It's bike repair time in Masterton

It's bike repair time...

First a little background...

Soon after I started riding the trike the drive side hub shell cracked and since its a old bike there's no way of getting a replacement hub so after some thought I too it to a frame builder (person who makes hand bikes) I know and they using a few things made it so I could ride the trike again - the new parts was a new part of the drive axle, a aluminum sleeve over the (steel) axle and a 20 mm (GT) though axle front Mt bike hub

- the sleeve was to bring the axle up in size so that the front 20mm hub would fit on to the axle - the end of the axle was then theaded to take a bot to hold the wheel on the axle and a hole was drilled though the hub shell,aluminum sleeve (that's part of the inside of the hub) , the spacer aluminum sleeve and steel axle to take a 6mm nut and bolt to lock the hub shell to the drive axle - the sealed bearing and inside (aluminum) sleeve in the hub (between the sealed bearing was used in the hub to hold the wheel (with most if not all the weight sitting on the bearings) -

now because of some play in the hub and the stress on the single bolt that runs through the middle of the hub - that bolt tends to break from time to time and I have spare nuts and bolts for it - now most of the time it breaks clean and so it's no more that a 5-10 min job to replace the broken part but more and more lately it's not been doing that....

Instead of breaking clean and easy to swap over the bolt has been getting stuck in the hub - this is because over time the sleeve in the hub has cracked /broken so there's less support for hub bolt also at times the aluminum sleeve on the axle has slipped causing the broken end of the bolt to bend and get stuck in the hub - over time the axle sleeve has become very damaged and the hub shell holes have become bigger allowing the hub bolt to move back and forth - so that is also a likely reson for the bolt to break at least some of times it has - over time the play /sound coming from the hub and wheel has gotten worse....

Now one knows the why and how : ) its time to move forward to the now : )

When I was starting the climb over the big hill around lake Taupo as I was heading south on tour a few weeks ago I noticed that the hub bot had broken again so I pulled over to change the broken part and it's well stuck in the hub so not having any luck with the broken part and with the drive axle still driving the hub I keep on riding thinking that the rest of the hub will just break off leaving a bit in the middle of the axle as that's what happen in the past - well about 380-400 km later it was still holding so it had become something of a issue as I had no idea when or how it would break and many of the roads I travel on can be busy with little room to work on the trike and that brings things up to now : )

Some friends of mine invited me to stay the night in Masterton. They happen to be a very good moter bike mechanic working from home with a fully equipped work shop and

After loading the trike upside down on the motor bike lifter /repair stand it was time to start the job

so first up was to get that pesky broken part out of the hub what after trying a few different things we finally got it out - the next step was to get the wheel off to see how damaged things was and where some of bad play in the hub is coming from ... Well after a battle with the wheel it also finally came off... Because of the broken sleeve in the hub and the damaged aluminum spacer sleeve on the axle it was difficult to get the wheel off - after looking at the all the damage parts it was time to start the big repair job on the trike...

Because of the damage parts (including the 2 aluminum sleeves) it was desided to make up a new spacer set up out of steel to replace the broken parts

but first we had to get the old sleeve off the axle and it took a few tries with different tools to finally get the thing off as it really did not want to come off the axle

One of the other jobs in the overhaul /repair job was to check the bearing in the frame that holds the axle in place - they was ok - not great but as its the weekend they will have to wait - they should hold for a while yet -

Because of the size of the bearing in the frame that holds the drive side axle the steel axle had to be set size and that's the reason for the aluminum axle spacer to bring the size of the axle up to 20 mm

To make the replacement steel sleeve means lots of time with a lathe lucky for this girl my friend has a fully equipped work shop including a lathe and more importantly knowns how to use the tools include the bigger tools like the lathe correctly - what is not always the case with some people : )

But first repair to the bike was to repair some damage to the axle with mig welder then start looking for some steel to make up the spacers for the axle Inc ones to go in the hub shell - after a bit of a look around my friend finds something that that will work (well it will be after being lathed down to the right shape and size)

After spending time getting the right measurements for the needed parts it was time to start working on the lathe taking care to check each part a few times as it was being made - as each part was made it was test assembled for fit and function over a few hours before final assembly including being loctited in place and left over night to harden

To take up some play in the axle (what has been a issue in the past) smaller spaces was also made up - there was around 5 mm of side to side movement with the axle (that with the new spacers is no longer there)

Next up was to put so metal filler in the damaged holes in the hub shell before installing a new bolt and nut (with washers) and and finally truing the wheel (as it was some what out of true) and adjusting the brakes

There was also a number of smaller tasks to be done on the trike like greasing the adjustable handle bars and a few other things like that - including replacing the chain as its about time I did that - the trike at this point in time takes 2x 8 speed chains

Tomorrow it's time for a test ride and finall adjustments /check over : )