Cone head.

As common as much, Shimano’s ongoing stoicism with holding onto their ancient wheel hub bearing setup of cup & cones have been a real bugbear of mine. Every time I go near them the result is either binding or play in the hub. I can’t see why they can’t progress like the rest of the world has onto sealed bearings which simplify everything.
My Specialised Stumpjumper’s (circa 2009) rear wheel which was a Shimano derivative and it suddenly would not freewheel ‘freely’, it was the bearings. Since I got the bike I haven’t touched them yet so this sad story was forced upon me as apart from being the result of my own folly. So I reluctantly embarked on a solution with a slow steady hand & a dim outlook. Removing the rear wheel & cassette assembly revealed that there was still enough grease for lubricant to not be the issue. On inspection the cup & cone on the drive side had worked loose from the locknut & the cone being loose, had binded up against the bearings on that side. The fix was to loosen the opposing locknut & cone on the other side to provide me the additional length of axel on the drive side to bring out the cone enough to secure it with a tool , then tighten the locknut hard up against it. This is because the freewheel body on the drive side concealed access to the cone to fix a tool to it. I repeated the process on the brake disk side which didn’t have the cone access problems. While I had things loosened I applied additional grease like I do whenever I have this sort of stuff apart.
Cassette back on & refitted the wheel, I discovered I had a small degree of play, so I repeated the process. Times this last step 3 more times due to either play or binding in the wheel to understand how the rest of that evening went for me.
If I ever manage to taco these hoops, I wouldn’t be too disappointed in checking out what Chain Reaction Cycles have for me in a Mavic or equivalent wheelset.