Loose ball hub , grinding bearings damage ?

Basically I'm in the market for a new front wheel .
I've found one , but the only and major problem is that the wheel hardly rotates by hand because the loose ball bearings are in such poor condition I would normally walk away from something like this but it's a dura ace 7600 track hub and its pennies cheap
From the sounds of things there's permanent damage but me or the seller can't check
Should I risk it and hope there's no permanent damage or steer clear ?
Thanks for reading through all this crap

If it's pennies cheap, go for it.

Strip down, clean bearings and inspect for pitting, new ball-bearings, grease and re-assemble. You might be able to find new bearing surfaces if they are knackered.

I would be concerned about why the hub has been mistreated so badly, though. As in, if it's got a cracked flange or bent axle or something, and that's why it hasn't been maintained.

Yea , was thinking that I should just risk it
It's njs stamped and is laced to an open pro with dt Swiss spokes so could probs sell them back for as much as the wheel will cost
The hub itself hasn't suffered much damage just never services the bearings

If just replacing the bearings doesn't get it smooth enough, and if you have the patience, try re-packing it with toothpaste instead of grease and spin it by hand for an hour or two to polish everything smooth. Then obviously clean thoroughly and repack with fresh grease and bearings before you ride it.

Toothpaste? How would that work? Genuinely interested.

Toothpaste is a mild abrasive, but I don't think it'll work. Bearings become pitted because the outside surface of the bearing is harder than the inner metal (this is called case-hardening). If bearings are over-tightened or aren't maintained, the ball-bearings weld themselves (microscopically!) to the bearing surface, which rips off little flakes of metal each time the bearing rotates. This exposes the softer inner material, which wears much much much faster than the hardened outer layer, leading to visible pits in the surface. Abrading the bearing surfaces further will only exacerbate the problem!

Old Campagnolo Record bearings are hardened all the way through, which is why they last forever.

A slightly worn bearing is okay to use, IME. It'll need more frequent maintenance than a good bearing, but if it's greased and adjusted correctly, I think any increase in bearing resistance would be so slight that you probably wouldn't notice it. I suppose it's possible for a bearing to become so worn as to collapse (which could potentially cause significant wheel-wobble, or even break an axle) but I've never seen it happen.

I've done it and it does work. The balls end up running in a shallow groove that matches their curvature, and with the cheap components i was rescuing they spin smoother than they did new. About a year and a couple of grease changes later they still seem fine. I'm not sure whether it's the abrasive properties of toothpaste, or surface rust formed by the moisture that does the work, but you can get everything up to such a high shine that the groove on the cone looks dark unless it's directly reflecting a light source.

I suspect the grooves bear loads well enough to make up for having lost the hardened surface, but don't spin as freely as quality new components.

I've also heard of toothpaste being used to polish plastic (e.g. scuffed mobile phones).

Picked up the wheel yesterday
I immediately stripped it and was quite surprised with what I found
There was basically no wear to the hub body , there is a difference in colour and you can see where the bearings ran , but even on Inspection with a uv light basically no visible pitting or differences in the line , that being said there are "marks" I'm not going to describe it as pitting though because they are about 0.01mm big and there consistent and that's what's giving the hub it's wear line. Hopefully these wont cause friction and if they do Ill have a go at the toothpaste trick
The cones were the opposite they had a line of wear that ran about 180 degrees around that was about 1mm deep and some of the loose ball bearings had wear lines aswell . Still a bit confused though about how the cones could be so destroyed and the hub body being in such good condition , will upload photos later
. Anybody know where I can find replacement bearings and cones for a dura ace 7710 low flange track hub ?
Thanks for reading through all this crap

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/shimano-hub-cones-and-spares-dept422/

maybe compatible?................

I've done it and it does work.

Does it actually remove enough material to get rid of the pits? If not, I suspect the toothpaste is just removing old grease/rust rather than grinding a new bearing surface. Wire wool will do the same job in a few minutes!

The smoothness of the wheel bearings is so incredibly unimportant to the overall speed of a bicycle that you could run with plain bearings (i.e. no balls, just a plastic bushing) and you wouldn't notice it - as tested by Bicycling Science. So long as they're greased and adjusted, they're fine.

The correct part is "Cone (M9 x 15 mm) & Seal Ring Y-268 98120" Searching for that part number brings up the German site selling them for €25.50 each and the previous discussion of what a rip that is. For €5 more you can get a complete axle. Worth asking your LBS (assuming they have a Madison account) for a price on cones or complete axle assembly Y-268 98010

Does it actually remove enough material to get rid of the pits?

If you have enough patience, yes.