Fitting Hub Cartridge Bearings

[drossall]

Can you get those from a UK source?

I've looked at the bearing press from the same place. It's more affordable than the drifts you need to use with it. However, couldn't you use the old bearing as a drift?

[Valbrona]

The cartridge bearing extractors available in the UK are mostly of the sizes for automotive applications. For old bearings to be used as a drift on the spindle of the press the inner diameter of the bearing would have to match the diameter of the spindle, and the inner diameter of cartridge bearings differs on account of different hub axle sizes. However, a bearing press could be easily made by someone with the right skills. There are lots of DIY-type headset presses on eBay based around threaded rod.

Wheels Mfg do sell the drifts as separate items.

[jackg]

28mm and 22mm copper pipe.
A length of 28mm is ideal for fitting the crown race on a headset.

[Mick F]

Yes, I've used copper tube too - also fittings.
I pushed my fork headset fitting onto the shoulder using a 28mm Yorkshire T piece.

I still say that fitting the cartridge bearings is easy. It's taking the old ones out first that's problematical. Fitting them you can use a variety of methods and drifts, but getting the first one out can be difficult.

[hamster]

I think the bearings alone cost me £25 - plus an awful lot of bother sourcing the correct ones, getting the old ones out etc. That's before I got the new ones in.

I bet you got them from a bike shop. Measure them up and go to a bearing supplier instead - good ones are £3-4 ish maximum, cheap ones more like £1-2.

[Mick F]

Nope.
Good ones are more than £4 max.

Price 'em up if you want.
http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/deep_g ... choice.php
Probably around the £8 mark or more each.

[hamster]

SKF 6001 2RS from my local trading estate supplier for my Hopes were £3; loose ball bearings (best grade he had, nothing that special) 4p each.

[Mick F]

Good bit of info.
Without pulling mine out from my spare wheels, what size are they?

I put SKF bearings in my BB a few months ago and it cost a deal more than £3 each!
More like £12 each!
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=76366

[Mick F]

Just checked my Campag bearings on Simply Bearings website.
Budget £2.39
FAG £3.76
SKF £3.88

inclusive of VAT and free delivery.

Far cheaper than I would have expected.

[Milfred Cubicle]

I've found the best way is to use an old q.r. skewer, along with a selection of washers and the old bearings. Use the old bearings on the faces of the new bearings, pass the q.r. through the middke of it all, and repeatedly tighten and close the skewer to apply inward pressure. I do each side seperately just to keep it square. Far more control than a wallop with a mallet.

[Sweep]

I think the bearings alone cost me £25 - plus an awful lot of bother sourcing the correct ones, getting the old ones out etc. That's before I got the new ones in.

I bet you got them from a bike shop. Measure them up and go to a bearing supplier instead - good ones are £3-4 ish maximum, cheap ones more like £1-2.

Actually Hamster I got them from a bearing shop.

The old ones had no markings and so the bearing shop measured them.

I had to replace them because the old bearings just collapsed and it was impossible to get the wheel tightened in the forks so that it didn't move side to side.

From this thread it's clear that most folks are far more technically able than me but I can't say I've read anything that has changed my idea that I am better off without cartridge bearings.

Caution - my experience of cartridge bearings has been from a Dahon bike and anyone who knows Dahons knows that they can be somewhat problematical to put it mildly.

I have twice had the cartridge bearings on this bike's headset just disintagrate, making the front just flop around and the bike effectively made unrideable.

[drossall]

I took a bit of convincing. They are less intuitive to service than traditional bearings, and throwing away the entire bearing unit each time is a bit wasteful. On the other hand, it's not a hard job once you've done it a few times, and you don't get the effect whereby a damaged bearing surface means throwing away an entire, and otherwise good, wheel.