Hub servicing - degreaser?

[Sweep]

I often read that when servicing ball bearing hubs (cleaning, reinserting balls, adjusting etc) you should use a degreaser on all the bits - cups, cones, balls.

I have never bothered - it sounds like a lot of bother and fiddle with a nasty substance and I would then have to ensure that there were absolutely no traces at all of degreaser remaining before putting new grease in.

So I just clean away all the old grease, then refill with the same grease.

Is this wrong?

[alexnharvey]

I'm not sure, but it's very similar to what I do. I sometimes use a lighter oil/solvent mix (GT85/penetrating oil/brake cleaner) if it has been particularly gritty and I want to flush out contaminants.

[Pebble]

So I just clean away all the old grease, then refill with the same grease.

Is this wrong?

Hope not, because it is all I do.

I sometimes quite like to use a cloth that is a little damp with white spirit to finish off the cleaning bit. But will only resort to the spray on degreaser when stuff is caked in that black road gunge oil mixture. But even then will I try to be quite sparing with the stuff

[fastpedaller]

Similar to AH above, I've always just wiped the old stuff out and used a quick squirt of WD40 or similar and wiped again. I've never introduced a dedicated degreaser - not had any problems in over 40 years.

[NUKe]

Similar to AH above, I've always just wiped the old stuff out and used a quick squirt of WD40 or similar and wiped again. I've never introduced a dedicated degreaser - not had any problems in over 40 years.

Same as fastpedaller

[Jdsk]

Two tasks here: getting rid of the crud, and final clean before reassembly.

The first isn't usually too difficult and access is good and allows a good wipe. I've never needed acetone or similar.

For the second I suggest isopropanol, as for all cleaning that doesn't demand anything more aggressive or toxic.

The Hierarchy of Solvents
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7292&start=15#p1520512

Jonathan

[Sweep]

Similar to AH above, I've always just wiped the old stuff out and used a quick squirt of WD40 or similar and wiped again. I've never introduced a dedicated degreaser - not had any problems in over 40 years.

To you and others who use the odd squirt of wd40 or gt85 now and again, do you clean this away with water or do you just wipe it off and put the new grease in?
Must say I am very encouraged by replies so far. Can only think that lots of the book and online maintenance gurus must be quite anal. Or maybe they pay others to do their maintenance.

[531colin]

This thread from "technical, too good"..https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=34933
For a good 25 years I used to inject grease into my hubs annually. None wore out, so I guess fastidious removal of the "old" grease isn't really necessary?
Relatively recently I changed to Brucey's method**, only because the freewheel in a couple of Sachs Neos hubs dried out. (remember them?)
** semi-fluid grease driveside, regular grease nearside.

[pwa]

I am always wary of any unnecessary use of solvents / degreasers. If I can do a job without them I will. The main reason is that if you put solvent / degreaser in and don't get all of it out, whatever remains will attack the new grease. If I can clean out a hub satisfactorily with a bit of kitchen roll, that is what I do. This approach seems to work well so I have never given it any further thought.

[Sweep]

I am always wary of any unnecessary use of solvents / degreasers. If I can do a job without them I will. The main reason is that if you put solvent / degreaser in and don't get all of it out, whatever remains will attack the new grease. If I can clean out a hub satisfactorily with a bit of kitchen roll, that is what I do. This approach seems to work well so I have never given it any further thought.

My view as well - can't think what all these hub degreasing folk were up to - seem to recall that even the hallowed sheldon suggested degreasing. I too use a bit of clean kitchen roll and will now continue to, sleeping easy

[Jamesh]

I was away for two weeks in Wales and I forgot any dedicated lube so used Wilko teflon spray which I found quite good. stayed on the duration of the ride (up to 50 miles) which was reasonable. In all the wet weather we had.

Should pack with grease now though.

Cheers James

[peetee]

Do be wary if using solvent on Shimano rear hubs. On some the drive side bearing face is adjacent to the gap leading to the freewheel bearings.

[Brucey]

if dismantling then you can inspect and clean the parts. The purpose of cleaning is to

a) remove the old grease which may be contaminated and
b) clean well enough to allow the parts to be inspected.

'Perfect' cleaning is not required for either purpose. Even if you do a really rotten job of it and leave 10% of the old grease behind, consider that the hub probably spent ~90% of the time prior to this maintenance in a worse state than that.

I normally wipe grease out of the cups with tissues, and then if I need to inspect, a quick squirt with GT85 or similar, more wiping and the bearing surface is clean enough to be examined under a microscope if required.

So cleaning in solvents is pretty much a waste of time; unless the hub has blown up (eg shattered a ball bearing or two) then there won't be much really harmful rubbish left in any small amount of old grease.

You can test for this by taking a small amount of the old grease and then dissolving this in a small amount of solvent (a squirt of GT85 will do) and then fishing around with a magnet. If the magnet comes out covered in particles then you know something is up. Similarly ( and much more quickly) you may feel a gritty texture to the old grease between finger and thumb; this is never good!

Another time waste is removing hub dustcaps; IMHO this nearly always causes more trouble than it is worth.

As Colin's experience shows quite clearly, if good quality hubs are set up correctly and lubricated correctly, stripping them down is more or less a waste of time; 'nothing to see here' should be the outcome.

However in some older hubs (eg Maillard, Normandy etc) cracked cups are not uncommon; the combination of 'made to a price' and higher bearing loads in a hub for a screw on freewheel see to that.

cheers

[Sweep]

I was away for two weeks in Wales and I forgot any dedicated lube so used Wilko teflon spray which I found quite good. stayed on the duration of the ride (up to 50 miles) which was reasonable. In all the wet weather we had.

Should pack with grease now though.

Cheers James

Are you talking about hub internals?
The bearings?

[Brucey]

BTW the quickest way of cleaning steel balls is to wipe most of the grease off them, then whilst 'cupping' them in a clean tissue, give them a small squirt of GT85 (or similar) and wipe some more.

Needless to say if you use GT85 (or similar) whilst cleaning (eg by wiping), the solvent in it evaporates very quickly, and it leaves a film of oil behind (it is about 25% oil, by volume). Any sensible amount of residue from cleaning is unlikely to corrupt fresh grease, whereas (say) paraffin residue might, and this will take much longer to evaporate. Diesel might be (was?) the team mechanic's favourite chain cleaner but it is even worse so far as evaporation is concerned.

Kitchen roll is probably best (it is tougher) for wiping but I use cheap loo roll for cleaning parts such as these; I normally have at least a dozen rolls 'in stock' for this purpose, so when nutcases started panic-buying loo roll earlier this year, I wasn't in danger of running out anytime soon.

cheers