[Guest]

Might be a stupid question but I've always heard that when you rebuild a hub you should only hand tighten the axle...correct?

 

[frdfandc]

Yes and no.

http://parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=105

 

[Dave Hickey]

Hand tightening is a good starting point.....

If you are talking about cup and cone hubs, the real trick is tightening the nut while preventing the cup from tightening/loosening

 

[JCavilia]

Might be a stupid question but I've always heard that when you rebuild a hub you should only hand tighten the axle...correct?

If you're suggesting you could do the final tightening of the locknuts against the cones without wrenches, that's NOT correct. There's no way you could get them tight enough not to slip. Obviously you do the initial rough adjustment of the cones by hand, to avoid overtightening and damaging the races. But then the cone wrenches come into play. And as Dave said, it's a bit of an art getting it all secure with the perfect adjustment.

 

[Mr. Versatile]

Initial tightening should be done by hand until the friction allows the hub to turn freely, but tight enough so there is no side to side play. There are 2 nuts on ea. side of the axle. The first one is tightened by hand as described above. Once that's done, thread the 2nd nut on the axle, by hand, until it makes contact with the 2st nut. Then put a cone wrench on the 1st (inside) nut, and another cone wrench on the outside nut. Holding the inside nut so it won't turn, tighten the outside nut with the other wrench. Check for smoothness and play when finished. IME, you might have to do this a couple of times.