I'm in the midst of a teardown of my mountain bike. I went to replace the rear cassette and discovered that my rear hub is a little crunchy. There's also evidence of some water damage. It's a Shimano FH M475.
I know that this was a low end hub. Can someone suggest a better option?
Disc brakes? Budget?
It's hard to beat Shimano XT when it comes to quality/cost.
Of course, if you're a bike snob like me, then nothing less than a King will do.
Or if King is too much, check out Hope. I paid ~$80 on eBay for a used one & have been very happy.
Hope is pretty awesome.
DTSwiss DT240's are nice as well.
I would take it to a bike shop and have them overhaul it. It's cheaper than buying the tools to do it yourself. Chances are it's just dirty or you may need a new freehub body, depending on where the crunchy is.
ECM,
I took your advice and brought it down to the LBS. The mechanic told me that it felt fine to him and he had seen much worse. He said "Keep it".
Nothing's cheaper than that.
What I felt as a crunch may have just been bearing shift when I held the rim at a 45 degree angle.
Woody wrote: ECM, I took your advice and brought it down to the LBS. The mechanic told me that it felt fine to him and he had seen much worse. He said "Keep it". Nothing's cheaper than that.
If it feels "crunchy", pack the bearings with toothpaste and run it for a while (like >100 miles) - the fine grit in the toothpaste will smooth out the bearing surfaces.
Nice! Glad it worked out 
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