[MikeD]

Newbie in my crew got a used bike last week. Bought locally and now found the rear hub bearings are slightly crunchy and the freehub is a little wiggly. It's an Orbea-branded 148x12. Figured it'd be easy to take apart and find out what needed service; however, after taking off an axle cap and tapping out the axle and removing the seal at the freehub end, I don't see any obvious way to proceed to either bearing replacement or adjusting the freehub to remove play. My Hadleys and Hopes and SRAM and Shimano were easy to deal with; this seems a little more cryptic.

In a consequence free world, I would get a long drift and a hammer and start tapping things apart but I really don't wanna destroy anything, as it's currently rideable if I put it back together.

Glad to post pics later if anyone can help me out here.

I looked at Novatek diagrams online and it didn't seem to be the same hub. I emailed Orbea for a schematic but don't expect anything useful back.

 

[6thElement]

Try Formula, they make most of the generic rebranded hubs.

 

[MikeD]

Bam, dude, I think that's it!

Thanks a ton!

 

[6thElement]

Never had to do bearings on one, but Formula freehubs can be obtained under several other brand labels depending on model.

Specialized, Salsa and SRAM off the top of my head.

 

[gonefirefightin]

He beat me do it

 

[MikeD]

Still can't figure the thing out. Guess I need a tool to turn a lockring around the bearing in the freehub? Tried with a few improvised tools to no avail. Seems to be nothing else that could be retaining the freehub.

Not my hub but similar:

The issue is that the freehub wiggles from the base. Unsure of what's going on.

 

[gonefirefightin]

Pretty hard to do without the free hub tool, easy to find on the ebayz

 

[MikeD]

Yeah, it's going to the shop tomorrow--wanna have it ready for the weekend, they'll have the tools, probably parts/bearings, and labor might as well be free here. Plus the actual owner of the bike can pay that bill lol.