Stripped my hope XC rear and put new bearings in. When everything is
back together, the bearings are pretty rough. Hammer them in harder and
the wheel doesn't even go round. Take the bearings out, put new ones in,
tap them in gently using the hope bearing tool, same result - rough and notchy when going in, wheel sticks when bearings are knocked in solidly.
When I pull everything apart again, the bearings feel smooth running
in my hand.
What am I doing wrong? The front wheel is super smooth after doing the
same job.
Cheers.
Sounds like the bearings are slightly too big for the bearing seats and are causing them to bind up when inserted into the hub.
Where did you get the bearings from?
Could you get your LBS to take a look?
I originally put in some generic 6001 bearings, but I've also put in some original hopes and it makes no difference.
LBS is last choice really.
Cheers.
Hi,
You may have got the 2 alloy spacer tubes mixed up, thay are almost the same size - one goes in the freehub body the other on the axle ? bearing size won`t make any odds-6001 are all the same apart from quality of manufacture. Also if you are pushing them on the outer race to fit and the spacers are fitted correctly you need to be careful you dont push too hard on the outer as the inner race will become tight as the outer race is pushed beyond its seating place ! sorry if it all sound a bit techie but its difficult without seeing it. hope this helps
What mickyg said. Spacers mixed up to be sure.
Interesting. I've got no axle spacer. The freehub one is definitely in the freehub. I guess I'll route around the shed and see if I can find a similar looking spacer.
Cheers.
agree with the others about the spacers. Without the spacer between shell and freehub (or with the wrong one) the inside face of the freehub body gets rammed into the shell bearing.
washer(spacer)behind freehub missing same happened to me took me ages to suss it out!!
My hope XCs were like this from new. put new bearings in by LBS and it was worse! sent to hope and got back (they say its fine) still sticky but not as bad so will just live with it... I think some hope XCs are maybe not as spot on in terms of tolerance than others?
Ok, this isn't it. The freehub isn't even installed. It's just the 2 bearings and the spindle. This isn't just rough, this is "I can't make the bearings spin when turning the spindle by hand".
Going from the right in this diagram, 
, all that is installed is
3, 2, 1, 3.
Cheers.
Could the axle be bent?
Axle doesn't appear to be bent. It did get hit ridiculously hard with a hammer about 400 times to get it out in the first place, so it's seen better days. I'll order a replacement and see if that fixes it.
Cheers.
when you take the bearings out of the shell, are they smooth, you could have damaged them while hammering them in
if you have been hammering the axle out, you could have damaged that too, either bending it or damaging the machined surfaces.
You should not have to use such excessive force to remove/replace bearings, they are quite fragile
When I take the bearings out after they have been rough in the hub, they
turn smoothly in my hand. I'm installing them using the 6001 hope bearing tool, so I don't see how they could be getting damanged on the way in.
As for not using excessive force, hah! It originally took me about
4 hours to get the bearings out, I've never hit something with a hammer
so hard in my life. After the bearings have been in and out a few times,
they go in with a more sensible amount of force, certainly nothing that should knacker the bearings.
Cheers.
the bearing are too big for the housing or the housing is too small for the bearing. I had this on my xc rear hub. I gently took the paint off the hub bearing hole and all is well.
LBS tried a new axle in my sticky bearing Hope XC as they thought this would solve (had tried 2 sets of bearings), didn't solve it, neither did sending to hope... like I have said, I think maybe the hub itself could be outside of the correct tolerance and bearings dont line up exactly... maybe a wee bit like having a bent axle!
I have a Hope XC rear hub that's about 7 years old on my hardtail. I have changed the bearings only once and never had any issues. Probably human error with yours!
posted a reply in a similar thread, but when I reassembled my XC freehub after servicing the bearings it was really tight. By knocking the bearings in hard it appeared they had "pinched" the spacer in between them, stopping the bearings from rotating by binding against them. I then tapped the bearings from the opposite side and bingo freely rotating bearings.
Your situation sounds similar?
[i]You should not have to use such excessive force to remove/replace bearings, they are quite fragile[/i]
Excessive force is often required to remove them! I had to use a 2lb lump hammer and was splitting the blocks of wood I was using to protect the axle. Knocking down a brick wall in my kitchen was easier...
You should not use such force. Heat the hub and they will come out much more easily. a rag round the hub and a kettle of hot water.