Problem with rear wheel binding

[BristolViking]

Hopefully I'm posting in the right section. The bike in question is a Scott Aspect 970 (2018) 29", with quick release wheels.

After a longer than usual ride home from work (blooming roadworks everywhere) I noticed my back wheel felt like it was starting to drag a little, gradually getting worse. Parked up for the night, planning to check and work on it this morning.

Upon inspection, I seem to have found the culprits:

Exhibit A. Stripped nut from rh qr spindle

Exhibit B. Galling and depression ground out of bearing suface

Exhibit C. These threads are definitely worn

Any suggestions about repairing this would be greatly appreciated. I'll admit I've been not the best at cleaning or maintaining my bikes over the years, but I know enough to know when to ask for help. I can provide more photos if required.

[gaz]

Welcome to the forum.

Out of the frame, does the wheel spin freely on its axle?

[531colin]

Welcome to the forum.

Out of the frame, does the wheel spin freely on its axle?

My guess is "no"
I think the picture is the left dropout with disc caliper mounting holes
I think (in any order?)
The right locknut has stripped
the right cone has precessed and locked up the wheel bearing
the left locknut has gouged out the dropout

[BristolViking]

Thanks for your replies. It turns freely out of the frame. The right side doesn't appear to have a cone like the left does ("between" the brake disc and the securing nut.)

you wouldn't be surprised to hear I've had more then my fair share of the biscuit barrel while thinking this one through.

On another note, 5mm hex keys make for excellent ear scratchers.

[531colin]

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/hub-overhaul-and-adjustment
The steel "cones" inside the hub, which make up part of the bearing.
There are plenty of other sites with maintenance stuff, and you tube as well.
I think you have a screw-on freewheel, rather than a freehub.
(Google! ...or Park tools, or you tube....)

[gaz]

FWIW I agree with everything 531Colin's posted. Whilst I can picture the axle rotating around a quick release skewer, I am surprised that the wheel spins freely on its axle.

If you have a community bike workshop or similar nearby I'd suggest that you take it along to them for some advice.

[Brucey]

I agree something is up with the hub, probably as Colin suggests the RH cone has precessed inwards and has intermittently caused the hub to bind. FWIW if this has happened it may just need new axle parts but the hub itself may be toast; often the RH 'cup' bearing part in the hub will start to crack up. Other nasties that can happen are that the axle breaks in half.


To inspect the parts you need ideally to remove the freewheel so that you can inspect the RH hub bearing properly. However there is a chance that the bearings are so badly mangled that you don't need to remove the freewheel to see the damage. This being the case it is best to use a 17mm spanner and a cone spanner (probably 15mm) to loosen the LH cone and locknut (under the rubber cover near the disc) and withdraw the axle rightwards. Check the axle to make sure it is straight and crack-free, check the cones balls and cups for damage. When rebuilding the hub, lock the RH cone and locknut against one another (pref with Loctite under the cone so the locking is more or less permanent) and do all adjustments on the LH side. If you need a new axle do bear in mind that the cones which come with the new axle may not match the cups in your hub; the best arrangement if you have a broken axle is to get one with identical threading and to use the original cones (if they are serviceable).

From your pictures it looks as if the freewheel is worn anyway so a new chain and freewheel wouldn't hurt; they are consumables after all. If the hub is knackered I would recommend getting a new hub (or a new wheel containing a new hub) but make it a cassette hub instead of one that accepts a screw-on freewheel.

cheers

[531colin]

Brucey, as ever, is so much more concise than I could even think of writing it.
One thing, did you have on the right side two locknuts? It looks from your photos that you had one with no thread with the serrations intact, and another (photo with it still on the axle) with the serrations worn and presumably with a working thread? If that's the case, then assemble with the threadless "nut" between the bearing cone and the functioning locknut.
(But it calls into question precession?)

[zenitb]

(all good advice from brucey, gaz and colin above BTW..this is just my additional rant/view of the world)

You spend £400 on a bike and they give you a rear wheel with a FREEWHEEL not a freehub!!?? Ye gods!! Do they sell tank tops and LPs as well? Seriously that really is penny pinching on a bike of that price - shame on you Scott!!! If there is any way of dumping the bike back to the bike shop to repair I would do it on principle.

Failing that Decathlon do a suitable rear wheel with proper freehub for 40 notes plus you could buy an 8 speed cassette for £12 (only 7 of these speeds would engage though unless you upgraded the right hand shifter to 8 speed as well). In my view 1970s style screw on freewheels should be relegated to some dark forgotton page of cycling history...where they belong.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/29-rear-mtb ... 06123.html

[slowster]

According to Evans' specification for the bike, it has a Formula DC-31 rear hub, i.e. like this one. I thought therefore that the hub bearings would be cartridge bearings, since I understood that cup and cone bearings are now largely the preserve of just Shimano.*

I think that beneath the non-drive side lock nut is a plastic(?) 'cone shaped' dust cover (not an actual bearing cone) which presumably simply comes off to expose the cartridge bearing* on that side.

I assumed that the bearings on one or both sides must be kaputt for the axle to seize and rotate in the dropouts, with the rotating lock nut damaging the inside face of the drop out as the axle rotated, until the lock nut stopped rotating once its thread had been stripped by the rotating axle.

* Edit - I should have checked Google more thoroughly before posting, because I see that at least some Formula hubs use cup and cone bearings.

[Brucey]

the link pretty clearly shows a cup and cone hub.

Yes the rubber cover just pulls off the LHS of the hub to expose the cone and locknut.

cheers

[BristolViking]

One thing, did you have on the right side two locknuts? It looks from your photos that you had one with no thread with the serrations intact, and another (photo with it still on the axle) with the serrations worn and presumably with a working thread? If that's the case, then assemble with the threadless "nut" between the bearing cone and the functioning locknut.

I had removed the locknut to demonstrate the lack of thread. I intend to purchase a new wheelset in the morning, along with replacement parts to fix the damage done here (long term project)

[BristolViking]

You spend £400 on a bike and they give you a rear wheel with a FREEWHEEL not a freehub!!?? Ye gods!! Do they sell tank tops and LPs as well? Seriously that really is penny pinching on a bike of that price - shame on you Scott!!! If there is any way of dumping the bike back to the bike shop to repair I would do it on principle.

Purchased on my work's ride to work scheme, its the most I've paid for a bike. Not a happy bunny.

[zenitb]

You spend £400 on a bike and they give you a rear wheel with a FREEWHEEL not a freehub!!?? Ye gods!! Do they sell tank tops and LPs as well? Seriously that really is penny pinching on a bike of that price - shame on you Scott!!! If there is any way of dumping the bike back to the bike shop to repair I would do it on principle.

Purchased on my work's ride to work scheme, its the most I've paid for a bike. Not a happy bunny.

On the positive side a good bikeshop should be able to fix the existing wheel quite cheaply I would have thought. ..

[peetee]

I am not sure that 7 speed cassette hubs are still available. IME there are still a lot of 7 speed bikes out there that have been made recently and all have screw on blocks. To be fair destruction in such a manner is more likely to be due to poor axle assembly/quality than poor design. We managed for decades on these things back in the dim and distant.