A customer dropped off the rear wheel from a WH-6800 for service.
There's an odd squealing noise coming from the rear hub.
When I removed it from the frame and tried to rotate it by hand, the hub axle wouldn't turn.
I thought maybe the bearing adjustment was overtightened, but
this rear hub's digital ratchet isn't really designed to be adjusted that way.
Then I noticed something — rotating the hub axle backward was possible, though stiff,
but rotating it forward was nearly impossible by hand.
This is... I've seen this before (→here) — same symptoms.
Sure enough, the freewheel body's dust seal was installed backward.
↑This is a brand new FH-6800 rear hub with the axle removed.
I happened to have one nearby, so I showed the customer.
Fixed.
In the case from the link, the customer attempted an overhaul and failed, so that's fine,
but this work was done at a multi-location shop chain.
They supposedly did a spoke truing while they were doing the hub overhaul,
but given how recently this was done, the wheel runout is way too large,
there are places where spoke nipples were twisted,
and there's lateral centering issues too.
I checked the front wheel as well, and it's basically perfect — no runout, spot-on centering.
The rear hub seal was dragging,
causing the axle to have nearly immovable resistance by hand
and creating that squealing noise.
The customer brought it back to that shop three times saying "this is definitely wrong,"
but they kept telling her "it's supposed to be like this,"
so she came to us instead.
To be given three chances to correct your mistake and miss every single one of them.
If you touch the hub axle, there's just no way you wouldn't notice something's clearly off,
but it's pointless telling that to someone who doesn't notice it.
There's an odd squealing noise coming from the rear hub.
When I removed it from the frame and tried to rotate it by hand, the hub axle wouldn't turn.
I thought maybe the bearing adjustment was overtightened, but
this rear hub's digital ratchet isn't really designed to be adjusted that way.
Then I noticed something — rotating the hub axle backward was possible, though stiff,
but rotating it forward was nearly impossible by hand.
This is... I've seen this before (→here) — same symptoms.
Sure enough, the freewheel body's dust seal was installed backward.
↑This is a brand new FH-6800 rear hub with the axle removed.
I happened to have one nearby, so I showed the customer.
Fixed.
In the case from the link, the customer attempted an overhaul and failed, so that's fine,
but this work was done at a multi-location shop chain.
They supposedly did a spoke truing while they were doing the hub overhaul,
but given how recently this was done, the wheel runout is way too large,
there are places where spoke nipples were twisted,
and there's lateral centering issues too.
I checked the front wheel as well, and it's basically perfect — no runout, spot-on centering.
The rear hub seal was dragging,
causing the axle to have nearly immovable resistance by hand
and creating that squealing noise.
The customer brought it back to that shop three times saying "this is definitely wrong,"
but they kept telling her "it's supposed to be like this,"
so she came to us instead.
To be given three chances to correct your mistake and miss every single one of them.
If you touch the hub axle, there's just no way you wouldn't notice something's clearly off,
but it's pointless telling that to someone who doesn't notice it.