How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for?

[mrgumby]

I have a suzue hubbed wheelset with some nice araya rims taht i want to save but the cones on the front wheel are pitted. I have a few spare shimano exage front hubs that i could take the cones off but will it work?

Is it possible to find a replacement for old cones? Or will any old ones do?

 

[Rob H]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

I've replaced cones in the past, ideally you want to find the same ones as were originally on there as they can vary in size and the last thing you want is a gap between the cone and the dish shield bit.

 

[jimo746]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Just the cones? are the bearing surfaces in the hub shell ok?
If it was a Shimano hub then there shouldn't be too much of a problem finding replacement cones to fit, but as it's a Suzue hub you may have to try a few different cones to see which works best.

If you have no luck, or the bearing surfaces in the hub look pitted too then it would probably be better to replace the hub and re-lace the wheel.

 

[greenstiles]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Make sure they r for the same size bearings first....then if they are wider/thiner, re-space everything with diff spacers from the other hubs to get everything to fit in the drops outs again........

 

[mrgumby]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Cool thanks for that.. Im gonna have a go with the shimano cones..

 

[weeman_mtb]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Excuse the slight thread hijack but this seems a good place to ask a question on the subject of cones.

Does anybody know if cones are hardened through or just case hardened?

I have found a method of regrinding the bearing surfaces of rough cones at work but if they're only case hardened I don't suppose they're going to last for too long.

Here's some I've had floating around in my work bag since doing them for a practice a couple of weeks ago. Excuse the bad photo, this was actually the best of seven that I took, couldn't persuade the camera to focus....

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

I would suspect a bit of both.

 

[paddy311]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Excuse the slight thread hijack but this seems a good place to ask a question on the subject of cones.

Does anybody know if cones are hardened through or just case hardened?

I have found a method of regrinding the bearing surfaces of rough cones at work but if they're only case hardened I don't suppose they're going to last for too long.

Here's some I've had floating around in my work bag since doing them for a practice a couple of weeks ago. Excuse the bad photo, this was actually the best of seven that I took, couldn't persuade the camera to focus....

Wotcha Weeman.

I would hazard a guess at them just being case hardened - pure guesswork though. If that's the case you could try re-hardening the bearing surface again ? Get it orange - red hot, then quench in oil. Then heat it again more gently until it goes bluey colour, then let it cool naturally.

DON'T come crying to me when your wheels lock up when the cones turn to cheese though :facepalm: :mrgreen:

Being slightly more serious though - if you wanted to roughly test whether they're case hardened or fully done, then grind the bearing surface, cut one cone in half and grind a bit from the middle, then grind some known tool steel. Compare (in your head) the colour of the sparks and you will have the answer

 

[integerspin]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

Does anybody know if cones are hardened through or just case hardened?

I would hazard a guess at them just being case hardened - pure guesswork though. If that's the case you could try re-hardening the bearing surface again ? Get it orange - red hot, then quench in oil. Then heat it again more gently until it goes bluey colour, then let it cool naturally.

I would guess they are cased.
If they were through hardened they would have to be tempered to stop them breaking,
whereas the case could just be on the raceway. I was going to chop one in half and measure the case depth.
How did you regrind the race?

 

[xerxes]

Re: How do you replace cones when theyre pitted and done for

You can buy new axles with cones: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Weldtite-fron ... vi-content