Wheel Cones made of cheese?

[Banjo]

Wheels on my bike have Shimano hubs so have cups, ball bearings and cones .

Everytime I strip and clean them the wheel cups are like brand new, shiny smooth and no scores or pitting. Balls appear ok but I change them anyway but the cones are allways pitted and scored .

The grease allways looks clean with no water ingress , I take care to set the wheel up to be free spinning but with no bearing play.

Is it normal for cones to only last 3 months and approx 1000 miles? I spoke to a guy who is a regular Audaxer so does lots of dirty wet miles and he said he rarely ever strips his and reckoned on no problems for 5 years.

I get the cones and bearings from LBS. Same ones they use in the workshop ,the mechanic (who I have a lot of faith in) is also surprised at the short service life and could only recommend frequent cleaning and greasing.

 

[gbb]

You havnt got a bent axle have you ? They play havoc with cones, you get it right, then its all gone awry again in a few weeks....caught me out once.

 

[Zoiders]

Stop stripping and cleaning them on such a regular basis, Shimano cup and cones tend to run better if you leave them alone as the audaxer you have spoken with has pointed out - you probably don't need to change the cones so often either and if you do you need to shell out on the right type of shimano ones and not generics that can be a bit cheap and nasty.

It's hard to get the factory settings of the locknuts and cones back spot on and the rubber labyrinth seals go baggy if you keep removing them and refitting them.

 

[fossyant]

What Zoiders says. I have some very nice old DA 7402 hubs which have handy grease ports. Never in 20 years have they been taken apart.

 

[Banjo]

Thanks for the replies, Will have a look at the axle for signs of it being bent. I last did them a few months ago hoping that would get me through winter only stripped the front one again now because it was was running rough.

I think the next pair of wheels i get will be sealed bearing type.

 

[Zoiders]

Find the original cones and put them back in if they aren't pitted.

 

[Banjo]

Find the original cones and put them back in if they aren't pitted.

I only change them if scored or pitted . Wheels are on third set in less than 2 years. Maybe its a gremlin that will just not reoccur I hope.

 

[Zoiders]

Scoring is not such an issue if it's just a worn bright metal ring, it has to be a very noticeable worn track before they start to become unusable.

 

[rustychisel]

wot Zoiders said.

Supplementary question: how do you tell if an axle is bent?

Answer: roll it on a piece of glass (such as a study desk) or a mirror... wobbles are easily spotted

 

[gbb]

Its probably quite unlikely (a bent axle), but the theory is if it is bent, even a tiny bit, one point of the cone will be taking more pressure than the rest, causing them to wear quickly at that point.

TBF i've only had it on a moderately cheap solid axled wheel.