I’ve just replaced the 6802s in my gravel wheels with some new shiny enduro bearings. When I press them into the hub the disc side set feel grumbly. I’ve pressed them in one at a time with and without the preload spacer and it seems just one side is the problem. The bearings feel fine once they’ve out.
I’m not expecting anyone to diagnose the problem over the internet but I’m posting in the hope that someone might have some ideas of things to look out for. I can send them back to Scribe but they’re out of warranty so it’ll be an expensive hassle I’d like to avoid if I can. Can the escape collective brain trust help?
I’ve experienced this. I am a home mechanic so it’s hard to say. But I can only assess that this is a tolerancing matter, where the outer bearing race deflects inwards under pressure during the press fit and causes interference with the balls.
The other possibility is you have damaged the bearing during installation, but if it runs smoothly when you’ve removed it - that’s not the case. I’ve experienced the same before - they run fine when you remove them again.
I can only suggest trying a different brand of bearings, but if it’s the hub dimensions which are out of gauge, changing the bearings is unlikely to resolve it.
I’ve had this issue before, not often but it does happen. Likely due to one part being at one end of the tolerance scale and the other part at the other end.
I’ve taken the hit, remove the bearing and fitted a new one, which has in all cases I can remember, worked fine.
I have had one or two bearings that have had no grease in them, again very uncommon, i.e. so uncommon I don’t ever check bearings before fitting, but it can happen and cause this issue.
Premature bearing failures can occur and I had that as well. Only time I’ve pushed back to my main supplier was with some relatively expensive NTN bearings failed after a few weeks in a customers wheel. My supplier send replacements without hesitation and the bearings have been fine for >1 year.
Enduro sells some bearings with different internal clearances. If the hub shell is undersized than perhaps there C3 clearance bearings will have enough extra internal clearance to compensate.