Newer Axles too wide to fit into the frame.

[honestherman]

I am sure many of you have run into this.
All of my frames are older ones. Some skip tooth some not. I now have aprox 4 sets of wheels and new tires from these Newer Cruiser Bikes. Well when I try to slide thm into my older frames. They will not fit. They are too wide.
Does anyone have any experience altering them easily so that they can be used in older frames?
Newer wheels are in great shape. But just axles do not seem to work.
Any Comments?
Thanks

 

[Nagant]

If it's just the rear drop outs, and it's not a huge MM difference, then with springer steel frames I spread them by hand and slide the wheel in. I recently put a Nexus 3 rear wheel in a 110mm drop out single speed. The Nexus 3's are around 120mm. Did it by hand and no I'm not a strong dude. Thought about using the all-thread, nuts, and washer at home spread job but it was actually easy to spread the springer steel drop outs by hand just enough to slide the wheel in real quick. The frame will spread to that diameter over time on it's own.

If you're having problems with the front forks I have no advice there. Never ran into that problem and never read anything about how to address that either.

 

[honestherman]

I am talking about 1953 frame, Vs 2010 Cruiser wheel Sets. Like the kind of wheels and tires that come off WalMart stuff.
What about Diameter of front Axle. Seems like older front wheel axles are 5//16 and Newer front wheel axles are 3/8

 

[Nagant]

Today I was reading one of the bike build off threads here on the forum and that builder had this same issue. He showed a picture of his rotary tool with a cutoff disc removing some material to fit the modern axle. IIRC his for was a solid forged steel fork. Here is a link to the page of his thread showing the fork modding for the new wheels. It's about half way down on the page.

http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/rrbbo-project-tbd.83261/page-3

I have nerve done this myself and I'm sure it has some safety concerns. Maybe some other members that have more experience with this will give you some more insight. Problem is most people seem to be mainly reading and posting on the build off competition bike threads right now. Therefore postings in the regular forums seem to have been way down lately.

 

[Bicycle808]

Don't play with the fork;just grind down the axle so it's flat on 2 sides. The nut will still tighten down, but you can fit the axle into the dropouts if you orient it vertically.

Now, you'll also find that new front hubs are spaced at 100mm, but old forks are often 91mm. You can use your gorilla strength to spread it, but that can often be felt as handling weirdness, as the fork blades are u nder some tension. Smoother move, and very possible with many of the cheaper wheelsets, is to remove a washer from each side; sometimes they're under the jam-nuts, other times, they're between the axle nuts and the jam nuts....

HTH
-Rob

 

[mikeeebikey]

Don't play with the fork;just grind down the axle so it's flat on 2 sides. The nut will still tighten down, but you can fit the axle into the dropouts if you orient it vertically.

Now, you'll also find that few front hubs are spaced at 100mm, but old forks are often 91mm. You can use your gorilla strength to spread it, but that can often be felt as handling weirdness, as the fork blades are u nder some tension. Smoother move, and very possible with many of the cheaper wheelsets, is to remove a washer from each side; sometimes they're under the jam-nuts, other times, they're between the axle nuts and the jam nuts....

HTH
-Rob

As always, excellent advice!

 

[Bicycle808]

thanks, Mikeee!

 

[Nagant]

I truly was hoping you two would see this thread and help him out.

 

[honestherman]

I wondered about changing the center bolt of the axle. I don't know if that is possible. Thought it may be the easiest way to go. Has anyone ever done this?

 

[Bicycle808]

It's not impossible, but it seems unlikely that you'll find 5/16" cones that will match up with the cups on the 3/8" (or, maybe, 9mm) hub shell.... I bet you could sort it with some elbow grease, a flat file, and maybe about 6 minutes per front hub.

 

[Nagant]

At least you did yours using the acceptable cold all thread way. I was lazy with my Heavy Duti and just spread the rear by hand and slid the 120mm Nexus wheel in.

 

[Nagant]

By spreading I thought it would be a little easier to fix a flat on the trail but my last flat on the trail I jut fixed it on the bike by removing one bead and leaving everything on the bike, so I guess I really didn't need to stretch it. I have a Schwinn Varsity that I didn't bother with and just pull it apart like you did on the heavy duty. Thats a nice looking paint job.

Sometimes I patch tubes like that. Unseating the bead on one side. I've been fortunate and never had a flat while out but I don't ride very far and stay close to home. Mostly due to a health reason.

Thanks, it's the factory paint, or what is left of it. Some areas of the frame have skinned and banged up paint. There is some over spray from grey primer or paint on the seat tube area I would like to remove eventually, or try to. For now I'm going to leave it the factory finish with all the imperfections.

 

[deven_science]

I just grind on the fork a bit. I don't want to make a weak point on the axle.

 

[Bicycle808]

I just grind on the fork a bit. I don't want to make a weak point on the axle.

I'd rather have a weak point on the end of the axle, which doesn't bear much load, than I would on the fork, which is pretty much highly stressed and far more difficult/costly to replace.... It's pretty much standard practice to tweak the axle...

 

[RZ94]

I've been spacing frames like this for years once I saw Sheldon's article.
http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html