A friend of one of my customers (so to speak) brought in
the rear wheel of a ZIPP 303S.
Actually, it wasn't just the rear wheel—they brought the whole bike in.
Maybe they were nervous about coming to the shop alone,
so they came with an old acquaintance of mine.
Anyway, that's beside the point.
The sprocket (technically the freebody) was wildly eccentric,
and when I spun the hub axle between my fingers, it made a grinding noise.
The bearings inside the freebody had deteriorated from rust and wear,
causing the inner race to wobble relative to the outer race.
It was so bad that the shifting was apparently messed up too.
The usual shop they go to couldn't fix it,
so through this customer's (so to speak) connection, they brought it to us.
When they said they couldn't fix it,
what they meant was "the freebody wouldn't come out."
There's probably a rust ring that formed through oxide transfer right below the rusted bearings on the hub axle.
The quick-release end came out fine,
but the lock rings for both the sprocket and rotor were interfering with the flange of the quick-release end, so I removed those first.
Using a reasonable impact method,
I tapped the hub axle with the freebody out toward the right side.
Water droplets remained inside the hub body.
The hub axle also had water droplets on it.
Around the freebody pawls, the oil had emulsified when mixed with water,
and dirt was mixed in.
※I received a comment pointing out that emulsified was coming through as "incoming stock," so I've corrected it.
The bearings on the freebody aren't both pressed in from the outside—
the inner one is pressed from the inside and the outer one from the outside.
I forgot to mention, but unlike the early Tactac Racing or Neumen freebodies,
there was also a long spacer in contact with the inner races between the two bearings.
There's a rust ring from oxide transfer right below the bearing
on the freebody side of the hub axle.
It's hard to see, but slightly inward from that (lower left in the image)
there's a thin line mark and further inward some trace of a bearing in better condition.
This tells us that—
After the bearing on the right side of the freebody,
I install a spacer to prevent the freebody from bottoming out
(ultra-critical component),
then the freebody goes in next,
so the thin spacer ends up sandwiched between two bearings.
The rust bonding in this area was so strong
that the freebody wouldn't come out easily.
By the way, the image above was just for documentation—
I cleaned everything afterward.
After replacing the bearings, cleaning the pawl area parts,
and greasing everything, I reinstalled the freebody.
↑Replaced bearings
Only the bearing on the left side of the hub body wasn't damaged enough to require replacement,
but it was just slightly better than the other three.
Since rotation wasn't perfect, I ended up replacing all the bearings anyway.
Before reinstalling the rear wheel on the frame,
they asked me to change the brake fluid since they hadn't bled the brakes in about two years, so I did.
The front brake also had a weird feel when squeezing the lever
and the lever return was sluggish, so
I replaced the fluid and did a thorough bleed.
I had the customer feel the difference in the brake feel before and after.
They mentioned the shifting was off,
and while the sprocket's eccentricity was definitely causing shifting issues,
separately from that, when shifting to the lowest gear,
the barrel adjuster for the rear derailleur wasn't making contact at all—
it was still in the factory state.
So with the chain on the lowest gear
(the rear derailleur is an RD-R8170 electric),
if I push the derailleur cage with my finger,
the chain falls inward past the sprocket.
There were no chain-drop marks on the rear spokes probably because
with electronic shifting, it won't overshit inward from the low gear.
So it wasn't the shifting that was off—
it was the shift adjustment.
As a side note, Campagnolo's EPS doesn't have
an adjustment bolt for the top gear range.
Even in a crash, the rear derailleur mounting end can bend inward
but not outward, so
if the shift adjustment is properly done,
the chain won't fall outward from the top gear.
The customer (so to speak) who brought in the ZIPP wheel customer
had some business too, apparently,
but since the ZIPP wheel bike took up our time,
they just ended up bringing their friend and leaving.
That's too bad.
the rear wheel of a ZIPP 303S.
Actually, it wasn't just the rear wheel—they brought the whole bike in.
Maybe they were nervous about coming to the shop alone,
so they came with an old acquaintance of mine.
Anyway, that's beside the point.
The sprocket (technically the freebody) was wildly eccentric,
and when I spun the hub axle between my fingers, it made a grinding noise.
The bearings inside the freebody had deteriorated from rust and wear,
causing the inner race to wobble relative to the outer race.
It was so bad that the shifting was apparently messed up too.
The usual shop they go to couldn't fix it,
so through this customer's (so to speak) connection, they brought it to us.
When they said they couldn't fix it,
what they meant was "the freebody wouldn't come out."
There's probably a rust ring that formed through oxide transfer right below the rusted bearings on the hub axle.
The quick-release end came out fine,
but the lock rings for both the sprocket and rotor were interfering with the flange of the quick-release end, so I removed those first.
Using a reasonable impact method,
I tapped the hub axle with the freebody out toward the right side.
Water droplets remained inside the hub body.
The hub axle also had water droplets on it.
Around the freebody pawls, the oil had emulsified when mixed with water,
and dirt was mixed in.
※I received a comment pointing out that emulsified was coming through as "incoming stock," so I've corrected it.
The bearings on the freebody aren't both pressed in from the outside—
the inner one is pressed from the inside and the outer one from the outside.
I forgot to mention, but unlike the early Tactac Racing or Neumen freebodies,
there was also a long spacer in contact with the inner races between the two bearings.
There's a rust ring from oxide transfer right below the bearing
on the freebody side of the hub axle.
It's hard to see, but slightly inward from that (lower left in the image)
there's a thin line mark and further inward some trace of a bearing in better condition.
This tells us that—
After the bearing on the right side of the freebody,
I install a spacer to prevent the freebody from bottoming out
(ultra-critical component),
then the freebody goes in next,
so the thin spacer ends up sandwiched between two bearings.
The rust bonding in this area was so strong
that the freebody wouldn't come out easily.
By the way, the image above was just for documentation—
I cleaned everything afterward.
After replacing the bearings, cleaning the pawl area parts,
and greasing everything, I reinstalled the freebody.
↑Replaced bearings
Only the bearing on the left side of the hub body wasn't damaged enough to require replacement,
but it was just slightly better than the other three.
Since rotation wasn't perfect, I ended up replacing all the bearings anyway.
Before reinstalling the rear wheel on the frame,
they asked me to change the brake fluid since they hadn't bled the brakes in about two years, so I did.
The front brake also had a weird feel when squeezing the lever
and the lever return was sluggish, so
I replaced the fluid and did a thorough bleed.
I had the customer feel the difference in the brake feel before and after.
They mentioned the shifting was off,
and while the sprocket's eccentricity was definitely causing shifting issues,
separately from that, when shifting to the lowest gear,
the barrel adjuster for the rear derailleur wasn't making contact at all—
it was still in the factory state.
So with the chain on the lowest gear
(the rear derailleur is an RD-R8170 electric),
if I push the derailleur cage with my finger,
the chain falls inward past the sprocket.
There were no chain-drop marks on the rear spokes probably because
with electronic shifting, it won't overshit inward from the low gear.
So it wasn't the shifting that was off—
it was the shift adjustment.
As a side note, Campagnolo's EPS doesn't have
an adjustment bolt for the top gear range.
Even in a crash, the rear derailleur mounting end can bend inward
but not outward, so
if the shift adjustment is properly done,
the chain won't fall outward from the top gear.
The customer (so to speak) who brought in the ZIPP wheel customer
had some business too, apparently,
but since the ZIPP wheel bike took up our time,
they just ended up bringing their friend and leaving.
That's too bad.