n
...@spam.com wrote:
> I have a Giant Yukon mountain bike from 1998 or so. I have no idea
> who makes the wheels.
> Anyhow the front wheel was making a weird sound when I made turns.
> Sure enough I found that the wheel had play around the axle. Upon
> taking everything apart I found one side had clean grease and the
> other set of bearings had dark grease with corrosion evident.
i'll bet it's not corrosion, but spalling. get a magnifier and check.
spalling is accompanied by pitting. common on over-tightened axles,
especially where the cone is one of those cheapo case-hardened items.
and only one spalling is even more common for case-hardened too.
> Im ordering new 3/16 inch bearings and pedro syn grease--- avoiding
> phil wood grease based on posts that it wont stay in the hub.
don't bother with new bearing balls unless you can get a new cone.
preferably two.
> 1. How about ordinary gold trailer wheel bearing grease?
> The inner races in the hubs look fine after cleaing.
> One of the cone nuts has some baked on grease or corrosion on it. I
> have to take the dremel to it with a buffing tip- not sure yet.
most bearings have some degree of precision about them. a dremel is not
exactly the way to preserve that.
> 2. Are cone nuts generic for a give bearing size? Do I have to buy a
> new axle assembly instead? I guess I have to bring the wheel into the
> LBS for identification.
> 3. I didn't count how many bearings washed out--- is it safe to say
> you put in enough to leave about 1/2 a bearing space?
you might save yourself a whole bunch of effort if you simply replace
the wheel. the yukon is cheapo iirc, so the componentry just isn't
worth the effort. buy decent wheels with decent hubs and you'll have a
whole lot more trouble free fun.
