Wheel: What have I done wrong?

[mjr]

All I did to put it right was take it apart again, check the bearings were the correct 1/4 inch size, (they were) and reassemble. It all went back together very well with the cones ending up in an adjustable position.

I think my guess of a seal/cover not seating properly the first time is what happened

Nah, it was a Heisenbug: the act of measurement itself altered things enough to correct it

 

[winjim]

Made, what maybe a similar mistake myself recently. The cones\nut\washer are slighlty different depths from side to side. I put mine back the wrong way and the discs were rubbing badly as the hub was off centre. Took me a while to work out I assembled wrong.

Did exactly this myself recently.

 

[Smurfy]

I might pop into Halfords and get one anyway.

My advice is don't bother making the trip for a 7 speed without 'click and collect' first. I've already tried that once at my local halfords and they only had 9 and 10 speed in stock.

By the way, the HG21 looks like this

and the HG41 has one non-nickel plated sprocket (the smallest)

Hence why I decided to grab a HG50 while I can. Apparently the SRAM 7 speed also fit, and have a nice nickel finish, but I thought I'd rather have genuine Shimano for my rebuild project.

 

[fossyant]

6mm was a good guess since I wasn't near a bike. I too once made the mistake of taking cones off the drive side. Never again.

I do the same on the front too. Non drive side.