rosefarts

Pic for clarity




So there is a little cylindrical bit that goes inside the lever. I am trying unscrew this part. With a pair of vice grips, I was unsuccessful.

Seems like a weird task, I’ll explain.

A Cleary Hedgehog kids bike rear wheel needs a slightly longer than average front skewer. The spare fronts I have are too short except one. The one that fits is actually titanium with a carbon lever, but the lever is cracking. So it’s not really up for the task but the skewer is the only one I’ve got that fits.

So I’d love to pull it out and rethread it into one of the others I have. That requires disassembly of the titanium one and one of the others.

I no longer have a bench vice. The vice grips aren’t up to the task. Is it red loctite? Do I just need to apply heat?

It’s a weird ask but I have all the parts to get this done without a trip to the store, if I can figure out how to pull them apart.

It doesn’t look press fit. It looks threaded.

Troul 

heat & a pipe wrench might coach it apart.

FBinNY 

I can't speak for that one, but on many od these levers, th we cross member is actually a rivet, and as such the lever can only he disassembled destructively.

grumpus

Most probably, although there's also a chance that this could be a left hand thread.

mpetry912 

just buy another one for 8-10 bucks. Don't mess around with that part.

/markp

Saudadeii

On one of my old ones, the rod is threaded into the barrel. I had to clamp the skewer in a vise to unscrew it. It looks like it's staked as well to retain it so I had to exercise my authority over it. It finally succumbed to my will.





As suggested above, a little heat may help.

Iride01 

If it is threaded and you are able to get it apart, then how will you know after multiple times taking the wheel in and out if it's on the last few threads that might let go at the worst possible time?

Even with the best of thread locker used, I'd be a tad worried. And if you are familiar with my laissez faire attitude for other things mechanical and safety, this is a different direction for me.

rosefarts

The one that fits is $28 and that’s for a kids bike which has never exceeded 5mph and probably not traveled further than 3/4 mile total.

Lost the skewer in a move and am hoping to get the kids bike back on track this spring.

Dave Mayer

At our Co-op we sell a pair of skewers for $5. And that is the good ones: the enclosed -cam Shimano units with the alu levers. We have a vast flat of assorted skewers, mostly the open-cam units pulled off cheap bikes that go straight to breakdown and recycling. Every few months I have to cull and turf a few dozen of these at a time.

rosefarts

Again, for those that don’t understand.

Cleary is a kids bike brand (my wife also rides their biggest at 4’9” but that’s not the point)

The Hedgehog, a 16” wheel kids bike, has some abnormal dimensions. A standard front QR is too short to fit, but only just barely.

I lost the one that came with the bike because I’m a dumbass.

To replace with one known to fit is $28. Quite steep for what it is.

Almost by accident, I have a pair or carbon lever with titanium skewer skewers that the front is no longer usable due to cracking. And for no particular reason, they are about 5mm longer than all the other front QR levers in the arsenal.

So does this make sense yet? A new one is $28. Not $5, not $6.99, those types won’t fit. Ever.

I applied slow heat with a wood burner, double clamped it with two vice grips, and was able to do it. I actually don’t think the heat did much. I think the threads are intentionally slightly out of fit to make it go together very tight.

It worked.



I don’t know my hourly wage for tinkering in the shop but I did it without any further purchases.

Troul 

tooling seems to skew the random projects.
Looks like the double grip got it tho.