Well, the fun begins... bent rear axle on 7-spd freewheel. Took wheel apart as I was hearing clunk sound from rear wheel while riding tonight. Got it apart and saw that axle is bent. Will try getting replacement axle from LBS tomorrow and then rebuild hub (grease bearings etc.) with new axle. hopefully can make this set of wheels last a little while until I decide what wheelset to get when I build a real bike....
Do they make extra strong solid rear axles for bigger people? Remember- whole bike was $200- can't afford to spend whole lot right now on it... like I said... saving pennies for REAL bike.
There are higher quality cromoly axles available, but questionable whether your local shop will stock them. You might look around for shops that cater to BMX as they tend to stock heavier duty stuff.
Bent or broken ( and ruined hubs) is a common problem with low end bikes, and the sellers of these are very resistant to warranty claims.
Cro-mo axles are stocked by most LBS in the UK, cost about £5 to £10, but you do need to make sure that it matches your existing set up, ie, the overlock nut dimension ,the overall length, and the cone to lock nut face,(both sides), is the same.
Lock up the right hand side locknut and cone very tight and carry out the final running adjustment of the bearing on the left side, if you do not do this, it is possible for the rh cone to screw into the hub under load and ruin your hub.
That is one good question to asked. Not sure anyone here remembers how steel nuts and bolts were rated but I recall them being rated as Grade 1-8 (8 being the strongest). The Grade 8 stuff held up to alot of torque but I am not to sure if they offer that in steel rod axles for bikes. A gentleman locally asked if an axle could be cut out of the all-thread sold in hardware stores? I told him to be honest I had never heard of that before. If it were to be tried the measurements would have to be exact or very close. To boot there may be problems of cross threading of where it was cut off if it was not a clean cut. So I would probably just look around online for the heavy stuff as said above.
Bill
Good maintenance to your Bike, can make it like the wheels are, true and smooth!
Nwe axle installe, bearings greased and adjusted, freewheel cleaned and running smooth, wheel back on bike and back on the road. New tool aquired in process as well (freewheel remover). At $4.00 I doubt this axle will last much longer than last one...but at least it will work for now. Will keep looking for heavier duty one online.
Ok yea theres an option I really did not think about! Great advice on the machine shop
Good maintenance to your Bike, can make it like the wheels are, true and smooth!
(10-13-2010, 03:45 PM)nfmisso Wrote: (09-13-2010, 10:46 AM)Bill Wrote: ....... A gentleman locally asked if an axle could be cut out of the all-thread sold in hardware stores?......
Hi Bill;
I just found McMaster stock M10 x 1 threaded rod in grade B7 - which is ~3X stronger than standard all thread. It is expensive though ~ 3X purchasing an axle from Harris Cyclery (Sheldon Brown).
http://www.mcmaster.com/#metric-fine-thread-rods/=99ehsv
Wow, that's tough metal
. As for the price I figured you would pay more for better quality! It is probably made here in the USA (not many places that still make metal stuff).
Good maintenance to your Bike, can make it like the wheels are, true and smooth!
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