How to maintain a bicycle wheel hub with industrial bearings

Many bicycles are equipped with a rear hub with industrial bearings. This is a fairly reliable mechanism that only requires periodic replacement of those same bearings. You just need to figure out how to do it.

Tools:

set of wrenches;
hammer;
bicycle ratchet remover;
awl.

The process of disassembling and servicing a bushing on industrial bearings

To service the hub, you need to remove the rear wheel and remove the ratchet and sprockets. For this, a special puller is used, which is a specially shaped socket head.

Then, placing the wheel vertically, you need to grab the puller with a wrench and turn it with a sharp blow of a hammer counterclockwise. The torn ratchet is twisted to the end and removed.

After this, you need to remove all the nuts and bushing from the axle. If they are clamped tightly, then it is better to do this with gas and adjustable wrenches.

To remove the bearings, you need to knock out the axle. To do this, dense rubber or soft metal is applied to it from the end and a strong blow is applied with a hammer.

You can hit from any side.As a result, the axle will come out, simultaneously squeezing out the bearing.

Then you need to insert it back and hit it from the other end to knock out the second bearing.

After pressing out, the worn bearings are replaced with new ones.

It is important to check whether they contain sufficient lubricant. To do this, the side protection is torn off with an awl and if lubricant is needed, it is added. It is important to try to fit the bearings onto the axle in their seats. If they are easy to put on by hand and there is a lot of play between the inner race and the axle, then the axle also needs to be replaced.

Next, the bearing is pressed into the bushing into its seat. This is done by lightly striking the hammer in a circle. Then the axle is inserted. Its long part should come out from the side of the ratchet. After the axle, the second bearing is also pressed in with a hammer.

To press the bearings to the end, if the axle inside is loose, the first pair of locknuts is tightened with wrenches with such force as to press them into the bushing. Then the locknuts are loosened a little so that the bearings are not pinched and the axle rotates freely.

A bushing is installed on the ratchet side and tightened with the next lock nut. A locknut is also installed on the second side of the axle and tightened. If, when checking the ease of rotation, the axle slows down, you need to slightly loosen the compression bearings of the nut.

Next, the ratchet with sprockets is screwed on and clamped with a puller with a key. After this, the wheel is installed back on the frame. If, when installing the axle, the frame stay needs to be compressed with nuts, then it is better to use washers, since it cannot be bent.