TheRealMPG

I have almost wrapped up the restoration of my grandparent's 73 Schwinn Twinn Deluxe. I am now attempting to fit the rear wheel back on the frame and I am having difficulty getting it centered in the dropouts, as well as under the rear fender. I Have the Atom rear hub and the 5-gear freewheel on it as well. The wheel seems to be true and not bent either. What is bothering me is that I have an extra washer left over and I am worrying that I did not install the rear wheel axle hardware in the correct order.

Does anyone happen to have an exploded diagram of the rear wheel hardware (washers, lock washers, spacers, etc) and how they are supposed to be installed to get the rear wheel centered properly? A picture would definitely be worth a thousand words in this case, as I can not remember the order of the components! I did take pictures, but for some reason, never got close enough pics of the rear wheel hardware order (mistake, I know).

If any of you on here could help me out, I would greatly appreciate it!

LV2TNDM

The lack of washer and your description indicate you reassembled the axle cones and spacers incorrectly. The left side of most cup and cone hubs will only have the cone and locknut. MAYBE one thin washer between them and that's it. All the other spacers would be on the right side of the axle to provide spacing for the freewheel. You shouldn't need an original diagram to reassemble correctly. The ultimate goal is to result with a properly dished wheel at the end. This, of course, assumes that the wheel was properly dished from the outset. If you did not have spacing issues between the seat and chainstays prior to disassembly, then we can assume the wheel was properly dished.

So it's just a matter of reassembling the washers, spacers and locknuts on the correct sides to result with a wheel that fits in the frame. If you had a dishing tool, it would be easier to confirm correct dish when reassembling the parts. But there aren't THAT many permutations, so getting it back together properly shoudn't be that hard. Again, as I said, start with just a cone and locknut on the left side and put everything else on the right side to see if that results with proper dish. That said, if you end up with two identical thin washers on the right side, I'd assume one of them should go on the other side to sit between the cone and locknut. (And just to be clear, all of this should be done WITHOUT the axle bolts in the mix. Set them aside, they're only used to hold the wheel on the dropouts (which raises a point - be sure you didn't accidentally include one or both of them by mistake). Also, you should confirm that the final spacing between the hub locknuts matches the frame dropout spacing. If not, then you've misplaced the proper parts or added ones.

I hope this clarifies you situation and solution to the problem.