Originally Posted by
badmother
I expected one wheel would unscrew itsself when in use. I would expect that wheel to maybe stay in place if you put two nuts and locked them together thight. How do you make it work, did you use it enough to find out?
That's one worry I initially had too. I haven't used the trailer yet but I don't expect it'll be much of an issue as it takes quite some effort to screw the axle in the nut. I'm making the loadbed not too wide, so it's easy to regularly inspect whether one wheel does turn itself loose. If it should prove to come undone I'll lock them with a bit of Loctite 638.
I did something similar, but I am lucky an found some wheelchairs so I could build the hub from those wheels and built them into 20" wheels.
Funny thing... I've been looking for wheelchair wheels for nearly two years now. Never found any. Last month I broke down and got some old kid's bicycle wheels from the bike shop for cheap. Then, last weekend, I came across a wheelchair... I did check it out but as the wheels were too large (26") and I already had my 20" wheels I didn't buy it. Only the next day I realized I should have bought it anyway so I could take out the quick release hubs of the wheels and install them in 20" rims.
One worry I do have with the quick release wheels is theft. If it takes just a push of a button to remove the wheels, what's stopping thieves or vandals from getting them. Even plain quick-release skewers on a bike seem to be an invitation of 'take me'. You'd have to lock both wheels to the trailer in case of a wheelchair quick-release, at least over here.
The padlock on the hitch isn't an accident either. One of the designgoals from the start was that the trailer should be lockable to the bike.
Mind you, anyone that really wants the trailer just needs a 13 mm wrench or adjustable wrench to loosen one nut of the Heim joint and he can walk away with it, unless I use a cable lock to lock the trailer to the bikeframe.
Peter.