what sort of luck have you all had with different axle choices?? I'm curious as to what is the "standard" or anything that doesn't work well and I should steer clear of.

furthermore, why do you recommend "headless bolts" versus a regular bolt.

thanks
Scott

Quote:

I'm curious as to what is the "standard"... why do you recommend "headless bolts" versus a regular bolt.

The only thing that may be considered a "standard" would be the axles (and ball bearing races) that come with the scooter style wheels. I quickly removed these in favor of sealed packed bearings as the originals easily filled with sand and dust.

When I changed bearings, I replaced the axle bolts so that I could use continuous-threaded bolts to position and secure the bearing packs (and therefore the wheel itself) at a desired point on the axle. I did this by placing a small nut on either side of each bearing pack (2 bearings per axle / 4 nuts).

This is the biggest reason for the headless bolts - so that the wheel with bearings can be assembled as a unit. Otherwise the entire assembly would have to be taken apart just to remove the wheel from the skate rails (such as to fix a flat tire etc.).

Another reason is so that it is possible to remove any of the wheels simply by loosening the two nuts (on either side of the axle) similar to a bicycle rather than spinning out a long standard bolt from one end.

Basically, I used headless bolts to simulate the original scooter style (or bicycle style) axle that came with the wheels yet upgrading the bearings.

Hope this helps.

i am looking for a sleeker bolt than using off the shelf 5/16" inch threaded bolts. There are bolts called "sex bolts" ... that mate/screw together in the middle and are flush with alen holes on ends.

still looking for one that will be the right size. if anyone has seen these available please let me know. If not I will get them custom and can make them available to folks as well.

Rich
www.terrablades.com

Hi guys. I stumbled across the doomwheels site a while ago. What a concept! I love it! I have the steel rails (finally today), comfortable in-line skates which I was already planning to upgrade and came across a couple of old scooters to salvage the wheels.

The wheels are great, 12.5" but they are the older metal spoke type. I know the Grand Pubah doesn't recommend that but... Hopefully a pic is attached but I'm also new to forums so am struggling a bit with this. All these challenges!

And the bearings pretty much suck as would be expected. While I'm still thinking of getting some bearings (not sure if I can even find some to fit these wheels) I suspect I will soon break down and get the wheels from e-bay.

So, my issue is, and sorry for being a bit thick, but after reading everything I can in these forums, I still don't quite get how you have put together the wheel and axle. Where I picked up the steel for the frame I can get any shape or size of threaded rod I need. I was thinking of going this route so that I could off-centre the front wheel as explained (the current axle is threaded all the way but doesn't appear long enough to let me move the wheel around). A guy at a machine shop I visited did explain that once I replace the old bearings with new sealed ones I would have to rig something up to sit against the inside of the bearing to counter the force of the nut thus preventing the bearing from binding.

I get this but can't seem to grasp what doomwheels is explaining with the two nuts per bearing. Any chance you can talk me through this a bit more? The pictures you have are very helpful and appreciated but I still don't see it.

"so that the wheel with bearings can be assembled as a unit. " I don't get this...

And sorry in advance if I've missed this info in a previous post.

Ok, no pic on the original post. I see now how to do it.

I see the pic still didn't work!

Anyway, I was checking NT and see the wheels are on sale. I just went ahead and ordered them. I'll wait until I get the wheels to see if I need to bug you again. On the old wheels I have, the hub is quite different I think.

Can't wait!

Quote:

...have to rig something up to sit against the inside of the bearing to counter the force of the nut thus preventing the bearing from binding.

This is what I meant by using "two nuts per bearing". Using a long, fully threaded axle bolt you can place one nut on either side of each bearing. The nut on the inside of the wheel hub counters the pressure of the nut on the outside of the hub. A tube spacer would work just as well. Hope that clears it up a bit. Welcome to kiteskating!