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Servicing hubs and freehub


sensai_miagi's picture

By sensai_miagi - Posted on 25 October 2011

NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.

hi all,
was hoping somebody could help me. i'm looking to service the rear hub on my 2008 giant reign 1 after i noticed it was rolling a bit rough.

i understand that "there are two broad categories of hubs - those that run on sealed cartridge bearings, and those that use loose ball bearings. There is little maintenance you can do to sealed cartridge bearing hubs at home. Standard, loose ball bearing equipped hubs however, you can service yourself without a problem".

my reign has DT swiss 370 disc 32h hubs; can anybody tell me if they are sealed cartridge or loose ball bearing hubs?

i would also like to service my freehub while i'm at it. however i understand again that "not all freehubs are serviceable, many are sealed units which simply need to be thrown out once they are worn. But user serviceable freehubs are becoming increasingly common".

my specs page doesn't say what freehub I have. anybody know? and is it serviceable?

any help would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

but if you're response is to write the token "better off taking to LBS" comment please refrain.

[Mod. moved to MTB gear]

Isildur's picture

Heya mate,
Your best bet is to look at the service guides found on the DT Swiss website. If you have a look through the tech docs, then you'll find this one eventually: http://www.dtswiss.com/Resources/2009/OldDocumen...

It's the exploded view & service manual for the Onyx/Cerit/370 series of hubs.

My old Cerit (OEM on my 2007 Giant) hub was a cup & cone style hub, but the 370 might be different. Have a look through the hub manual and see how you go!

cRAZY Canuck's picture

The DT Swiss guides are pretty easy to follow if you can find the right one for you hub plus.

Personally I think cup and cone wheels are harder to service, where as cartridge bearings are pretty simple if you have the correct press tools.

A general rule of thumb to figure out bearings are used is to have a look at the end cap, if there's wrench flats on it : it's cup and cone, if there's no wrench flats it's cartridge. Works better for older hubs than newer but it should be pretty obvious if you can't just pull the freebody hub off.

Should still be new enough to find all the spare parts.

Worst comes to worst and you've pulled it apart or you have an extra you can go to your LBS - I seem to do that a fair bit. : )

sensai_miagi's picture

thanks for the words of advice fellas. replaced bearings yesterday, took me a long time (just because i was being super careful) but great success! all the effort paid off when i had finished, took it out of the vice, and spun silky smooth Smiling

if anyone needs any tips, advice, or tools for the same service give me a bell and i will be happy to share my new expertise.

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