My Huffy Cranbrook

It is about time I posted my ride. It's been a long time coming. Only the engine, throttle, rear rim, clutch and exhaust were bought new. The rest are used or dumpster finds. Yes, she's a jalopy but she runs.

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No! Why put caged bearings in a wheel hub? Less ball bearings fit when you have to leave room for the cage. The cage can get all mangled up if the cone nuts become a bit loose and gritty. It's an open/ unsealed hub so that will happen.
The only reason why a manufacturer would ever use caged bearings in the hub is so the frking poorly paid worker can be made to assemble faster. Schnell! Schnell! *cracks whip*
If it gets gritty you're looking to replace the bearings and cones and probably the hub if it can't have the race removed anyway... Once the bearings start getting worn away they get lumpy and so will anything they roll on.. Bearing failure either will or will not destroy the parts they roll over, and that's regardless of the cage.

The cage doesn't even do much, it doesn't really come under stress against the bearings it just helps them resist moving close to eachother. Once the bearings lump up the cage can manage to get caught up but by then you've already ridden it too far..
 
When the axle broke on my MB, I kinda made my own hub.

I removed the original broken axle from the hub and replaced it with a length of 3/8" stainless steel all thread rod. I reused the hub shell, and placed very high quality sealed bearings into the hub races. They fit perfectly! I locked them into place with a fender washer and a nut. So far (3 weeks?) the performance has been excellent.

The all thread gives you maximum ability to control where you want things to be on your axle.
 
Check in on that axle now and then, I would suspect the inner race will crush the threads flat and make wiggle room which will makes things worse and worse slowly by letting the hub rumble around...

This even happens on jackshaft shafts, my previous shaft had 2 dips in the steel rod (not even threaded) that gave the bearings some play when on that spot they grooved out.
 
If it gets gritty you're looking to replace the bearings and cones and probably the hub if it can't have the race removed anyway... Once the bearings start getting worn away they get lumpy and so will anything they roll on.. Bearing failure either will or will not destroy the parts they roll over, and that's regardless of the cage.

The cage doesn't even do much, it doesn't really come under stress against the bearings it just helps them resist moving close to eachother. Once the bearings lump up the cage can manage to get caught up but by then you've already ridden it too far..
I've never had a Shimano hub with caged bearings. If there's really no downside to them then I wonder why Shimano never use them.
You can get home on a loose bearing with pitted balls but not with a mangled rusty cage jamming it up.
I definitely think it's just to maximise the profit that Huffy can make.
 
If the cage is rusty and mangled then the bearings and races are probably just as bad, usually forgetting to grease moving parts that require grease will do that... Pitted and rust infected are really 2 animals that shouldn't be compared.

I've used caged bearings and non, and I see many many more with a cage, probably because it keeps bearings from rubbing eachother, also because it's probably easier for the machines to put together quickly as opposed to needing humans that require toilets and food and money to do such things..
 
If the cage is rusty and mangled then the bearings and races are probably just as bad, usually forgetting to grease moving parts that require grease will do that... Pitted and rust infected are really 2 animals that shouldn't be compared.

I've used caged bearings and non, and I see many many more with a cage, probably because it keeps bearings from rubbing eachother, also because it's probably easier for the machines to put together quickly as opposed to needing humans that require toilets and food and money to do such things..
Hub bearings don't seem to rust, perhaps because they are constantly being polished as they move in the grimy grease (okay maybe on an old bike left standing).
Any unsealed hub is going to let in dirt and water and any other contaminants from the environment it's used in, which will then attack the cage because it isn't being polished constantly.
A little bit of looseness can allow a cage to get bent out of shape, and I just see that as a shortcut to disaster.
Sure any amount of scratches in the race will shorten bearing life thereafter but it is only ruined if there's a deep score like from a sharp chunk of metal.
My opinion only, of course, but then I never saw caged bearings in any open hub and I am surprised that any manufacturer would do that.
I have only seen caged bearings in headsets (and one bottom bracket which I did break), and the cages get rust on them, or get bent out of shape or broken which allows more room which allows movement where there shouldn't be any. I always remove the cage and add an extra ball bearing to take up the space. Or just swap out the headset for a decent sealed one.
I think it's done for profit and only profit. IMO
 
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