Scooterotica

i was watching a car program the other day and they were refitting a wheel hub after changing the bearings, they tightened the hub until it was very tight and then loosened the hub nut by quarter turn, so there was play in the hub. There reason was that when the bearing heats up it will expand and may cause it to bind with the hub and may lock up. now I dont know if this is the case with scooters but it it is a good point.
I only have Vespas, and there is play on the rear wheel on all that I have owned. With the Vespa, if the play gets too much the rear wheel can rub against the clutch cover, this in theory is a good sign that something is wrong and so can be addressed. It has been known that white wall tyres do this anyway as they are slightly wider than black tyres. The vespa also has the split pin and nut cover.

car front and most trailer wheel bearings are "taper bearings" thats why they are backed off 1/4 turn .

Problem identified courtesy of Paul at Atoms in Maidstone. After a feel he suggested it was either the cone (wrong one) or layshaft splines as he thought he could feel the hub moving on the shaft. Removal of the hub revealed wear on the splines of both the shaft and the hub (the cone looks correct to me). I doesn't look good to me per the attached photos...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91303085@N ... hotostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91303085@N ... hotostream

Any thoughts on whether I should ride it like this? I know it will get worse but it seems the shaft and hub need replacing anyway?

That sounded wrong, I mean should I even ride at all like that, even for a short distance? I will replace the hub and shaft in due course.

I'd be replacing both before I put my life on the line on it again.

You can easily see if that is the cause, looking at the pics, I`m not convinced, could be wrong mind, if when properly tightened you can see movement between the hub nut and hub that is your problem, but if there is no movement between the hub nut and hub the problem is elsewhere, are you sure the cone is correct.

from your photos you can see wear at the start of the shaft and on the hub splines , looks like either incorrect cone or the hub has not been torqued down incorrectly in the first place allowing slight movement. the paint on the hub splines should have been cleaned off before fitting to allow correct fitting also.

if you fit an incorreect tapered cone, then the amount of play at the rim edge is quite substantial- you could certainly see a lot of movement.

I too am not convinced thats the problem.

Chris

I took the hub into Atoms and Paul reckons the cone is okay but the splines definitely indicate wear albeit at the early stages. Nothing to indicate how this has happens. I have a cyclone on order so looks like I will be replacing hub and layshaft at the same time. Probably not a bid idea though I'm trying not to think about the extra cost!

prob not the answer but just another thing to factor in ...SO called race bearings ,have more slack in them ..C3 are looser than C4 (the std ).