I received a Cosmic Carbon UST (Mavic hub with Instant Drive 360 freebody) from a customer.
This one was sent from a distance, but
before that there was a consultation about symptoms—
the freebody couldn't be pulled out by hand, and
the rear hub axle had left-right play.
The Instant Drive 360 uses a snap-fit structure
with no bearing cone adjustment like you'd get with threads,
so in normal circumstances there's no way lateral play should develop.
However, I actually knew of a case where lateral play appears
when the snap ring that engages the groove on the left end of the hub axle
somehow comes loose.
So I advised him to "suspect the snap ring," but...
In the end, it got sent to my shop.
Both sides are snap-fit ends.
The previous generation FTS-L freebody
has a bearing on the outside of the freebody—
(actually it's an unusual structure where the freebody has no bearing on the inside)
with an inner diameter of 9mm.
To accommodate a 12mm through-axle,
the hub axle naturally needs an inner diameter of 12mm,
and outer diameters of 15mm or 17mm.
These also become the bearing inner diameters for the hub body and freebody.
This hub can also be converted from quick-release to through-axle via snap-fit end replacement,
but since it's a rim brake wheel,
I doubt it would ever actually get converted to through-axle.
Besides the ease of through-axle conversion,
a characteristic of the Instant Drive 360 is its surface ratchet structure
similar to DT's Star Ratchet,
but the period in which this maintains initial performance is extremely short.
Considering the price and availability (or rather lack thereof) of the dedicated paste-type grease,
and the maintenance frequency needed to keep things ideal,
realistic operation isn't actually feasible.
In fact, most wheels that come in here
have their ratchet grease completely dried out.
So if you ask me, it's a defective specification.
I removed the left snap-fit end.
That's all I did—nothing else.
I shot from multiple angles because I was afraid of missing the shot.
The customer's letter said "the snap ring area seems to be properly assembled,"
but it turned out the problem was indeed that it wasn't properly assembled.
Even though I'd nailed both the cause and the solution,
the message didn't get through—it hits pretty hard emotionally,
but this isn't the first time, and won't be the last,
and honestly it happens fairly regularly.
Being confident the snap ring wasn't seated properly,
I gave it a light tap with a plastic hammer and
the hub axle with freebody came right out toward the right side.
↑Like this
A wave washer is wedged between the snap ring and bearing,
and due to its tension, it's genuinely difficult to
seat the snap ring in the groove.
↑Removed piece
The hub axle's left side has two grooves—
the inner one is for the O-ring right under the bearing,
the outer one is for the snap ring groove in question.
Since the freebody wouldn't pull out by hand,
I found that DT's tap-out tool fit just right,
so I attached it and
tapped it out.
There's some corrosion staining in the area under the bearing,
but the freebody was recently replaced at a nearby shop,
so the bearing itself isn't damaged.
Still, if the hub axle side is rusty and dirty, it can get close to seizure.
I wiped away the dirty grease.
Before
After
The C-ring on the right side of the hub axle that retains the right bearing of the hub body, and
the rubber O-ring on the left side of the hub axle, I temporarily removed
and polished as much as possible.
The interior of the hub was heavily rusted,
so I later asked the customer if he was using a high-pressure washer,
but he said he wasn't. Hmm.
The interior of the hub body is heavily rusted.
As it appears, the right side bearing of the hub body
seemed to have minimal damage, not requiring replacement at the time.
Or so I thought then.
As for the bearing seals, the hub body right side has
traces of being pried open—hard to see in the image, though.
There are ways to make it look like nothing happened, but...
This is the left side bearing of the hub body.
The seal shows evidence of being pried and is dented inward.
This bearing's rotation was rough and definitely needed replacement.
It says NTN TAIWAN SC03838LB, but
measuring the dimensions—inner diameter 17mm, outer diameter 28mm, thickness 7mm—
matches dimensions for 17287.
The "LB" suffix on the original bearing number
indicates non-contact type (contact type would be "LU"),
but the right bearing has an orange contact seal,
so I'm not sure if it's genuine manufacturer spec.
Either way, what I can source is non-contact type bearing.
↑Removed bearing
When I sprayed it with penetrating oil, rust juice kept coming out.
I had a bearing sent over.
I stock 15287 because it's used frequently,
but 17287 isn't used much, so I ordered just one.
The seal marking also says 17287, and
the size matches.
I properly installed the wave washer and snap ring
on the left side of the hub axle.
As for the left snap-fit end, it fits deeply into the thin section at the back
like this.
When the freebody gets stuck and won't come out,
from the wheel's left side you'd bang on the sprocket's low gear area—
that's when I think the snap ring can slip off and end up touching the snap-fit end.
In that state, the hub axle would have left-right play.
Looking back at the earlier image, you can see that
with the left snap-fit end just removed,
the snap ring isn't in the groove but is sitting
in the same position as the image above.
On the hub body right side, judging by the condition inside,
the waterproof dust seal that isn't really doing its job—
I removed it.
I quickly wiped away the dirty grease.
The notch in the C-ring that retains the ratchet platform
became visible, so
I removed the C-ring and
also removed the ratchet platform, and
the hub body that only has the right bearing press-fit,
I cleaned as thoroughly as possible.
I pressed in the left bearing.
What I realized afterward was that once this side was new,
the right bearing's minimal damage became more noticeable.
But this time I didn't replace the right bearing.
If I'd sourced two or more bearings, I might have
replaced both sides after consulting with the customer.
As for the snap ring,
I've pinched its shape to increase the retention fit when installing.
Actually, the original state must have been more spread open than it should be.
Here, first I installed the parts on the left side of the hub axle,
then threaded it through the hub body and
attempted to install by sliding the C-ring that contacts the right bearing inner race
but it didn't fit.
At this point incidentally, the hub axle moves within the range shown in the image above.
After installing the right C-ring and
threading the hub axle through from the right side of the hub body,
I installed the snap ring.
↑If the hub axle moves left-right in this state,
the snap ring isn't properly seated.
Of course, in the state shown in the image above, there's no lateral play.
There were numerous foreign objects inside the rim, and the wheel made noise when shaken,
so I tried to remove them without peeling off the rim tape,
but the valve nut had been tightened with tools, not just by hand, and
wouldn't budge with hand strength alone.
That means if you got a puncture that sealant can't prevent out on the road,
switching to tubed would become impossible.
Unless you're regularly carrying a wrench long enough to stick out of your jersey pocket.
Once I loosened it with pliers, the threads were damaged on the nut side only,
and a regular brass valve nut slid right on,
so I replaced it later.
The tubeless performance is unaffected even so.
Not to this degree, but
there was a ton of debris crammed inside the rim.
The peaks of Mavic's surface ratchet—
This one was sent from a distance, but
before that there was a consultation about symptoms—
the freebody couldn't be pulled out by hand, and
the rear hub axle had left-right play.
The Instant Drive 360 uses a snap-fit structure
with no bearing cone adjustment like you'd get with threads,
so in normal circumstances there's no way lateral play should develop.
However, I actually knew of a case where lateral play appears
when the snap ring that engages the groove on the left end of the hub axle
somehow comes loose.
So I advised him to "suspect the snap ring," but...
In the end, it got sent to my shop.
Both sides are snap-fit ends.
The previous generation FTS-L freebody
has a bearing on the outside of the freebody—
(actually it's an unusual structure where the freebody has no bearing on the inside)
with an inner diameter of 9mm.
To accommodate a 12mm through-axle,
the hub axle naturally needs an inner diameter of 12mm,
and outer diameters of 15mm or 17mm.
These also become the bearing inner diameters for the hub body and freebody.
This hub can also be converted from quick-release to through-axle via snap-fit end replacement,
but since it's a rim brake wheel,
I doubt it would ever actually get converted to through-axle.
Besides the ease of through-axle conversion,
a characteristic of the Instant Drive 360 is its surface ratchet structure
similar to DT's Star Ratchet,
but the period in which this maintains initial performance is extremely short.
Considering the price and availability (or rather lack thereof) of the dedicated paste-type grease,
and the maintenance frequency needed to keep things ideal,
realistic operation isn't actually feasible.
In fact, most wheels that come in here
have their ratchet grease completely dried out.
So if you ask me, it's a defective specification.
I removed the left snap-fit end.
That's all I did—nothing else.
I shot from multiple angles because I was afraid of missing the shot.
The customer's letter said "the snap ring area seems to be properly assembled,"
but it turned out the problem was indeed that it wasn't properly assembled.
Even though I'd nailed both the cause and the solution,
the message didn't get through—it hits pretty hard emotionally,
but this isn't the first time, and won't be the last,
and honestly it happens fairly regularly.
Being confident the snap ring wasn't seated properly,
I gave it a light tap with a plastic hammer and
the hub axle with freebody came right out toward the right side.
↑Like this
A wave washer is wedged between the snap ring and bearing,
and due to its tension, it's genuinely difficult to
seat the snap ring in the groove.
↑Removed piece
The hub axle's left side has two grooves—
the inner one is for the O-ring right under the bearing,
the outer one is for the snap ring groove in question.
Since the freebody wouldn't pull out by hand,
I found that DT's tap-out tool fit just right,
so I attached it and
tapped it out.
There's some corrosion staining in the area under the bearing,
but the freebody was recently replaced at a nearby shop,
so the bearing itself isn't damaged.
Still, if the hub axle side is rusty and dirty, it can get close to seizure.
I wiped away the dirty grease.
Before
After
The C-ring on the right side of the hub axle that retains the right bearing of the hub body, and
the rubber O-ring on the left side of the hub axle, I temporarily removed
and polished as much as possible.
The interior of the hub was heavily rusted,
so I later asked the customer if he was using a high-pressure washer,
but he said he wasn't. Hmm.
The interior of the hub body is heavily rusted.
As it appears, the right side bearing of the hub body
seemed to have minimal damage, not requiring replacement at the time.
Or so I thought then.
As for the bearing seals, the hub body right side has
traces of being pried open—hard to see in the image, though.
There are ways to make it look like nothing happened, but...
This is the left side bearing of the hub body.
The seal shows evidence of being pried and is dented inward.
This bearing's rotation was rough and definitely needed replacement.
It says NTN TAIWAN SC03838LB, but
measuring the dimensions—inner diameter 17mm, outer diameter 28mm, thickness 7mm—
matches dimensions for 17287.
The "LB" suffix on the original bearing number
indicates non-contact type (contact type would be "LU"),
but the right bearing has an orange contact seal,
so I'm not sure if it's genuine manufacturer spec.
Either way, what I can source is non-contact type bearing.
↑Removed bearing
When I sprayed it with penetrating oil, rust juice kept coming out.
I had a bearing sent over.
I stock 15287 because it's used frequently,
but 17287 isn't used much, so I ordered just one.
The seal marking also says 17287, and
the size matches.
I properly installed the wave washer and snap ring
on the left side of the hub axle.
As for the left snap-fit end, it fits deeply into the thin section at the back
like this.
When the freebody gets stuck and won't come out,
from the wheel's left side you'd bang on the sprocket's low gear area—
that's when I think the snap ring can slip off and end up touching the snap-fit end.
In that state, the hub axle would have left-right play.
Looking back at the earlier image, you can see that
with the left snap-fit end just removed,
the snap ring isn't in the groove but is sitting
in the same position as the image above.
On the hub body right side, judging by the condition inside,
the waterproof dust seal that isn't really doing its job—
I removed it.
I quickly wiped away the dirty grease.
The notch in the C-ring that retains the ratchet platform
became visible, so
I removed the C-ring and
also removed the ratchet platform, and
the hub body that only has the right bearing press-fit,
I cleaned as thoroughly as possible.
I pressed in the left bearing.
What I realized afterward was that once this side was new,
the right bearing's minimal damage became more noticeable.
But this time I didn't replace the right bearing.
If I'd sourced two or more bearings, I might have
replaced both sides after consulting with the customer.
As for the snap ring,
I've pinched its shape to increase the retention fit when installing.
Actually, the original state must have been more spread open than it should be.
Here, first I installed the parts on the left side of the hub axle,
then threaded it through the hub body and
attempted to install by sliding the C-ring that contacts the right bearing inner race
but it didn't fit.
At this point incidentally, the hub axle moves within the range shown in the image above.
After installing the right C-ring and
threading the hub axle through from the right side of the hub body,
I installed the snap ring.
↑If the hub axle moves left-right in this state,
the snap ring isn't properly seated.
Of course, in the state shown in the image above, there's no lateral play.
There were numerous foreign objects inside the rim, and the wheel made noise when shaken,
so I tried to remove them without peeling off the rim tape,
but the valve nut had been tightened with tools, not just by hand, and
wouldn't budge with hand strength alone.
That means if you got a puncture that sealant can't prevent out on the road,
switching to tubed would become impossible.
Unless you're regularly carrying a wrench long enough to stick out of your jersey pocket.
Once I loosened it with pliers, the threads were damaged on the nut side only,
and a regular brass valve nut slid right on,
so I replaced it later.
The tubeless performance is unaffected even so.
Not to this degree, but
there was a ton of debris crammed inside the rim.
The peaks of Mavic's surface ratchet—
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