A sub panel must have the neutral and ground isolated. Panels come with a very long, rather thick (about 1/4 x 20) green bonding screw that connects the neutral bar to the can in the case of a primary panel. You don't get a neutral from your utility, you create one with that bonding screw.
Sub panels should be fed with 3 insulated conductors of appropriate size, and a ground that need not be insulated (but can be, if you want). So the first part of your question is, yes, that sub panel must be grounded, but the grounding conductor should be attached to the can using a ground lug, not by landing it to the neutral bar.
Sub panels must also have a fused disconnect, which means they need to be fed from a breaker, and there can't be anything else on that breaker. Don't double tap. You have two options here:
- Increase the size of the existing sub panel
- Put in a new double pole breaker in the existing sub panel and use that to feed your new sub panel. Land the circuits you had to pull out of the existing sub panel into the new one.
As others have noted, you need to watch your loads. If all you need are a few convenience receptacles or a lighting circuit, you should probably be o.k. (hard to tell with what you've given).
Either way, get an amprobe and look at what each incoming phase is pulling in your existing sub panel prior to doing anything. Make sure everything is on when you do. If it's only pulling 25 - 30A on average, you should be o.k. to add a small 8 circuit sub panel. Since it's directly in the line of sight with the existing sub panel, the new sub panel need not have a main breaker since the means of disconnect is right next to it.
A six to eight circuit sub panel runs about $80 without breakers, they typically start at 50A, but you don't have to feed them with 50A. You could feed it from a 30A breaker if all you want are convenience receptacles and lights.
Here is an amprobe being used:
(source: amprobe.com)
Do that on your sub panel first (one phase at a time) just to be sure you have room to add more. If not, you need to replace your existing sub panel, and an electrician is really your best bet there.
Another good thing to do is measure the draw of the circuits you'll have to move to the sub panel in order to make room for the breaker that will feed it. Obviously, you want to move the circuits drawing the least to the new panel in the end. Some re-arranging might be needed to make that happen.
Since this is a garage, take care what you connect to the sub panel. If you are going to be powering something like a compressor (or anything else with a decent sized motor), carefully consider the locked rotor amperage when determining the load. It will be printed on the motor.
Finally, if any of this sounds overwhelming, call an electrician. If you get into any kind of trouble, call an electrician.
The NEC wants you to avoid overfilling a conduit so that the conductors can dissipate heat, and so you can remove a conductor without damaging it. See NEC 300.17.
There are only 9 single pole circuits (so 18 conductors?)
Ground conductors count for equipment fill, so you have more than 18 -- maybe 23?
Ironically, when you get close to a fill limit, the NEC actually wants you to increase conductor size, because that reduces heat.
Should I be worried or just put the cable through it anyways?
If this was my house, I would want to add a new conduit, if only because pulling the new conductor will be so much easier.
Do they make "reducing" hubs?
Yes. Here are some examples: http://www.thomasbetts.com/ps/endeca/index.cgi?a=nav&N=3819+598+4294951140&Ntt=
I've always found I needed 6" of conduit to make the transition between the reducer and the male fitting that connects to the box. Luckily my local hardware store will sell PVC conduit by the foot, so I don't have to buy a full stick for this.
As @Tester101 mentions, you can also make the hole bigger. A step bit is a nice tool, but 1 1/4" conduit requires a knockout that's actually ~1 3/4". The one he linked to only goes to 1 3/8", and I haven't seen bigger.
The professional way to make a larger knockout is to use a punch. They're a little expensive. Maybe you can find an electrician who will punch the hole for you in exchange for beer or a favor. Or maybe a tool rental place will have a bunch for you.
You don't have to bring the conduit in through an existing knockout - you could punch a hole on the side in a blank area, if that's more convenient for you. Alternately, if there's a good spot with 2 small knockouts, you can consume that whole area.
In your existing installation, I think the lock washer is upside-down. There are sharp edges that are intended to bit in to the metal, so it won't come loose. Unfortunately fixing this means undoing a lot of wiring.
Also, I think you should use a bushing to protect the conductor from the end of the conduit. Whether your inspector will require it is difficult to guess, but it's seems like cheap insurance. Something like this:
Also, I hope that if you're going through the trouble of pulling a big conductor to a new location, you're installing a subpanel at the other end. Because subpanels are awesome.
Best Answer
Go out the bottom, otherwise the hole or any flaw in the conduit will bring water, rust and failure into your box.
Use two conduit bodies to make your 180 degree turn. You can do this pretty tight to the box surface if you really want to. Do not strap the conduit to the box, strap it to the wall.
Use THWN-2 wire in the cable. This is rated for outdoor wet locations like this location. Use stranded, you sure don't want to pig-wrestle solid #6 (least of all 4 of them in a cable!)... and stranded will make the bends easily and pull decently. If you don't want to buy 4 colors of wire, buy white - shuck it for ground and put tape on it for hot.
Why white, by the way? Because of the rules applicable to re-marking wires smaller than 4 AWG. You cannot re-mark any color of wire to be ground, it must be green, green/yellow, or bare. You cannot re-mark any colored wire to be neutral - it must be natively white or gray. You can re-mark a white or gray to be a hot, that is the only re-marking allowed (it's intended for switch loops). Admittedly, shucking a stranded wire for ground may not work - but they sell single bare solid ground wire at modest cost.