bearing balls, and a locknut that goes outside that. You wind up tightening the locknut against the cone to hold it in place against the balls (again without 'locking up' the balls). It's that locknut tightened against the cone that prevents the whole from working loose.

Hope that helps and ask more if it doesn't.

 

[john12]

Thats brilliant - many thanks - I'll give it a go tonight.
Yes - the Shimano RS10 set.
Does seem a bit vague - you'd think they'd spec a torque setting.
I'd sort of come to the same conclusion but decided I must have missed something!
Cheers - thanks again.
john

 

[snailracer]

You usually need a special, thin "cone spanner" to be able to hold the cone steady while you tighten the locknut against it.

 

[accountantpete]

It's a bit of an art.

As stated above - you lock the thing tight by tightening the cone against the locknut. However I find that in doing so I have unscrewed the cone resulting in movement in the axle. The solution is to tighten the cone up to where you want it to be and then add on another 10th of a turn which will be taken off during the locking process.

 

[john12]

cheers fellas - all done and running smooooth.
many thanks

 

[compo]

All my life I have had problems getting the locknuts just right. The problem is that when tightening the locknuts the spindle would turn thus upsetting my carefull adjustment. I really need three hands, one for the cone, one for the locknut and one for the opposite locknut to stop the spindle turning. Why it has never occured to me to put the other end of the spindle into a vice with padded jaws to protect the thread and get the correct adjustment first time every time I will never know. Thank you Park Tools and YouTube!