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Hi All,

So... i have one of these http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/FH/EV-FH-M785-3174_v1_m56577569830753751.pdf

... and last week My ride came to a sudden undignified halt.. as the rear wheel went... squeesqueesquee STUCK!

I have a theory that the cone/locknut weren't tight from the factory and consequently came lose, with the effect of the cone tightening iteself onto the bearings as the wheel span round.

Co-incidentaly, the front was also loose, but this deveolped play instead of tightening as the axle was the other way round (i think).

Anyhow, I've tried to take it to bits but am stuck - the cone nut on the non drive side is tighty on the axle; and any attempt to loosen it just results in the axle spinning. I thought (from the diagram) the non drive side was supposed to be fixed; so I used that to try and stop the axle spinning, with the result that the locknut came off that side too..

So.. i have the axle, no locknuts either side, with only the non-drive side cone nut accessible - the other side is under the freehub which needs the axle off before you can remove it.

I've tried wrapping the axle in rubber and holding it with pliers, but that didn't work. I also torqued the locknut on the opposite side down as much as i could; and that didnt help...

anyone have any other ideas? The only things I can think of now are tending towards destroying the axle. I notice they make axle vices but I'm not sure if i'll get any more torque with those than i will with my pliers - there's not a huge amount of axle accessible from the freehub side.

You need a vice with a set of soft jaws. Its the only way to do it... your lbs should charge no more than 10-15 quid to do it for you.... I would say come see me and ill do it as a favour for ya but im a bit far from southend..

You should only need to undo one cone, the axle should then pull through the other side? Be prepared to catch the bearings as they drop out!

Sent using the force...

Ive taken apart my Saint hubs, you just need the right size spanners etc, there are some special thin ones that fit the inner hub bit I recall, you can buy new bearing and grease on Ebay, etc..bit of a pain though,especially when tiny bearings roll across the floor, I've got Superstar ones now which has easier to replace sealed bearings.

What Jon said

Nutsy, I'm in Benfleet if that's any help to you?

Sent using the force...

Thanks all for the replies - think tom had the best advice - sorry to the others, i obv spent too much time ranting on and didn't explain clearly :

The drive side cone is inaccessible until the freehub is removed (by taking out axle) - and the non-drive side is jammed tight against the bearing and won't undo with a cone spanner (the axle just spins when you turn the cone and theres nothing on the other side to stop it turning).

Thanks for all the offers of help - harlow is a bit of a trek so will see if the LBS has the appropriate tools!

So.. took to the bike shop; who put it in their special axle vice and then said 'that's very tight' but got it undone with a bit of jiggery pokery. No charge either, top marks to them.

Gave the bearings a quick visual, coudln't spot anything obviously wrong; decided to briefley reassemble and hope for the best, works ok, but doesn't feel as smooth as i think it should be! so will have to properly dissasemble when i have some time and see if i can figure out whats going on...

Cones are hyper sensitive try backing the loose one off a little then slowly spin the axle and tighten the cone with your finger at the same time, when you feel resistance back it off a little and then tighten and loosen in a back and forth motion until you get smooth spinning

Sent using the force...

So... for those of you who were having sleepless nights wondering what happened to this in the end (or is that just me?) - i took it for a ride, didnt feel right and then developed lots of play by the end of the ride.

I duly took it to peices again and found the play to be in the freehub... then the freehub came off in my hands... then i realised the freehub thread was missing! no way to fix that without either pressing a new bit in or buying a new hub and rebuilding the wheel.

Took it back to LBS, who took it to bits, then sent it off to shimano a couple of weeks ago. So, my rear wheel is currently doing a world tour without me as far as I can tell... I'm expecting to start getting polaroids through the door with pictures of it in front of the wonders of the world, or partying somewhere...

Has anyone converted a hardtail into a unicycle? I'm starting to wonder.....

Danbury was weeks ago.
Don't they have another hub in shop to replace?

I don't want to say I told you so but Should have gone to NickTKS.
He replaced bearing & freehub for me.

Not spam but some of these LBS are shocking and over priced.

To be fair to them it was a manufacturing issue.. and they obviously need to get authorisation for repair from cube/shimano! and it may be that they wont authorise it without seeing it... and it was also a couple of weeks before I took it in!

wouldn't expect the bike shop to replace the hub at their cost.. not their fault! retail is hard enough as it is! If i was buying a new hub fair enough but they haven't really seen a penny of my money so far

Hahaha brilliant

Lol!