Issue fitting front wheel

[Celtic32]

Hi,

I dropped the front wheel a while back to get the front guard dipped and whilst it was off I figured I may as well replace the bearings. Anyway, I've finally got the parts back from the spray shop but I am now having difficulty fitting the front wheel. I followed the haynes manual but essentially that meant I did the following:

  -  fit the (newly dipped) front guard
  -  fit the threaded axle seating 'nut' into the left fork from the outside and torqued up the pinch bolts
  -  Put the wheel in position (tire arrows pointing in direction of forward movement), lifted it and fed the axle bolt through
  -  Pushing the wheel to the left onto the axle nut I fit first, I then tightened the axle bolt up until it started to tighten up
  -  Fit the callipers after making sure the pads/ pistons were pushed back

I then tried turning the wheel and found it was tight, pressed up against the left hand brake. I took it all back off and repeated the process above but tried tightening the axle bolt before fitting the callipers and I cannot get that left hand calliper on without tilting it inwards so it doesn't go on straight, which I clearly don't want to do.

Putting myself at risk of a public slating for struggling with something so basic, what am I doing wrong or what would be the issue causing this?

Thanks.

Here's a picture of the bits I got dipped.

[seth]

only thing i can think is the bearings
either slightly wrong size or not fully in the wheel .
i always fit the mudguard last after fitting the wheel just easier access .
hopefully you get sorted asap

[Celtic32]

Thanks Seth,

I actually had the bearings put in at a local bike garage after chatting to the mechanic in the pub so presume they would have seated them properly. I've since got a driver set though so could see if they'll push further in after double checking the bearing codes. Hopefully I can get the seals out without damaging them.

I have an uncanny ability to make a quick easy job into a long difficult process. That should go under my avatar actually.

[Mick_J]

Don't tighten the pinch bolts on the left side until the wheel is in and almost done up from the right side.

[gsxbarmy]

This may sound silly Andrew - but you say Tyre arrows pointing forward - you have got the wheel the right way around have you, as there are also arrows on one of the spokes of the wheel - are they facing forwards as well?

Also - if you have had your discs off (sorry another silly question), have you refitted them with the right sides facing outwards?

The procedure you have followed is right, the only difference I think is in the tightening. Essentially what I used to do was:
- fit the threaded axle nut and torque up the 2 pinch bolts
- fit the mudguard loosely on the 2 rear mudguard bolts (so there was some movement up and down
- slide the wheel onto the threaded axle nut (arrows on the wheel spoke facing forwards), insert the bolt and nip up the axle (not torque up)
- Fit the 2 front bolts for the mudguard (loosely)
- Torque up the front wheel axle and remaining two pinch bolts
- tighten up the front mudguard bolts
- fit the calipers

Out of interest - does the wheel spin ok WITHOUT the calipers fitted?

[Celtic32]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry about my delayed response. Just time answer the questions that have come up.

The wheel arrows are in the same direction as on the tire, so it was fit with the wheel arrow pointing forwards when at the top.

I didn't touch the discs other than to clean the bobbins.

The wheel spun freely without calipers on. The disc was pressed hard up against the outside pad on the left caliper once through axle was tightened.

I can't really see an obvious issue. I can't remember how far the axle bolt fed into that left hand fork but don't imagine it can go in too far. I did notice that the right fork didn't line up with the outside edge of the axle bolt, which was slightly recessed inside. Because of the the gap between wheel and inside of fork was noticeably bigger on the right fork compared to the left. Perhaps the forks are slightly bent, but I'm still not sure it would cause the issue with the disc fowling on the left caliper. I just figured I could pull the right fork in slightly before tightening them pinch bolts to address that.

Perhaps the bearings weren't in properly. The floating tube in between the bearings was very tight though, tighter than when the wheel came off before anyway. Maybe I'll just order some new ones and see if switching them over solves it. They are the correct bearings though.

[Big Geordi]

Take wheel out again and make sure axle is going in nice,then make sure it goes through fork legs properly without wheel in.
You haven't by accident pulled front brake lever a wee bit enough to move pads out?
Am just kind of throwing things out there as there must b a simple reason??

[spizzoil]

if I remember right have you put the spacer in the wheel the right way round if not this could make the wheel move two fare to the left I'm sure I may of done this  and bind the disc and lock it up in caliper and pads.

[Kiwifruit]

That spacer maybe a problem. Worth a look. I had issues with the spacer in the rear wheel when replacing the bearings. I found when seated the bearings bound up on the spacer. I just tapped the bearings off their seat a minute amount so the bearings spun free. Put the wheel back in. No problems.

[grog]

Guard looks superb. Your problem im not sure whats wrong. Axle slides thru into forks without wheel? Fit it all up again with everything loose. Tighten gently. Spacers both in ? Pads pushed back. Not much to go wrong really.

[Celtic32]

Thanks again for all of the replies. I put the axle through without the wheel last night and can't see any obvious issues. I've put a few photos at the end to show.

By spacers, besides the tube that goes inside the wheel between the bearings, what do you mean? I did notice that the tube was very tight between the bearings, far tighter than it had been when I first took the wheel off. I didn't know that it could go in a right or wrong way round?! Still can't see how this would make a difference as the bearing position is dictated by the seat in the wheel anyway - the length of the tube doesn't change. Besides that, are there other spacers?

I may have knocked the brake handle to pump the pistons slightly, but the pads are pulled far enough back that the calliper can fit freely over the wheel before the axle is tightened so I'm not sure that this would be the issue. If it binds so tightly that the wheel can't turn, surely there's a problem?

I'm going to get some new bearings and fit them myself then I know for sure that they've gone in right. I'll see what happens after that. I really hope that sorts it though. As a few have said, it must just be something simple, there shouldn't really be a lot to re-fitting a wheel.

[seth]

the ends of the axle should be flush with the outer edges of the fork legs when all fitted.
the spacer built into the axle should go upto the bearing and the the locking tube should go against the otherside of the wheel bearing.
remove the brake calipers to give you full access to everything
if the spacer tube between the bearings isnt fully square that would affect the fitting .
might be worth removing and refitting them just to check .
you said all was ok before so should go back  together as it was .

good luck and hope all goes well .

[Beaker]

I have experienced exactly the same thing, but on a different bike - I had bearings fitted to the front wheel of my B-King BUT the guy that did it didn't fit the tube spacer back into the wheel (yeah, I was very surprised).

Just double check and make sure that the spacer is in fact inside the wheel.

[Celtic32]

OK so just a quick update. I knocked the bearings back out and the new ones arrived last week. I refit them this morning myself and everything went back together spot on. All I can think is he either didn't seat the left bearing first so it wasn't in the right place or the spacer tube wasnt in right. Either way it's all back together and torqued up and the wheel's spinning freely now so happy days. Thanks for your input. Drinks on me tonight.

[gsxbarmy]

Excellent news glad its all sorted Andrew