How do i change the hubs on my bike?

Question

i got a bmx eastern and the back real moves side to side they say to buy a not back wheel hub but before i buy how do i change my old one to my new 1

Answer 1

Changing hubs on a bike is a MAJOR undertaking.  You basically have to remove all the spokes from your wheel, take out the hub, buy a replacment hub, and then lace all the spokes back into your wheel.  Then you have to tension all the spokes in your wheel to full tension and continuously true the wheel in multiple directions.  If you have never trued a wheel before, I strongly recommend against trying this yourself as it is very time consuming.

What is more likely, is that the hub needs to be "overhauled" which involves removing the axle and removing the bearings or cartridge bearings and replacing them with brand new grease.  Then you have to tighten the hub so that the bearings can move freely without any side to side play.

Any local bike shop should be able to do the "overhauling" for you, however, they may be correct in that the hub can no longer be tightened properly, resulting in side to side play.  In that case, you are probably best off buying a new wheel or having the bike shop replace it for you.

Answer 2

If your wheel has cup and cone style bearings, have you tried to tighten the cones?  Often you can adjust the cones with a cone wrench.  if not, buy new bearings and overhaul the hubs.

In most cases, it isn't worth pulling out a BMX hub and replacing it.  Basically (like the other answer stated) you are taking the wheel down to its component parts and building it back from scratch.  Tensioning and truing isn't impossible, but there is a learning curve.