gsulit@shaw.ca

When I replace the freehub body from a 7 speed to 8 speed, the wheel is not centered to the bike frame. It is biased to the left ( looking from the back). Do I tweak the spokes to pull the wheel to the right to center it? Thanks.

70sSanO

Yes. Since freehubs have an outboard bearing, installing an 8 speed freehub will cause that problem. This is more evident if you replaced the existing axle with a longer one; going from 126mm to 130mm OLD.

For me the easiest way for me to center/dish the wheel, in a situation of turning every spoke nipple the same amount in opposite directions, is to go lefty-loosey righty-tighty. Start at the valve stem take a spoke wrench and go right 1/4 turn then next spoke left 1/4 turn.

If you set the wheel in the stand so spokes on the right side (DS) of the hub are tightening, it is easy to go trough the process without a lot of thought on which side to tighten and loosen

I’ve moved/re-centered wheels and sometimes the monotony gets me to have to think if I’m moving it the right way. With this, my diminished mental capacity is not put to the test.

John

gsulit@shaw.ca

Thanks for your reply. I actually started doing it after posting the inquiry here and it turned out ok. I loosened the left spokes half a turn and tightened the right spokes by 1 full turn and it centered although more fine tuning is needed. Thanks again.

79pmooney

You can check your work by turning the wheel around in either the truing stand if you are using one or the bike. Just make sure the axle is sitting just as as it was before. The rim should sit exactly the same distance to the (say) right hand brake pad or truing stand feeler gauge. When this is achieved, you have a wheel that is "dished correctly"; ie the rim sits equally between the dropouts and in the center of the bike. (The wheel being off a couple of mms will make zero difference beyond making wheel exchanges and brake pad clearances an issue, perhaps chainstay clearance and perhaps bugging you or others. But whatever you do, never admit the wheel isn't dished properly on the C&V forum. )

Frkl

Tip: since the tension on the drive side of a wheel is way higher than the non drive side, it is easier/more effective to loosen the non drive side ("left") to move the wheel to the "right". Let the existing over-tension in the drive side pull the rim to the right naturally . Tightening the drive side to accomplish the same requires about 125 to 133% more tension in my experience, and then the drive side is over tensioned.

In a rear wheel, the drive side dictates the max tension. Ie, the drive side needs to be about the ideal for the rim. The non drive side will be necessarily "loose" in comparison. This is ok and unavoidable.

So loosen the non drive side, To get the rim to where it should be. You can use your frame as a truing stand. In the real world, it makes little difference.

If everything feels too loose after you have the rim where it should be, then you can give EVERY spoke a quarter turn. And then another if need be.