How do I un-ruin my rear wheel? Raleigh Arena

sgt.pepper

So I picked up a Raleigh Arena from the local bike trust for $10 - some surface rust, but overall in quite nice condition. Started restoring it in the hopes of it becoming my main commuter, but seem to have hit a snag with my rear wheel hub.

I'm not entirely sure how I managed it, but now the quick release skewer won't tighten properly. I think I may have brought the hub too far over one side by holding a flathead screwdriver in the drive side in order to get an opening for the grease, and can't seem to set it back again. Are older wheels a different internal layout to the newer ones? This is my first pre-1990 bike so some of the repair work has been a bit of a learning curve.

Really frustrating as this issue has been caused purely by my own stupidity.

cooldad

Try again with maybe more words and possibly pictures.

Where did you stick a screwdriver in?

And why should that have affected the QR?

sgt.pepper

cooldad wrote:

Try again with maybe more words and possibly pictures.

Where did you stick a screwdriver in?

And why should that have affected the QR?

Will get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can. I put the screwdriver in the drive side to get purchase on one of the nuts - I think one of my problems is that some of the bolts have seized together. I think the QR is affected by the mechanism being skewed to one side, but again I'll try get some clearer photos asap.

sgt.pepper

cooldad wrote:

Try again with maybe more words and possibly pictures.

Where did you stick a screwdriver in?

And why should that have affected the QR?

Apologies for being slow, haven't had the chance to work on it recently. Here is the wheel



This isn't fully tightened. When it is that end bit comes out further. I did have the QR biting after I managed to adjust it slightly, but the cones (?) were too tight. I then loosened it off and the bloody thing won't work again. What on earth am I doing wrong. So I think there is too much coming out of the non-drive side, but can't really figure out how to undo this.



It was this side I put the screwdriver in to hold the screw underneath that top screw and spacer.

Been stumped by this for FOUR sodding weeks. The charms of vintage bikes has somewhat worn off for me.

EDIT

Put two spacers in and it seems to be holding. Is this safe?

bonzo_banana

Raleigh Arena was my first new bike as a kid. I think it cost about £60 from halfords. This thread jogged my memory a bit. Had great times on the bike.

sgt.pepper

Bonzo Banana wrote:

Raleigh Arena was my first new bike as a kid. I think it cost about £60 from halfords. This thread jogged my memory a bit. Had great times on the bike.

That's great Here's it in its current state. The spacers appear to be an OK bodge, but I need to find a proper long term solution.

keef66

You have a simple threaded (hollow for the QR) axle. You appear to have too much of it sticking out on the non drive side, which is why the QR won't tighten, and presumably not enough on the drive side.

You just need to move everything along the axle so you have the same sticking out each side, and neither end should protrude beyond the outer face of the dropout. At the same time you should ensure the bearings are correctly adjusted.

So put down the screwdriver. You need a set of cone spanners (possibly cone wrenches if your dollars are US) and familiarise yourself with how to adjust QR cup and cone hubs, and how the cones and their locknuts work together.

Sheldon Brown, god rest him, has everything you could ever need to know...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

sgt.pepper

keef66 wrote:

You have a simple threaded (hollow for the QR) axle. You appear to have too much of it sticking out on the non drive side, which is why the QR won't tighten, and presumably not enough on the drive side.

You just need to move everything along the axle so you have the same sticking out each side, and neither end should protrude beyond the outer face of the dropout. At the same time you should ensure the bearings are correctly adjusted.

So put down the screwdriver. You need a set of cone spanners (possibly cone wrenches if your dollars are US) and familiarise yourself with how to adjust QR cup and cone hubs, and how the cones and their locknuts work together.

Sheldon Brown, god rest him, has everything you could ever need to know...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

God thank you so much. I haven't been able to find any guides online for classic bikes, and thanks to my age I didn't grow up working on them. The bike's been working with the spacers on the non-drive side, but it definitely wasn't a long term solution.

keef66

Whereas I, on account of my age, did grow up with this kind of technology I'm guessing I'm only a couple of years behind Sheldon. Does that make me a classic too?

Actually threaded axles and cup and cone hubs are still pretty common; all my recent Shimano wheels have them, so you should learn how to centre the axle and adjust the bearings.

Good luck!