problem with wheel not spinning- better but need some advice please on axle size

[griff]

hello all

have been having some issues with the front wheel of my old banger - wheel was turning, but not spinning well at all
so have opened up the hub and given it a good degreasing/regreasing - same for the ball bearings

now it's all back together it's a little bit better, but only marginally - turns but still 'lumpy' if that makes sense?
bearings looked fine once I'd cleaned the old cack off them, but are these likely to be the problem? (ie will invisible wear to bearings have such a dramatic effect?) can get some more but wasn't sure if they are all standard size?

also would appreciate some advice on how tight to tighten the first cone nut? at first I did it up tight (thinking I needed to keep all the grease in) and it just stopped the wheel turning, then I loosened it off until the wheel turns as it does now...

thanks for any advice

[steve69]

Sounds like your ball bearings have flat spots, would be difficult to see unless they are really bad.
Or possibly not the correct amount of bearings in each side.
 

[ED209]

You don't need them crazy tight Griff... you need them to spin nicely with no play on the hub... sounds like you are just doing them up too tight.

You need the cone tight against the lock nut to stop it coming loose, but then should be loose enough to spin... have you got enough bearings in either side?

[pickle]

also did you check the surfaces of the bearing races?  if they're pitted the bearings will bind on them 

[griff]

surfaces of the cones looked ok, ball bearings looked fine too
definitely the same number went in as came out (13 each side and just enough to give a bit of room)

will try and slack off the nut later and see if that helps - cheers guys 

[ED209]

...will try and slack off the nut later and see if that helps...

always helps me relax... don't missed the tissues though 

[TwoBobRob]

Loose ball hubs can be a pain in the arse. The cones need to be as loose as humanly possible without there being any play.  Then you need to lock the nuts up nicely, that in turn can tighten the cones slightly, then you need to fit the wheel and do the wheel nuts up, and that can also squash everything just enough to tighten it all up again....

So....

Nip the cones up finger tight, or slightly less, then carefully lock the locknuts. Check again, everything needs to be free as a bird at this point, maybe even a micron or two of play. Then fit the wheel and do the wheelnuts up tight, giving the wheel a spin as you do.

There's a bit of trial and error involved - don't be surprised if you end up doing it a couple of times to get it right.

The bodgers amongst us have been known to do everything up as normal, and if it goes tight on you, force the cones back a smidge while its all fitted on the bike   

[griff]

  will be down the shed tomorrow for another go !

[griff]

so today have been building the mid-school mongoose back up

have made some progress, followed twobobrob's advice and loosened up the cone nut a bit before tightening the outer one
wheel seemed to spin nice but after tightening the wheel nut onto the fork it's gone a bit worse - now it seems to stiffen up after about half a turn 
since it went dark have not tried loosening it even further, but one thing I didn't want to do was loosen the outer nuts  although tbh I had to give the axles a bit of a belting to get them on the fork so could probably ride without even using them

when I got to the back wheel this need for violence with the front axles became clear - unlike the front, the back wheel I think is original to the bike and the axle, while looks bigger than 10mm was too small for the 14mm nuts/pegs I'd got for it (more like 12mm once I measured it) Is this a standard size? still new to this building lark and was not aware of a size other than 10 or 14mm 

[HEYWOOD BMX]

  12MM axles were around for a while.WeThePeople did some decent hubs in this size.Try CRC as they had some in stock for not a lot

[griff]

12MM axles were around for a while.WeThePeople did some decent hubs in this size.Try CRC as they had some in stock for not a lot

cheers mate - will try and find some nuts to go on temporarily so my bro can ride it at creation, but looking for a cheap pair of 14mm axle wheels now in wanted section
front is 14 already, but hubs are giving me grief
rear is (i think) 12mm hub, ok but no chance of finding pegs and I've got a pair of 14mm pegs coming already that should match the ones on the front