Axle moving in hub?
10-11-20, 01:21 PM
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Axle moving in hub?
Yesterday I took my 27 1 1/4 wheel into a shop to have the freewheel removed and the dork disc taken off because I don't have a tool to do that. They gave it back to me with the freewheel off ( I guess they assumed I was going to put on something else?) which was not the plan. When I got home, I attached the freewheel back on the rear wheel but now the axle shifts just slightly in the hub. I wish I would have just asked them to put it back on for me but the store won't let people in so it was just a helper that brought it out to me disassembled and I didn't see how it came off so I could only assume on how it went back on.
Is there a spacer or washer they might have missed giving to me? it just moves back and forth a few millimeters but obvious enough to notice it.
Can anybody help me trouble shoot this or should I go back to the store and ask what went wrong?
Is there a spacer or washer they might have missed giving to me? it just moves back and forth a few millimeters but obvious enough to notice it.
Can anybody help me trouble shoot this or should I go back to the store and ask what went wrong?
10-11-20, 01:57 PM
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Freewheel "wobble" is common & normal due to the machining of hubs/freewheels etc and their concentricity. Cheaper hubs/freewheels are often worst.
10-11-20, 01:59 PM
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Removing a freewheel should not affect the axle. It may have been loose when you brought it to them but only noticed it when you got it home, Just a thought.
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10-11-20, 02:03 PM
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So, it's the axle moving, and not the freewheel? If so, you should be able to tighten down the cone nuts just enough that it spins freely, and doesn't bind up, but doesn't have any lateral movement. You would probably benefit from removing that freewheel first, which you could probably do provided you didn't crank it down.
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10-11-20, 02:49 PM
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Likely the shop loosened a cone when removing the freewheel. Not an unusual occurrence. To adjust, you need a cone wrench and an adjustable wrench or take it back to the shop.
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10-11-20, 03:12 PM
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So, it's the axle moving, and not the freewheel? If so, you should be able to tighten down the cone nuts just enough that it spins freely, and doesn't bind up, but doesn't have any lateral movement. You would probably benefit from removing that freewheel first, which you could probably do provided you didn't crank it down.
dedhed thankfully its not a freewheel wobble! I think if I saw that on my bike I would s#&t myself! ha ha. His videos are good though.
10-11-20, 05:16 PM
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Don't need chain whip as not pulling off a cassette.
Proper free wheel tool, large adjustable wrench and off it comes.
Hoping you put grease on threads. Even if it was torqued on, it should come on right off.
Proper free wheel tool, large adjustable wrench and off it comes.
Hoping you put grease on threads. Even if it was torqued on, it should come on right off.
10-11-20, 05:20 PM
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Broken axle?
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10-12-20, 02:33 PM
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Thanks for the help all, it led me in the right direction and to find this youtube video which explains both what is happening and how to resolve it. If anyone searches up this post with the same problem hopefully the can use the video to help.
10-12-20, 05:05 PM
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A slight cone adjustment won't require the removal of the freewheel. Just do the adjustment (likely 1/2 turn or so) on the non drive side. Won't likely move anything so far as to offset the wheel or have axle stick beyond the dropout (if a QR hub).
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10-13-20, 05:16 AM
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Sooner or later, if you keep adjusting the drive side, it won't be tight enough to prevent the cone precessing.
Which will destroy the hub.
Plus you will have to remove the freewheel to adjust the drive side.
10-13-20, 06:00 AM
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Adjusting the NDS will might compensate for the loss of the dork disk, or not. Yes, it is a spacer. If you are using friction shifting, it won't be a problem. Index shifting might be impacted by the new location of the freewheel. In any case, check your chain line for kicks. If index, check RD adjustment.
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10-13-20, 06:00 AM
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I guess I'm failing to see any difference as to which side gets adjusted. Either side you're tightening up and locking adjustment with the locknut. Keeping the wheel centered in the fork/frame and axle centered in the dropouts with the proper bearing preload is the goal. How you accomplish that is up to you. Unless you working on an old Raleigh front wheel with only one adjustable cone.
10-13-20, 06:32 AM
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Now will this stay in place or is this something that needs to be done as regular maintenance?
10-13-20, 06:45 AM
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I guess I'm failing to see any difference as to which side gets adjusted. Either side you're tightening up and locking adjustment with the locknut. Keeping the wheel centered in the fork/frame and axle centered in the dropouts with the proper bearing preload is the goal. How you accomplish that is up to you. Unless you working on an old Raleigh front wheel with only one adjustable cone.
When you adjust a cone there is a non-zero chance you'll get it wrong in any of several ways. The particular wrong of not locking the cone tight enough is no trouble on the left side - if the cone is loose it precesses outward. On the right side it will precess inward, at first ruining the bearings, then the hub shell:
(not my hub)
On my bikes the only thing tighter than right-side cones-and-locknuts is the fixed cup if it's also right-hand threaded.
The Raleigh arrangement *requires* the locknutted cone to be on the left side - the right one buts up against a shoulder on the axle and *cannot* move any further inward. If you put the front wheel in loose and wrong (people did), well, you'd be after a new hub.
Last edited by oneclick; 10-13-20 at 06:48 AM.
10-13-20, 07:28 AM
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It's like this:
When you adjust a cone there is a non-zero chance you'll get it wrong in any of several ways. The particular wrong of not locking the cone tight enough is no trouble on the left side - if the cone is loose it precesses outward. On the right side it will precess inward, at first ruining the bearings, then the hub shell:
On my bikes the only thing tighter than right-side cones-and-locknuts is the fixed cup if it's also right-hand threaded.
The Raleigh arrangement *requires* the locknutted cone to be on the left side - the right one buts up against a shoulder on the axle and *cannot* move any further inward. If you put the front wheel in loose and wrong (people did), well, you'd be after a new hub.
When you adjust a cone there is a non-zero chance you'll get it wrong in any of several ways. The particular wrong of not locking the cone tight enough is no trouble on the left side - if the cone is loose it precesses outward. On the right side it will precess inward, at first ruining the bearings, then the hub shell:
On my bikes the only thing tighter than right-side cones-and-locknuts is the fixed cup if it's also right-hand threaded.
The Raleigh arrangement *requires* the locknutted cone to be on the left side - the right one buts up against a shoulder on the axle and *cannot* move any further inward. If you put the front wheel in loose and wrong (people did), well, you'd be after a new hub.
When I got my old Raleigh I was like, What is this set up? A little research explained it.
10-13-20, 09:31 AM
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Kind of parroting what some have posted already, but when I work on any bike with a freewheel hub (or any wheel with a freewheel hub) for the first time, I always start by removing the freewheel, checking that the axle is centered properly left to right, and isn't bent. Then I tighten the driveside locknut(s) firmly against the driveside cone.
I've seen hubshell cups cracked from a driveside cone having spun itself inward, so driveside axle hardware must be sufficiently torqued to prevent self-tightening of the cone.
Left-side pedal bearings similarly tend to self-tighten if the locknut isn't tight enough against the cone.
I've seen hubshell cups cracked from a driveside cone having spun itself inward, so driveside axle hardware must be sufficiently torqued to prevent self-tightening of the cone.
Left-side pedal bearings similarly tend to self-tighten if the locknut isn't tight enough against the cone.
10-13-20, 04:27 PM
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First, the dork disc has ZERO effect on the axle spacing. Not sure how that idea could have been conjured up.
If the axle and bearings were adjusted properly before taking the wheel in, and was loose afterward, most likely the drive side bearings are no longer set correctly. In some cases, based on the type of freewheel, the wall thickness of the freewheel tool, and the size of the outermost nut, sometimes that nut needs to be removed in order to fit the remover tool. If that's what the LBS had to do, and they didn't tighten that nut back down properly, especially if there is not a separate locknut between the cone and the spacer, then that side will need to be checked.
If the axle and bearings were adjusted properly before taking the wheel in, and was loose afterward, most likely the drive side bearings are no longer set correctly. In some cases, based on the type of freewheel, the wall thickness of the freewheel tool, and the size of the outermost nut, sometimes that nut needs to be removed in order to fit the remover tool. If that's what the LBS had to do, and they didn't tighten that nut back down properly, especially if there is not a separate locknut between the cone and the spacer, then that side will need to be checked.
