[HTR4EVR]

I got this in a pair of WTB Speed Disc. Less than a year and they are fry. Stay away of this shimano crab. A hub from a walmart bike is much better...:

 

[SteveUK]

How much of this did you do?

 

[Acme54321]

Those hubs are fine.

 

[lelebebbel]

the problem (as with all low end shimano hubs) is that they usually come preadjusted with WAY too much bearing preload. An unsuspecting rider will not notice this until it is too late.

Adjusted properly, they are ok. Although the "seals" do suck.

 

[HTR4EVR]

It's a bad hub problem. I know bwcause the hubs I use in every ride are this:

SHIMANO XT DISC M756 HUBS

Never has a problem in years. But some ocasional riding with the M475 and they die. Not the best for Shimano. At least they are the same size of the SHIMANO XT DISC M756 HUBS, and I'm doing the replacement my selft.

 

[pimpbot]

You realize....

It's a bad hub problem. I know bwcause the hubs I use in every ride are this:

SHIMANO XT DISC M756 HUBS

Never has a problem in years. But some ocasional riding with the M475 and they die. Not the best for Shimano. At least they are the same size of the SHIMANO XT DISC M756 HUBS, and I'm doing the replacement my selft.

They are almost the same exact hub, right? QR is slightly different, races are slightly more polished. They shaved a small amout of weight off the hub body... and that is really about it.

Since you didn't state what happened, If I were to guess, I would say your cones came loose and you rode it that way for a long time, and fried the races in the hub body. If you fried the cups and cones, you can replace them all for like $15. Freehub can be replaced for like $15.

 

[HTR4EVR]

They are not the same, not in quality. There is a difference when you open a XT from a Deore. There is a reason why you pay less or more. But it is just my opinion based on a bad experiece. The M475 is not as good as the XT.

 

[SteveUK]

So you're ":madmax: :madmax: :madmax: " and " " because an M475 isn't as "good" and doesn't last as long as an XT? It didn't cross your mind to check more regularly a hub which has no rubber seals on the axle ends? It didn't occur to you that the low-end component might require more regular attention and servicing than a high-end one?

"The M475 is not as good as the XT."

And this annoys you? Have a word with yourself, eh?

 

[Acme54321]

Haha of course they aren't as good as XT. I rode those 475s for 2 years never adjusted the cones once. For a budget hub they are great and easy to service if you do have any issues.

 

[HTR4EVR]

They can be ok for light riding, in my case the the free wheel dye in the first month with rides on flats fire roads and paved roads along the Santa Rosa river. No good. At least they worked good for you. In the positive side I got motivated to enter into wheel building and it has been easier than I though.

 

[pimpbot]

Don't forget the marketing

They are not the same, not in quality. There is a difference when you open a XT from a Deore. There is a reason why you pay less or more. But it is just my opinion based on a bad experiece. The M475 is not as good as the XT.

As somebody who has clocked about 3000 miles on a set of those exact XTs, and about 1000 on that same Deore, and have had both apart to service them including servicing both freehubs, I can tell you there is not much difference. There are a few differences, but not nearly as big as you think. Maybe that rubber outer seal doober, but I think my Deore had that on there too. I dunno, that was a few years ago. I could be wrong.

If you know what the differences are, why don't you share them with us?

Heck, I got my Deore from a swap meet from somebody who was throwing a wheel out because two spokes were broken and the bearings were seized from misadjustment, neglect and grit. I replaced the cones and balls (to the tune of about $15), replaced two spokes and rode it another 1000 miles before giving it to a friend. He put it on his bike that was ripped off a month later. That thing just wouldn't die.

My only gripes with Shimano hubs is that they are not terribly stiff (as in they twist in the fork and rear triangle under big side loads), and they are kinda heavy.

Beotch and moan as you see fit, but I'm telling you, there are zillions of those same exact hubs spinning worry free out there. If you did get a bad one, and it is bad by no fault of your own, it is a complete freak occurrence.

You still have not mentioned what went wrong with your hub. You said 'They are fry'. Do you mean you fried the bearings? You broke the freehub pawls? The Freehub locked up? Any of those problems are a $15-$20 fix. Oh, and ask your LBS what parts to replace them with. You'll find they use the exact same parts for XT and Deore.

$15 and spend a little time fixing them is much nicer than spending $35 for a set of new spokes and $45 for each hub... or paying the LBS $50 to lace it up for you.

The things are dead simple. I'm telling you... you can fix it. Go read Sheldonbrown.com and get an education in bike stuff.

 

[pimpbot]

Okay...

They can be ok for light riding, in my case the the free wheel dye in the first month with rides on flats fire roads and paved roads along the Santa Rosa river. No good. At least they worked good for you. In the positive side I got motivated to enter into wheel building and it has been easier than I though.

... I just saw your post on your freehub pawls breaking. New freehub - $20, and you can do it yourself with a 10mm allen wrench.

Did I mention the Deore uses the same exact freehub as the XT? You don't believe me, look it up on the Shimano website.

 

[HTR4EVR]

... I just saw your post on your freehub pawls breaking. New freehub - $20, and you can do it yourself with a 10mm allen wrench.

Did I mention the Deore uses the same exact freehub as the XT? You don't believe me, look it up on the Shimano website.

Yes, you are right, but I got a free hub replacement from Jenson and did not solve the other noises. . I had other problems with the hubs. I already got my XT hubs and I'm redoing the WTB Speed Disc rims with them. But thank you for the suggestion. I have better wheels on my bike any way, I took off the WTB SD out of my bike many months ago, they are going to be my extra set of wheels for my two bikes.

It is not a problem that is affecting my riding now, I just want to share my displeasure with the hubs in question.

 

[HTR4EVR]

As somebody who has clocked about 3000 miles on a set of those exact XTs, and about 1000 on that same Deore, and have had both apart to service them including servicing both freehubs, I can tell you there is not much difference. There are a few differences, but not nearly as big as you think. Maybe that rubber outer seal doober, but I think my Deore had that on there too. I dunno, that was a few years ago. I could be wrong.

If you know what the differences are, why don't you share them with us?

Heck, I got my Deore from a swap meet from somebody who was throwing a wheel out because two spokes were broken and the bearings were seized from misadjustment, neglect and grit. I replaced the cones and balls (to the tune of about $15), replaced two spokes and rode it another 1000 miles before giving it to a friend. He put it on his bike that was ripped off a month later. That thing just wouldn't die.

My only gripes with Shimano hubs is that they are not terribly stiff (as in they twist in the fork and rear triangle under big side loads), and they are kinda heavy.

Beotch and moan as you see fit, but I'm telling you, there are zillions of those same exact hubs spinning worry free out there. If you did get a bad one, and it is bad by no fault of your own, it is a complete freak occurrence.

You still have not mentioned what went wrong with your hub. You said 'They are fry'. Do you mean you fried the bearings? You broke the freehub pawls? The Freehub locked up? Any of those problems are a $15-$20 fix. Oh, and ask your LBS what parts to replace them with. You'll find they use the exact same parts for XT and Deore.

$15 and spend a little time fixing them is much nicer than spending $35 for a set of new spokes and $45 for each hub... or paying the LBS $50 to lace it up for you.

The things are dead simple. I'm telling you... you can fix it. Go read Sheldonbrown.com and get an education in bike stuff.

The berings never ran smoth, always sound crushing inside the hub and funny movement in the free hub.Any way has been good to read all you wrote about the parts, is always nice to here from people with knowledge.

And maybe I got the bad ones,I never had that experience with shimano hubs before and I have use must of them.

 

[Ruff]

As somebody who has clocked about 3000 miles on a set of those exact XTs, and about 1000 on that same Deore, and have had both apart to service them including servicing both freehubs, I can tell you there is not much difference. There are a few differences, but not nearly as big as you think. Maybe that rubber outer seal doober, but I think my Deore had that on there too. I dunno, that was a few years ago. I could be wrong.

If you know what the differences are, why don't you share them with us?

Heck, I got my Deore from a swap meet from somebody who was throwing a wheel out because two spokes were broken and the bearings were seized from misadjustment, neglect and grit. I replaced the cones and balls (to the tune of about $15), replaced two spokes and rode it another 1000 miles before giving it to a friend. He put it on his bike that was ripped off a month later. That thing just wouldn't die.

My only gripes with Shimano hubs is that they are not terribly stiff (as in they twist in the fork and rear triangle under big side loads), and they are kinda heavy.

Beotch and moan as you see fit, but I'm telling you, there are zillions of those same exact hubs spinning worry free out there. If you did get a bad one, and it is bad by no fault of your own, it is a complete freak occurrence.

You still have not mentioned what went wrong with your hub. You said 'They are fry'. Do you mean you fried the bearings? You broke the freehub pawls? The Freehub locked up? Any of those problems are a $15-$20 fix. Oh, and ask your LBS what parts to replace them with. You'll find they use the exact same parts for XT and Deore.

$15 and spend a little time fixing them is much nicer than spending $35 for a set of new spokes and $45 for each hub... or paying the LBS $50 to lace it up for you.

The things are dead simple. I'm telling you... you can fix it. Go read Sheldonbrown.com and get an education in bike stuff.

While the guts of both the deore and xt hubs look very similar there is actually differences that effect longevity rather than weight. in the XT you'll find more true bearings, harder cones that are higher polished and the xt does also have better seals. not to mention the xt free hub will take a lot more abuse. the deore isn't a bad hub, however it wont hold up like a xt will. with any loose ball hub you'll need to properly adjust the cones out of the box if you intend for them to last longer than 1 season.

 

[nuclear_powered]

Interestingly enough, I have just handed my rear wheel into the LBS to get rebuilt due to it constantly breaking spokes at the nipple, plus the hub - a HB-M535 - has a bit of play in it (they told me when dropping it off it's probably just the cones and that it needs a bit of adjusting). In any case, the breaking spokes and this hub problem make the only 2 things to go wrong with this wheel.

However, in order to keep riding while the wheel is getting rebuilt, I got the wheel off my old bike which has the same cassette and rotor, and noticed it's a HB-M475 - the very hub that's the topic of this thread. I rode that bike for 2 years every weekend (aggressive XC) and commuted 2 -3 days a week, and never once had a problem with the hubs - with zero maintenance. I even used to clean it with my high pressure cleaner before being told this wasn't the best thing to do.

So yeah, no complaints from me for these hubs.

I'll be interested to see how it goes this weekend on a much beefier full suspension bike.

 

[Ruff]

... I just saw your post on your freehub pawls breaking. New freehub - $20, and you can do it yourself with a 10mm allen wrench.

Did I mention the Deore uses the same exact freehub as the XT? You don't believe me, look it up on the Shimano website.

as somebody that regularly works on bikes and orders on QBP the deore and xt free hub bodies are not the same, they are interchangeable however. deore free hub retails for about 20 bucks, xt retails for about 40.

 

[calvus]

Do the HB M525 hubs have about the same guts as the M475? I keep reading bad reviews on them but I think that when failure happens it is much more likely to pop up on a review. Who knows how many are out there getting beat to crap without maintenance and surviving fine.

 

[blue_dragon]

Well, I had 475 rear hub on both my last bikes and never had problems. The first one lasted 10000 km (6250miles) with one overhaul and then the bike got stolen. Second rear 475 hub is still on my current bike and has around 6000km (3750 miles). I overhauled it last summer. It's a 30min job to open it, clean and put fresh grease. Works perfectly. Don't understand what's the fuss about...

 

[blue_dragon]

Do the HB M525 hubs have about the same guts as the M475? I keep reading bad reviews on them but I think that when failure happens it is much more likely to pop up on a review. Who knows how many are out there getting beat to crap without maintenance and surviving fine.

True. It's strange that when something works perfectly people tend not to talk about it. But when it stops working, they are loud as they can be. Read my upper post.