The Ultegra FH-6500 Rear Hub Rebuild

Call me a non-contemporary, or whatever. As far as having a set of road racing wheels, I'll consider having a set of wheels that follows the whole wheels concept. However for training, or Cyclocross I like the conventional 3cross (or 2 cross), 32 spoke wheels. No special spokes, just conventional J-bend spokes. I got a set of wheels with Ultegra FW-6500 series hubs last week.

I thought the rear hub was just loose and needed an adjustment, but upon closer inspection the rear hub needed more than an adjustment. I had a bent axle. bad enough it wore the threads on the axle flat. Other than a right side cone and bearings I didn't see any other damage. Since the hub is a 3 generation old, non Dura-Ace Shimano hub, I figured I'd have problems finding replacment parts...Well sorta, kinda. 

The new axle (bottom) is a little longer, I'm not sure by how much, I suspect 5mm for MTB, for road just cut it down. easy enough.

I could not get Shimano replacment small parts....Surprise...So Thanks to Wheels Manufacturing. Also Midwest Cyclery, and Zeke, I'm able to rehabilitate my hubs. Here are the part numbers pictured to the left in case you need them. Note the Right Rear cone bag says "Ultegra HB 6500". I'm 99% sure it's should say FH-6500. There has never been a HB-6500 rear hub as far as I can tell. Any reference to HB-6500 is always in respect to the front hub parts, and FH-6500 is in respect to rear hub parts.

The parts are not exactly like the originals, but beggers can't be choosers. The left side has 1 difference. The outside dust cap. Easy enough, you can tap it off and put it on the new cone.

Also notice on the parts bag it says "REQUIRES O-RING SEAL". My seal are fine, but before you start tapping, remove your seal to prevent damage.

Easy does it....Tap, Tap, Tap....It comes off pretty easy. Any harder and I would what to support the dust cap all the way around to prevent it from bending.  

There it is, Left side (non-drive) good as new. The dust cap would not slide down on the cone at first. The hole was just barely too small. So I had to sand the inside just a touch. It's best sanded with a small Dremil barrel sander (Fine Grit) so it's still a tight fit....remember to put back on the o-ring.

Now the right side. Notice the pitting. The left side wasn't this bad, heck I might not have even needed to replace it. But it's you're going to over haul it, it's best to replace both cones and bearing. Lucky for me both races were in great shape.  

There are two differences on the right cone. 1 is the shoulder (see red arrow). On the new cone the shoulder is near the bearing surface. On the old one the shoulder is located where it supports the o-ring. The 2nd difference is that it's about 1 millimeter longer. No biggy.

The problem so to speak...for lack of a better word...is the shoulder on the new cone doesn't support the o-ring all the way around. you can see it's not supported where the cone wrench flats are. I'm not sure it's that big of a deal, but Shimano had it right.

Now that the dust cap it bolted on, you can see it's not really on issue.

I've always used Phil Wood grease. I'll continue to use Phil Wood, and I'll tell to use Phil Wood. I tried others, but this is just right for the long haul. I mean Philwood is known for their bearing quality, what grease do you think they use?

Well...I know that right side cone is longer. So what did I expect?  From locknut face to locknut face it should be 130mm, it's 131mm. 1/2mm each side isn't going to hurt anything.

Now to that longer axle business. On the left side you can see it's too long, so screw on a 4mm or 5mm thick locknut, and cut the end off with a hacksaw. This way it's keep you from drifting, and will clean the threads when you unthread it after you are done cutting. For example that burr in the photo.

One last test. it's nice to have a set of dropouts you can test to see if the quick release locks it all down. The hub also rolls smooth as butter.

Axle (LE) is like a Hub Axle.

Axel  (EL) is a a name, .....not Axl Rose.

Helmet (ET) is something you wear on your head for protection. Like a Ateliers Ruby Helmet

Helmut (UT) is a name Helmut Lang.

...but really...did you check out Ateliers Ruby Helmets?