Noticed a bit of play on my Dartmoor primal plus in the rear wheel. A closer inspection shows that the bolt is fully tightened on its thread but there is about 1mm of play still in the hub (deore xt). Dropped the wheel in another bike and no problems, it fully tightened onto the hub. Got a different wheel and dropped it into the Dartmoor, no problem the bolt tightened onto the hub. What's the solution? A bolt with more thread might be bending the frame more than advised given the manufacturers bolt is presumably threaded as much as it should be. Would packing the hub with a washer be a bad idea? The other bolt I have has a different thread pitch so haven't been able to try another bolt.
If it's XT, it'll be cup and cone bearings, and they may well have loosened up a bit, which is where the play could be coming from. How much riding have you done on that wheel, and when did you last service it? It might be worth checking, although it sounds from your description like the play is the whole hub, including the hub axle.
Below is if it's not - disregard if so.
The hub axle (The bit the bearings and wheels spin on that stays in the hub) and thru-axle will clamp up nice and tight, but the play is in the bearings themselves. It's quite possible they need a service, and it's worth doing if you have the time, patience, grease, cone spanners and new balls (ooer). Cup and cone stuff can be easy to mess up - if you overtighten everything you put dents in the bearing faces, under-tighten and it's all wobbly and wears faster. Take a look at the Park guide here, and maybe have a look on Park Tools' Youtube channel if you're new to C&C. Bear in mind the Park guide shows an older QR hub - the one you have will have a bigger diameter axle, but the principle is the same.
The other thing to do is measure the axle width. If you have calipers that stretch that far, great, but another way is to find two heavy things with flat vertical surfaces (a box and a filing cabinet worked for me) and put your suspect wheel between them, as well as a couple of known good wheels.
[EDIT] another option is to pop a known good wheel on a flat surface, axle-end down, and put a long allen key or the thru axle through it, and mark the top. The do the same with the XT one.
HTH.
i had this on a primal with superstar hub where the axle unscrewed.
if the xt thru-axle is solid it will be the cup and cone bearings but check the axle isnt loose.
I have found variability in the width of hubs from different manufacturers of sealed bearing hubs.
Some are slightly narrower but Shimano tend to be more accurate than most.
This presents as slight wheel movement even when the thru axle is tightened to spec.
A micro washer (spacer) is a possible way forward.
Good ideas on how to measure the wheel, I'll do that tonight and try and get a pic to show what I mean... it's defo something fishy with the hub but I don't know much about cup n cone hubs (or any hubs for that matter!). If the cup/cone had become loose would it not make the hub wider rather than thinner? Obvs have no idea what I'm on about but the hubs are practically new, maybe had 5 outings on them but I'm worried now that the play will kill the hub faster.
So is the hub moving side to side along the axle? or is the play radial?
If the play in the hub is radial, then I think that would point towards servicing the bearings and adjusting the cup and cones.
If the play is along the axle then I'm not sure what that could be, possibly under-sized hub as has been mentioned.
If the cones are loose you can feel it in the hub when it's out of the frame, if for some reason the hub has a slightly undersized width and the axle bottoms out when there's no wheel in the frame to prevent the stays closing in past the stated width then that could be the issue and a washer on the axle to sit under the axles head could be a fix ie an m12 washer with an OD to match the axle head.
A washer or two made from a coke can could be all it takes to stop any movement or a 0.5mm shim washer off ebay.
Yes, this ^
I think a washer is the answer. I'll measure it later.
