Axle/dropout question

[davjl]

Hi, all,
this is a complete noob question i know, but please bear with me!
My front wheel had a bit of play so i did a bit of reading, took it off and tightened the cone nuts. Once i did this the hub turned freely and there was pretty much the same amount of axle showing at each side. the thing is, there is only enough axle to go about half way through the drop out. the way i see it, the axle cannot go all the way to the outside of the drop out, otherwise there will be no room for the springs to compress on the quick release skewer, but only about half the thickness of the drop out doesnt seem much! what do you think? i didnt really have a good look at how much there was before, but i dont think i could do it much differently; if i tighten the cone nuts any more then the axle wont turn freely. i tightened the cones to the point where they turned freely and there was only a tiny amount of side play, if i tightened them any more they started to have a kind of "ratcheting" feel as they turned and any more than that they wouldnt turn freely. what do you think? please be gentle! thanks!

[Painkiller]

are you using cone wrenches? There should be 0 play and free spinning. you cannot adjust and tighten properly without a cone wrench. with quik release the axles do not protrude past the drop outs, just make sure they are even. If the axle hits the quik release it cannot clamp on the fork drops

[davjl]

(07-20-2014, 03:17 PM)painkiller Wrote:  are you using cone wrenches? There should be 0 play and free spinning. you cannot adjust and tighten properly without a cone wrench. with quik release the axles do not protrude past the drop outs, just make sure they are even. If the axle hits the quik release it cannot clamp on the fork drops

yes, i did use cone wrenches. they are even but only go about half the thickness of the drop out. as you say, they cant go all the way, my concern was if hlaf way through was enough. thanks

[Painkiller]

4mm give or take is all that is needed

[davjl]

(07-20-2014, 03:33 PM)painkiller Wrote:  4mm give or take is all that is needed

Oh good that sounds about right, thank you :-)