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Replace a rear hub cup??

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one-eyed sailor

Finally riding a big boys bike
I am almost done with a clean 86 Sierra (black chrome, why I bought it) but the drive side cup on the R hub is trashed. At this point I've purchased 3 different used hubs, none of which has been a good replacement. This is a pretty hub and I'm trying to stay as original as I can with this one.
IMG_1057.jpg


Then, just today a Rat Bro asked about replacing the cup and I..... what??? That's possible??
Apparently it is...
s-l1600.jpg

Last $20 I'm spending on this bike.

Anyone else done this? Not sure how to pull the old one without making a mess.
There is a tube of steel between the two cups so it seems tough to get a puller or anything else on it.

Thanks, Jim
 
I am almost done with a clean 86 Sierra (black chrome, why I bought it) but the drive side cup on the R hub is trashed. At this point I've purchased 3 different used hubs, none of which has been a good replacement. This is a pretty hub and I'm trying to stay as original as I can with this one.
View attachment 1808414

Then, just today a Rat Bro asked about replacing the cup and I..... what??? That's possible??
Apparently it is...
View attachment 1808415
Last $20 I'm spending on this bike.

Anyone else done this? Not sure how to pull the old one without making a mess.
There is a tube of steel between the two cups so it seems tough to get a puller or anything else on it.

Thanks, Jim
You need to drive the old one out from the opposite side. I have tried it before and could not get the punch I was using to to contact the cup from the other side enough to drive it out it kept slipping off. I'm sure there is a tool or technique that is needed. I'm sure someone has a better answer then me. I'm interested to know.
 
I am almost done with a clean 86 Sierra (black chrome, why I bought it) but the drive side cup on the R hub is trashed. At this point I've purchased 3 different used hubs, none of which has been a good replacement. This is a pretty hub and I'm trying to stay as original as I can with this one.
View attachment 1808414

Then, just today a Rat Bro asked about replacing the cup and I..... what??? That's possible??
Apparently it is...
View attachment 1808415
Last $20 I'm spending on this bike.

Anyone else done this? Not sure how to pull the old one without making a mess.
There is a tube of steel between the two cups so it seems tough to get a puller or anything else on it.

Thanks, Jim
maybe something like this but smaller.
 
I ground down the small L end of an Allen wrench, just so that it would catch the edge of the bearing cup, and then tapped it out of the hubshell, by working my way around the the edge a little bit at a time.
Put some oil on it, so that when it begins to move, it’ll have some lubrication.
 
Everyone has the right idea. The only bicycle hubs I have replace cups on were Schwinn Deluxe (#7 bearing) and the Schwinn large flange heavy duty (1/4" loose bearing) because you could easily purchase replacement cups. I guess if you could salvage a donor cup, the same concept could be used on an aluminum lightweight hub. FYI, an aluminum hub should be very easy because of the difference in expansion rate between aluminum and the steel cup. Get your knock-out tool ready, toss a little propane heat onto the inside hub body cup area and have at it. You do not need much heat to expand the aluminum. Have your replacement cup ready to drop in while it's still hot. I'd bet every manufacturer of hubs had a different "outside" cup size.

Schwinn actually offered a knockout tool to remove the pressed in bearing cup on a deluxe hub. It was just a 1/4" rod that was smashed on one end. The smashed end pultruded about 1/4", or just enough to catch the inside flange of the cup from the opposite side of the wheel. Lay the wheel flat on the bench supported by a 2 by 4 for protection. If you were lucky enough the cup came out in one piece. That was usually not the case because it would crack where the bearings had worn it down. Now you had just the outer ring of the cup left. We had two very old rim bending levers. The end of the handles was ground to a sharp lip. I would hook the end of the rim straightener on the broken cup remnants and they always popped right out. It's the angle of your tool to the work that makes this stuff work, not how hard you hit it.

The Schwinn knockout punch was a cheap tool, they got bent, and straightened, over and over. It's might have been a onetime use tool. We usually made our own knockout punch by taking a long shackle Master bicycle pad lock, the kind that went through the spokes. You cut the shackle off, then cut that piece into two pieces right in the middle. You shortened the bend dog leg until it just fit through the cup and the long end was sticking out the opposite side. It worked better than the Schwinn tool, and was a little thicker. We also made some cup knockout tools from hardened drill rod available at any industrial hardware store. The common soft rod is a waste of time for this job.

After you get it out, you will need to have some kind of a press to pull the replacement cups back in. It could be as simple as two sockets that sit into the cup, a few flat washers to spread the load, an axle with greased threads and two axle nuts. Make sure the cup pulls in straight and not at a angle. I'd put a thin coating of Anti seize on the hole your pressing the cup into to help with friction. Someone will post a photo of the Schwinn Deluxe cup installation tool. But the two sockets will do the very same thing.

Have fun

John
 
My only complaint with Schwinn’s replaceable bearing cups, is that they used two different sizes on the prewar hubs, and the smaller diameter type for the standard front hub, and the 40/41 hi/lo, is much harder to find a replacement for.
It’s only a 1/16” smaller in diameter to the bigger high flange model, which are still plentiful.
1/16”?
Come on Man!
 
My only complaint with Schwinn’s replaceable bearing cups, is that they used two different sizes on the prewar hubs, and the smaller diameter type for the standard front hub, and the 40/41 hi/lo, is much harder to find a replacement for.
It’s only a 1/16” smaller in diameter to the bigger high flange model, which are still plentiful.
1/16”?
Come on Man!
GT will try and convince you that it was due to the "Schwinn Approved" thing!

Cup sizes have always been an issue. ACS used a cup size that required an "odd sized" ball bearing. Even foreign bikes used common inch sized balls! Maybe these companies found some surplus cups for a cheap price and built a hub to fit the odd cup sizes.

Stir the pot, AND now let the conspiracy theories begin..........

John
 
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one high quality one-piece alloy shell hub where bearing cup replacement would be a challenge is the Maillard model 700 which was contract produced for Maillard by Etablissements Perrin and launched 1973

Maillard 700 advert, july 1973  .jpg


"most" of the time on cup replacement it is possible to knock out the old cup from the backside as discussed in earlier posts on this thread

in the design of this model the hole in the bearing cup is larger in diameter than the hole in the hub barrel and the seat for the cup is square in cross section so that one cannot access the back side of the cup


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