Front axle install question

[liquid51]

I'm in the middle of doing a decent amount of work to my xb12ss and I'm a little baffled over what's happening with the front axle right now. I've removed and re-installed the wheels countless times, and for whatever reason, this doesn't seem quite right.

Usually, you hear people asking how to remove their front axle without damaging the forks because something is binding and the fork is spreading. Well, this is happening to me on install. Everything is smooth as butter until the final snug of the axle. The left fork stanchion spreads out and away from the wheel by about a 1/4 inch. For the life of me, I can't remember if that was normal or if something is amiss.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[user_deleted]

it's not normal. upon snugging up you should see the fork stanchions pull in towards the wheel bearings as this is necessary to generate sufficient tension against the inner bearings left and right and inner bearing spacer. without it you'll have insufficient bearing tension against the inner faces. try it again with the caliper removed and see what you have.

 

[Draxsonimy]

it is left hand thread

 

[konarider94]

the axle pushes all the way through the fork on the side that you wrench on. there should be a gap between the fork leg and wheel if thats what you mean.

 

[cthagreekgod]

Kona, I think that is what he means, I agree, that is normal. The left fork leg does not have to come in contact with the bearing. The larger part of the axle itself does that on it's own. Basically, it's only the pinch fasteners that attach the left fork leg to the axle, otherwise, it if free floating on that left side.

 

[user_deleted]

Kona, I think that is what he means, I agree, that is normal.

i doubt we'll ever know as original author apparently has no interest in posting his findings. kona correct as usual that non-threaded side of axle butts up against left side wheel bearing. but this guy claiming he's done this procedure "countless times" and now experiencing some sort of anomaly with the axle/fork relationship. that's why i stated what i did....something amiss there.

 

[lotusexcelle]

I'd recommend getting out the mics and measuring carefully. Its possible you have a stretched bolt at this point (possibly was weakened prior to your getting to it... but unless you've been torquing it religiously every single time... stretched is the first thing I'd look at)

 

[Markuss]

Hi

Not sure if I understood the first post correctly, but I borrow this thread. Is this normal as indicated in the image attached? Experiencing some stability issues with my bike