A customer dropped off the rear wheel of a Nomu Lab Wheel No. 5 with me.
There was one spot with runout that just wouldn't come out,
so they took it to a nearby shop and were told the rim might need replacing.
Since you can relocate the rim even with the spokes still laced,
they could've actually gone ahead and done it instead of just saying "maybe we should replace it"?
Though I suppose when I fix it here, it ends up being cheaper than shipping from far away.
They'd marked three white dots on the spots where the runout was worst.
↑Like these
At the edges of those three dots on the outer rim surface,
there's an area where the brake shoe doesn't make contact, so it's less dirty,
and the rim's bead hook was slightly deformed.
↑When you hold a straightedge against it, it looks like this
↑And where there's no deformation, it looks like this
Relocating the rim in progress...
After moving the rim, I started on the wheel building, but
when I grabbed the hub on the truing stand, the rim rattled.
The axle nuts on both ends of the hub weren't loose,
and when I pushed on both ends of the hub with my thumb,
there was no left-right play.
But when I put it on the truing stand, play appeared.
So when it was mounted on the frame with a quick release,
there must've been play around the hub axis, like the range of motion of a pedal cleat.
The obvious runout is from rim deformation, but
the sideways runout appearing in other phases is largely due to
this hub play.
I'm not saying there was no runout at all.
When I spin the hub axle by hand,
I hear a loud, distinct grinding sound.
It's clear a bearing somewhere has gone bad.
Since it shows up in rim runout, it's almost certainly
a bearing on the hub body side, not the freebody.
Also, this wheel has a history of the freebody pawl slipping,
so the freebody was replaced.
The spline where the sprocket mounts has shallow bite marks,
and the freebody looks clean, so it's unlikely the freebody bearing is the problem.
When I removed the freebody, the bearing on the right side of the hub body was
covered in buildup—a mix of rust residue, grease, and dust—
so much that it hid the seal.
The pawl side of the freebody is pretty rough with secondary rust,
but the freebody bearing itself is fine.
The Evolite hub has 15267 bearings on the right side and 6802 on the left,
and the smaller 6802 is more prone to wear.
In the normal installation where both are in contact with the axle,
if the rotation is grinding, you can't tell which bearing is bad
(though sometimes both are, or one side is damaged but not quite bad enough to replace).
Usually I pull the 6802, but
this time I pulled the 15267.
As it turned out, the 6802 showed no signs of damage, and
once I replaced the 15267, the hub axle
spun silently and smoothly.
I replaced the seal between the hub body and freebody and the anti-rotation spacer—
parts that normally aren't sold individually
but that we have on hand.
I cleaned the freebody pawls and spring as much as possible and reinstalled them.
With the hub play gone,
I could finally build the wheel, but
I forgot to take a photo after reassembling.
The installed sprocket was
mid-grade or lower, the type with pins sticking inward.
The spacer for converting 11-speed freebodies to 8, 9, or 10-speed
doesn't accommodate this, and though it doesn't look like it in the photo,
the lockring tightening can cause it to ripple and deform, plus
strictly speaking it affects shift adjustment positioning, so
↑I swapped it for a compatible version.
The contact point between the pin's inner protrusion and the spacer
The outer side of the pin has no protrusion.
Depending on the grade, some have hex sockets in the pin heads
and can be disassembled with an Allen wrench,
but this one is crimped.
There was one spot with runout that just wouldn't come out,
so they took it to a nearby shop and were told the rim might need replacing.
Since you can relocate the rim even with the spokes still laced,
they could've actually gone ahead and done it instead of just saying "maybe we should replace it"?
Though I suppose when I fix it here, it ends up being cheaper than shipping from far away.
They'd marked three white dots on the spots where the runout was worst.
↑Like these
At the edges of those three dots on the outer rim surface,
there's an area where the brake shoe doesn't make contact, so it's less dirty,
and the rim's bead hook was slightly deformed.
↑When you hold a straightedge against it, it looks like this
↑And where there's no deformation, it looks like this
Relocating the rim in progress...
After moving the rim, I started on the wheel building, but
when I grabbed the hub on the truing stand, the rim rattled.
The axle nuts on both ends of the hub weren't loose,
and when I pushed on both ends of the hub with my thumb,
there was no left-right play.
But when I put it on the truing stand, play appeared.
So when it was mounted on the frame with a quick release,
there must've been play around the hub axis, like the range of motion of a pedal cleat.
The obvious runout is from rim deformation, but
the sideways runout appearing in other phases is largely due to
this hub play.
I'm not saying there was no runout at all.
When I spin the hub axle by hand,
I hear a loud, distinct grinding sound.
It's clear a bearing somewhere has gone bad.
Since it shows up in rim runout, it's almost certainly
a bearing on the hub body side, not the freebody.
Also, this wheel has a history of the freebody pawl slipping,
so the freebody was replaced.
The spline where the sprocket mounts has shallow bite marks,
and the freebody looks clean, so it's unlikely the freebody bearing is the problem.
When I removed the freebody, the bearing on the right side of the hub body was
covered in buildup—a mix of rust residue, grease, and dust—
so much that it hid the seal.
The pawl side of the freebody is pretty rough with secondary rust,
but the freebody bearing itself is fine.
The Evolite hub has 15267 bearings on the right side and 6802 on the left,
and the smaller 6802 is more prone to wear.
In the normal installation where both are in contact with the axle,
if the rotation is grinding, you can't tell which bearing is bad
(though sometimes both are, or one side is damaged but not quite bad enough to replace).
Usually I pull the 6802, but
this time I pulled the 15267.
As it turned out, the 6802 showed no signs of damage, and
once I replaced the 15267, the hub axle
spun silently and smoothly.
I replaced the seal between the hub body and freebody and the anti-rotation spacer—
parts that normally aren't sold individually
but that we have on hand.
I cleaned the freebody pawls and spring as much as possible and reinstalled them.
With the hub play gone,
I could finally build the wheel, but
I forgot to take a photo after reassembling.
The installed sprocket was
mid-grade or lower, the type with pins sticking inward.
The spacer for converting 11-speed freebodies to 8, 9, or 10-speed
doesn't accommodate this, and though it doesn't look like it in the photo,
the lockring tightening can cause it to ripple and deform, plus
strictly speaking it affects shift adjustment positioning, so
↑I swapped it for a compatible version.
The contact point between the pin's inner protrusion and the spacer
The outer side of the pin has no protrusion.
Depending on the grade, some have hex sockets in the pin heads
and can be disassembled with an Allen wrench,
but this one is crimped.