Campagnolo bearings front wheel

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breakwellmz
Posts: 1982
Joined: 8 May 2012, 9:33pm

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by breakwellmz »

Do Italian hubs really use imperial(`3/16" balls`),not metric,sized ball bearings?
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Mick F
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Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by Mick F »

Ball bearings - I believe - have always been Imperial, it's just that the diameter can be expressed in Metric.
Mick F. Cornwall
Brucey
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Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by Brucey »

All campag hubs I have taken apart have had 'con tollerenzia di un millesimo' balls in inch sizes.

3/16" is the usual front hub size, but some older hubs (e.g. Nuovo Record) used 7/32" instead, which is a trap for the unwary....

Only use the best quality balls (from a bearing suppliers or Campagnolo). Definitely not the ones in little plastic bags sold in bike shops; these are usually very low grade indeed.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drossall
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 10:01pm
Location: North Hertfordshire

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by drossall »

Reviving an old thread again, I know, but there's good stuff here that's helping.

I've been working on a Xenon front hub with loose bearings. It's paired with, and a decent visual match for, a Mirage rear from about 2000, although the Mirage had sealed bearings at that time. The Xenon bearings are fully loose, i.e. not in a race.

I can't find an exploded parts diagram for the Xenon in the Campagnolo support page. What I have found is pitting and corrosion, presumably from water ingress, on one side. Ideally I'd replace the cone, cup and bearings.

Most loose-bearing hubs seem to use the same HB-CH001 cup, HB-CH002 bearings and HB-CH004 cone. I may even take a chance on a couple of new HB-CH003 seals, assuming that I can get all these parts. I think I saw something somewhere suggesting that the same cups might even fit my Ultegra 6500 hubs.

However, how are cups changed? I had it done once in some Nuovo Tipo hubs, but I don't recall seeing the actual work. And can anyone find me that exploded diagram, in case Xenon hubs are too basic to take the same parts as the others?

If all else fails, I've got one or two hubs I could use in rebuilding the wheel!
Brucey
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Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by Brucey »

fitting new cups is easy; they can be driven in with a hammer and drift or wound in using studding.

Getting the old cups out is the main problem. If there is any of the cup edge exposed in the centre bore you can use a special extractor tool or a cranked drift to remove a cup. However if the old cups are wrecked anyway, you can use a more destructive method to remove them. If the edges of the old cup are not exposed the cup can be removed most easily by welding a decent sized bolt to the inside of the cup. This will give you something to clout and they normally come out pretty easy after that.

hth

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drossall
Posts: 6115
Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 10:01pm
Location: North Hertfordshire

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by drossall »

I've realised that a Wheels Manufacturing press will probably do the fitting - there's one in the bottom of my tool box :-)

Cyclus do a removal tool apparently. Interesting thread here too, but with the vital pictures missing.
drossall
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 10:01pm
Location: North Hertfordshire

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by drossall »

Bit late, but I bought the tool:
Bit late, but I bought the tool:
Here it is in action:
Here it is in action:
This is how it works - I assembled a cup onto the tool, without the hub, to be able to show how the tool fits the cup:
This is how it works - I assembled a cup onto the tool, without the hub, to be able to show how the tool fits the cup:
Old and new cups:
Old and new cups:
Hub with cup removed, ready for new cup
Hub with cup removed, ready for new cup
Last edited by drossall on 7 May 2021, 1:29pm, edited 1 time in total.
drossall
Posts: 6115
Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 10:01pm
Location: North Hertfordshire

Re: Campagnolo bearings front wheel

Post by drossall »

Fitting the new cup:
Fitting the new cup:
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